December 3, 2020 • 32 mins
Broadway sensation, Christian Thompson, shares his thoughts on his career in musical theatre, pivoting and diversifying during the pandemic, and living outrageously. Learn more about his perspective as we discuss:
- his "no plan B" attitude
- outrageous parental support
- honest thoughts on how Broadway performers will feel when theatre resumes
- Christian's new work highlighting his biracial experience
Guest Biography
Christian Thompson is an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, director, emerging writer, but most importantly a creator. Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL, he had the outrageous idea to become a professional actor at 8 years old. He began performing professional hip-hop gigs by the age of 9. After receiving multiple musical theatre awards and scholarships, he went on to earn a full ride to Penn State University Musical Theatre BFA program. While at PSU, he originated the role of DeAndre in "Blood At The Root". The show would travel the globe and win awards on 4 different continents. Christian built an impressive resume, including regional theatre work, cruise ship entertainment, the 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT, and finally, his current role as Smokey Robinson in Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations on Broadway.
Connect with Christian:
Episode References
- Built for the Stage (Athletic Training for Actors)
- "One Night Only" on NBC - December 10th
We also recommend...
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Lady Grey is an award-winning international entertainer and educator. She has been at the helm of numerous performing arts organizations and has performed everywhere from Broadway to the Sydney Olympics. She currently serves as Artistic Director of Lady Grey's Lovelies and continues to work as a mentor and empowerment coach.
Connect with Lady Grey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:00):
Because as a creator, your only job is to create right
(00:02):
at the end of the day youraudience is going to react
however, they're going to react.
You can't control that. But whatyou can control is whether or
not you're putting pen to paperor you're moving.
Lady Grey (00:15):
Hello, you lovely humans. Welcome to the live
outrageously with Lady graypodcast. I'm your hostess lady
gray. And I have had the greathonor to interview a number of
super inspiring world changersabout how they live
outrageously. So we're going toshare about how they push
(00:36):
boundaries. They fight forchange, and how they seriously
shake up the status quo.
Friends, I am so excited towelcome Christian Thompson to
the show. He is currentlyplaying Smokey Robinson on
Broadway, and ain't too proud.
The Life and Times of thetemptations. He is an actor, a
singer, a dancer, achoreographer, director,
(00:59):
emerging writer, but mostimportantly, an outrageous
creator. Welcome, welcome.
Welcome Cristian.
Christian (01:09):
Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be
here.
Lady Grey (01:12):
It's so great to talk to you again. So let's talk
about the fact you've had thisreally kind of outrageous
journey already. You're quiteyoung, and a lot of us know you
for your work on Broadway. But Iwanted to kind of give you the
opportunity to kick things offby sharing what you would kind
of consider your other careerhighlights or things that have
(01:33):
happened in your life, thatyou're really, really proud of
Christian (01:36):
Sure. I'm really humbled by my journey so far, I
think is the best way I wouldput it. I guess the highlight
clip for me right would bestarting at eight years old and
deciding that I was going to bean actor, right. And everything
after that was, it became apractical thing. So it wasn't so
much of a dream, which is alwaysinteresting to talk to people
(01:59):
about. So that was the firsthighlight was this eight, nine
year old kid going, I'm going tobe an actor, not I hope one day
I'll be I'm going to be anactor, that weirdo. So did that
I think the next highlight wouldbe being a part of the Jimmy
awards. National High SchoolMusical Theater awards, I think
(02:19):
is the acronym, but they'reknown as the Jimmy's. So I was
fortunate enough to win.
Basically, the award for BestMale Actor in the state of
Florida High School male actorwent to New York to compete with
actors from all over thecountry. So I got to do that.
And I met some of the mostamazing people and got to
(02:40):
perform on my first Broadwaystage at the Minskoff for one
night only. And that was anincredible journey. Right after
that, the next highlight isdefinitely going to Penn State
and the full ride to go to PennState to study musical theater
where I met some brilliantpeople, and just had a great
time learning and kind of honingthe craft. Right after that. I
(03:00):
mean, it was kind of bing bang,boom, after that, I jumped on a
cruise ship for five and a halfmonths. And not too much time
later, I joined the 20thanniversary cast of rent. And we
got to go all over the countryand got to go to Japan for a
month. So to be able to do thatshow. And to do it as Benny and
understudy Roger to be one ofthe few professional black
(03:24):
Rogers ever in the history wasreally big for me.
Lady Grey (03:30):
Amazing,
Christian (03:30):
pretty soon after that was ain't too proud. And I
think somewhere in there wasalso a show called blood at the
root, which I'm super proud of.
So the first script that gotpublished that has my name in it
for original cast, which isunreal. And, but that was a
brilliant, brilliant show that Iwas so fortunate to be a part of
(03:51):
the creation of while I was atPenn State. So that's quite a
long list of things that havehappened just in a very short
amount of time.
Lady Grey (04:00):
I'm really curious about your decision to become an
actor. So you said that when youwere super young, you just knew
that you wanted to be an actor.
Did you have any kind of plan B?
Or was that it?
Christian (04:14):
no plan B? No, no plan B, that was never kind of a
thing for me. And I credit it alot to my mom, who is the
original outrageous thinker ofthe family, because she had this
child and was living in anapartment and it was getting
ready to move and made sure thatshe moved to a house that was in
(04:37):
the same district as the artselementary school. So it was a
part of the magnet program downhere in South Florida, where
each school has a differentdiscipline. And you can bust
kids in for that discipline. Buta lot of times you have to
audition or you know there'sdifferent reasons why sometimes
you can't go to that school, butshe made sure that The arts were
(05:01):
going to be important in my lifein some way. Did she know this
was gonna happen? Absolutelynot. But she, she knew how
important the arts were it wasinstilled in her by her mother.
And so that's, that's reallywhere it started. And I think
because of that, I alwaysthought it was possible, it was
(05:22):
never not a possibility. Becauseeven at in first grade, and
second grade, I was learning allof the disciplines, I was going
to dance, I was going to band.
And then in third grade, whichis around the time, I decided I
wanted to be an actor, they makeyou pick a major and a minor. So
you stop doing all of thedisciplines. And you, you major
in one discipline, a new minorin another and I picked acting
(05:43):
and in strings, where I playedthe viola, an acting program
actually got cut later thatyear. And so Viola became my
major and technical theaterbecame a minor, but we still did
shows, and it was between thatand a production of cats that I
saw, which is why I'm still acat person to this day, between
my initials being cat and catsbeing the first professional
(06:07):
show I've seen, you know, I'mkind of stuck on the cat train.
But between those two things, itjust felt right. And it felt,
again, practical. I think thatwas the crazy part about it.
Lady Grey (06:21):
A lot of people would see that as very outrageous. You
always hear of parents who say,what's your backup plan going to
be? What are you going to do ifBroadway doesn't work out or
theater just isn't a reality?
And so it strikes me as beingkind of outrageous to go out
there, and outrageous on yourmom's part to let you pursue
your career that way.
Christian (06:45):
Of course, if I had known my mother, as a friend of
hers at the time, I probablywould have questioned some of
her choices. It was so funnybecause I was doing Viola. And
we started to go to concerts,specifically Dave Matthews Band
concerts, because you wanted toshow me that you could play
strings in a different way. Andshe told me later, it wasn't
(07:07):
that she thought, Oh, I wasgoing to be a professional Viola
player, you know, pick up theviolin finally and do that. She
was just like, it's just goingto open so many doors for you,
it's going to open what yourbrain can do for you. And that's
really the way she came at it.
And I came at it with this ideaof like, this is what I'm gonna
do. I don't understand how shehad the courage to trust in me,
(07:27):
I feel like this child, but shetrusted that, you know, if this
is the journey I was to go on.
She would be by my side and hasbeen up until she was my date
for opening night on Broadway.
Lady Grey (07:43):
That's amazing.
That's amazing. Well, it soundslike you have a really special
Mom, I look forward to meetingher someday.
Christian (07:49):
Absolutely.
Lady Grey (07:49):
And also, as a side note, huge Dave fan. All right.
So but that's a conversation foranother day. Or another day.
Right? Okay, so let's talk aboutright now. It's a weird time.
Obviously, the pandemic hastotally changed performance life
and New York and all of that. Iwould love to know, how do you
think Broadway is going to lookand feel changed? When I'm
(08:13):
saying when not if but when wego back?
Christian (08:17):
Right now, of course when? Absolutely. When? That's
definitely not a question. Yeah,I think it's gonna be really
different. I think it's going totake some time to get used to.
But while I say that, I wasfortunate enough to be up in New
York this past weekend. I cansay this now because they
announced it to film with theinto proud cast for the special
(08:42):
on NBC called one night only. Soyeah, thank you so much. Tina
Fey is hosting and it's, it'sgoing to be a great time, we got
to see kind of a glimpse of, youknow, what is this COVID life
look like, and it's a lot lesstouchy feely than it was before.
You know, there aren't a lot ofhugs and things like that
happening. But the chemistryhasn't changed at all, you know,
(09:05):
the love that I have for thesepeople and the love I have for
what we do hasn't changed and ifanything, it's grown. So I think
we're gonna see, you know,there's gonna be some
hesitation, and there's gonna besome growing pains as far as
we've now we've got to gettested, temperature checks and
whatnot, or, like when we're inrehearsal, we've got to stay six
feet away, and all of thoselittle things that are gonna
(09:28):
kind of be a nuisance, but Ithink what we're gonna see is
just an outpouring of love andsupport that goes back and forth
from the people on stage to thepeople out in the audience of
just having this nationaltreasure back of having this art
form back. I think it's, it's ifyou look through history, you
(09:51):
know, the American musicaltheatre, art form has just it's
always been at the center ofwhat we do as Americans and how
we communicate with each otherand how we express ourselves.
And to not have that right now,I think is really trying. So I
think to have that back is goingto just be a really special
(10:12):
moment.
Lady Grey (10:13):
So in terms of this idea of a plan B, has it changed
your perspective on that? Haveyou had to figure out other ways
to be creative or come up withnew projects? Or take a side gig
or? Right?
Christian (10:28):
Sure, that's a fantastic question. And a
question I think everybody haskind of tackled right in this
moment. But the key word that Ikeep hearing from myself and
from my colleagues is pivot,right, it's not so much of a
plan B, but it's inhibiting anddiversifying what it means to
create. So for me, I've startedwriting, it's my big, outrageous
(10:52):
moment of 2020, is I finally satdown at my computer and decided
to write some shows and write,I've got a couple TV and movie
ideas that are finally comingout as well. So not just age,
but that I would not have hadthat without Corona. Truthfully,
because one of the biggestexcuses I always gave myself was
(11:14):
I just don't have the time. AndCorona said, All right, I'll
give you all the time you need.
So I started writing, and I'vesent out some of my scripts, and
I've gotten a great response.
And all of a sudden, I'm lookingin the mirror and I'm going,
Hey, you might not suck at this.
You know, no, but it was one ofthose things where that is such
a big worry, you've got theimposter syndrome, you know,
(11:38):
where people are just gonna callyou out. You know, but you never
know until you do it. Or younever know what the reaction is
going to be. And truthfully, youshouldn't worry about it.
Because as a creator, your onlyjob is to create, right at the
end of the day, your audience isgoing to react however they're
going to react, you can'tcontrol that. But what you can
control is whether or not you'reputting pen to paper or you're
(12:00):
moving.
So I'm doing that every once ina while, you know, still
releasing some freestyle dancevideos. I've got a couple of
choreographed dance videos thatare on kind of the docket. But
that's been the big thing for meis pivoting and understanding
that you've got to diversify. Itcan't just be one mode of
expression. Because God forbidanything happens. You can't lose
(12:25):
that expression. You as theartistic person use the creative
person. You need that outlet. Ithink at the beginning of COVID,
I was going crazy, because Ididn't have it. That's kind of
been it for me. So not a plan B,there are some people that have
said, thank you so much theater,this is my bow. That is not
where I'm at.
Lady Grey (12:45):
Well, that is really fantastic to hear. Because I
think a lot of I think a lot ofpeople are asking themselves
this question like, Okay, I'vegot to completely give up what
I've been doing in the past,that your comment about pivoting
and diversifying, I think isjust brilliant. I think that's
the key here, especially forartists who absolutely,
(13:08):
generally artists are naturallymultifaceted.
I love that you're working onnew projects, and I'm excited to
hear about them. Are youdancing? How are you staying in
shape for returning to Broadway?
Christian (13:23):
Well, I'm glad you've asked me today. Because today I
get to sit here and tell you Iactually just came from the gym.
So there you go. And no,truthfully, towards the
beginning of Corona, I wasn'tleaving my house, my apartment
in New York, they had shut downthe gym within the building as
well. And so for a while Ididn't do anything, which has
(13:46):
been tough, actually, becausethen I gained a substantial
amount of weight that has reallykind of affected my confidence
and self image. And you know,all of those things. Recently, I
have decided to kind of get backon the horse. I've enlisted the
help of my friends over at builtfor the stage, which is a
(14:06):
fitness regimen and plan andwhatnot that caters towards
performers. And so I'm nowworking with them to kind of get
back in shape. And the big goal,you know, they ask you what's
your goal. And so it wastwofold. It was to regain
confidence. And then it was toget ready for the show. Because
even if it's six months out, Ispent six months doing nothing.
(14:29):
So I need at least six months toto get something back. You know,
you got to at least do the sameamount of time getting active.
It's been a journey. I thinkthis almost a year now has been
a full journey.
Lady Grey (14:46):
I know for me, there are people that are inspiring to
me or mentors or people I checkin with. Is there anything like
that that you're doing to staymotivated?
Christian (14:55):
Actually, I'm doing the opposite which I hate to be
contrary, but I'm actuallytrying to stay away from looking
at or towards people. Because Ifeel like that's when I start to
compare myself, which is, Iguess, my own psyche and thing.
But yeah, for me, it's like,Okay, I need to stop scrolling
(15:16):
Instagram, I need to stoplooking at my friends that have
lost 20 pounds, you know, I wasone of my cast mates while we
were filming was like, Yeah, mancouldn't keep no weight on. So I
lost like 20 pounds. I was like,how dare you, sir. You know, but
for him that was just asaffecting to him as me gaining
(15:40):
20 pounds. And I think that wasthe big thing that I learned in
that moment. There was because alot of it was, you know, muscle
or whatever that he had lost.
And that was really devastating.
So I think that was the biglesson was to kind of stop
comparing, because no two peopleare alike. So that's, that's
really it for me is not so muchlooking towards people, but kind
(16:01):
of looking inward self imagewise, are you confident again,
are you do you feel like you cando certain things? You know, I
mean, for a while there, Icouldn't do 10 push ups. I mean,
it was a guy breath. So it'sokay, we're, you know, we're on
the upswing. It's a journey, andit always is going to be
journey. So hopefully I'm on theup.
Lady Grey (16:24):
I think I already know the answer to this
question. But it may havechanged since you and I last sat
down and had a cup of coffee. SoI'm curious what you think that
your dream role or your dreamshow is?
Christian (16:43):
Fascinating. What did I say last
Lady Grey (16:45):
you said Hadestown
Christian (16:48):
Ah, that's right. I did I know because I had just
seen it. And it still is justone of the most brilliant things
I've ever seen. No, I think andI always grimace every time I
answer this question, because itat first glance, sounds very
cliche. But my dream role in mydream show right now is
definitely Hamilton in Hamilton,which took a long time to get to
(17:12):
Quick, quick backstory.
Before I graduated from PennState, they were transferring
from the Public to Broadway. AndI went in and auditioned and got
all the way through to finalcallbacks for the original
Broadway cast, and then didn'tget it, which was just
(17:32):
heartbreaking. But that was thefirst of many heartbreaking
close calls with Hamilton. I'vebeen in for them well over I
think 30 times now. So it's oneof those things, and everybody
that meets me, everybody thatknows me, you know, it's just
it's a matter of, not if butwhen, for the longest time, I
was looking at roles like bur, Iwas looking at roles, like
(17:53):
Jefferson Lafayette, but itwasn't until I got to see it. I
think for the second time when Iwas working merch at Hamilton,
which I can unpack later, youwant to talk about pivoting, I
saw one of the Hamilton's thatwas probably one of the best
actors that I've ever seen. AndI realized just how brilliant
(18:15):
that role is, and just howspecific it is to my personage.
And my experience, his bigmetaphor is about being in the
eye of a hurricane, I'veactually stood in the middle of
the eye of a hurricane beforebecause I live in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. So I knowexactly what that looks like and
what he's talking about, in thatmoment, talking about writing,
(18:38):
like you're running out of time,that's the new one for me. But
I've got four or five projectsthat I've already completed. So
from that, to his love of hiphop, and use of hip hop, the
idea of wanting to show peoplewhat you're made of, and to make
your parents proud, you know, isone of his big things. So it's
(18:59):
one of those things where I'mnot an orphan, of course, still
have my mother, but I alwayswant to make her proud. A lot of
it has to do with making herproud. So all of those little
things. And I mean, I can gothrough the whole show, to the
point where it's scary to thepoint where I went, Oh, I've
been looking at the wrong role.
And truthfully, I think incasting has also been looking at
me for the wrong role. I thinkthey see Lawrence, you know,
(19:22):
like his son, or, you know,maybe Jefferson because I've got
the afro going on, you know, meand I've either, you know, low
effort buddies. But I think assoon as we both come to the
conclusion that maybe I shouldbe seen for Hamilton, I think
things may fall into place.
Lady Grey (19:42):
That's amazing. I feel like that's a confidence
thing too, for you coming intoan understanding of your ability
to carry a show like that, aswell.
Christian (19:52):
Absolutely. I think that was one of the biggest
reasons why I never put Hamiltonin that conversation and I
didn't really realize it until Igot on Broadway until I realized
that I was holding myself backfrom teachable character.
Because I was nervous that Iwasn't worthy of that. So I'm
(20:14):
slowly trying to shed that.
Lady Grey (20:16):
Yeah. And it's dreaming big. It's being
outrageous with your dreams too.
And this part of the reason thatI started this podcast in the
first place, is to to promotethe idea that it's okay to dream
these sort of enormous dreamsand have a passion and to aim
for something that maybe peoplehave told you is out of your
reach or your own mind set hastold you that it's out of your
(20:42):
reach, but we we spend so muchtime you know, with these
negative stories that we tellourselves, and especially
performers are, oh my gosh,we're the worst at
Christian (20:52):
Oh, yeah,
Lady Grey (20:52):
self deprecating comments, you know, and yeah,
and perfectionism, right? Ithink the idea of dreaming
bigger, and outside the box ofwhat everybody else has told you
as possible is part of thereason for this podcast.
Christian (21:07):
Absolutely. And it's why I was so excited to get on
this. But part of my thing, Ithink, is not only people
telling you what you can orcan't do, but I think it's also
the silence. For the longesttime, I looked at really
successful people. And I lookedat the people around them, the
people around them usually aretelling them yes, you can do
(21:28):
that. Yes, you. But it wasbecause they got to a place
where people finally got onboard. But at some point, almost
every brilliant person in thespotlight, had to say, No, I'm
going to do this. And you caneither come with me or you can
watch me from the sidelines. Butfor me, that was a big thing
wasn't so much people telling meI couldn't do it. There's no one
(21:50):
told me that I could write noone was like, Hey, you can if
you want to write a script, gowrite a script, you know, so
it's waiting for permission tolive outrageously. And you can
miss some of the greatestmoments when you're waiting for
permission to be great. Youdon't need permission, you've
got enough because you alreadyare.
Lady Grey (22:10):
that was your sound bite just to be clear. There it
is. So if you were gonna dream,obviously, we just talked about
Hamilton, right? Like, that's afantastic thing to dream about.
You've written some of thesescripts, and you're talking
about shows and everything. Solet's say that I gave you
unlimited resources and timemoney, people all of that. What
(22:35):
would you do? What would be thefirst thing that you'd do
Christian (22:42):
I would do it all Ah, see, now we're not being
outrageous now. Theoutrageousness? No, that's okay,
that's like, well, we'll playthe game though. I think the
first thing I would dotruthfully, is produce one of
the latest scripts that I'mworking on right now. It's a
musical with another Penn StaterMaria wearies. We're
(23:02):
collaborating on it. And it'sreally important to us. It's
tackling culture and beingbiracial, and what culture and
history means to biracialpeople. So that is something I'm
very excited about and has agood head of steam already. It
does mean so much to me. And Ithink is going to be really
(23:24):
important. And you know, and Ijust want as many people as
possible to see it. But yeah, ifI was being really outrageous, I
would do that I'd finally havean album and I had finally make
my own podcast, all those thingswould also happen.
Lady Grey (23:38):
I love that you're writing from your experience,
too. I think that is so keyright now, in the dialogue
culturally in our society. And Ithink we're at the beginning, I
feel like we're just at thebeginning of musical theater,
being this beautiful vessel forthe messages that need to get
(24:01):
through. So I love that that'syour outrageous dream, right?
And the job writing this andputting your heart and your
story into it that really ismeaningful. I know a lot of
other people share the same hopethat we will be able to dialogue
and gain ground if we can usethe arts to do that. No more
power to everyone.
Christian (24:20):
Absolutely. So thank you for saying that. First off,
that means a lot. Right now allI know how to do is write from
my experience, at leastpartially. And I think it's been
my mission statement for forquite some time now to highlight
biracial stories, andspecifically for me mixed of
(24:42):
white and black cultures aresuper, super important to me,
because I think it's a large andgrowing population that doesn't
often get the spotlight. I thinkwe get used in a way, right i
think oh, you know, beautifulbabies. Or, oh my gosh, this
makes person so you know,beautiful and talented. But do
(25:05):
you know their story? Like howmany of those stories have you
actually seen, not many, you'vekind of just fantasize them and
moved on. So it's really beenimportant to me to start to
create a space. And I know thereare other artists out there
doing it as well, to create aspace for these stories. But
when you're truly almost polaropposite cultures, I think it's
(25:30):
a superpower. And I love it. AndI wouldn't trade it for the
world. I just want everyone elseto know how special it is, as
well.
Lady Grey (25:36):
And thank you for sharing that. Because I know
it's a place of vulnerability,and it's a hard dialogue to have
in our society right now. It'sreally difficult. So thank you
for sharing that.
I would like to make this momentthe time for Christian's
Outrageous Advice. So put onyour thinking cap.
Christian (25:56):
Okay. All right.
Lady Grey (25:58):
We're looking for practical everyday advice. Okay.
Well, maybe you do thingsoutrageously, and or how people
who are listening to this can dosomething outrageous, infuse
that into their daily life.
Christian (26:13):
if we're going to be outrageous daily, I think the
first step for me is doing allthe things I give myself excuses
not to do. So sometimes that canbe going to the gym. I think
sometimes that can also bewatching a foreign film. That in
(26:33):
itself is outrageous, but wedon't really think of it that
way. Can you get past your ownbias, to watch a different
culture and read subtitles,because that story is important.
Or try that new recipe that youweren't going to do, because
it's going to take 30 extraminutes. And I really need to
get food on the table. But thoselittle things all of a sudden
(26:54):
start to unlock just what'spossible. All of a sudden, Oh,
those 30 minutes actually wentreally quick. And my kid helped.
And they really liked it. All ofa sudden, you got a chef on your
hands and you didn't even knowit. You know, the the butterfly
effect of those small thingswhere you don't let yourself off
the hook is just amazing. Butthere's a balance between giving
(27:19):
grace and continuing tochallenge yourself. And that's
the balance that I think is funto figure out. And I think
that's that, you know thatequation equals living
outrageously daily.
Lady Grey (27:32):
That is such fantastic advice. And I think I
think the other thing you know,you were talking about taking
care of yourself as well. Butfor some people, that's the
outrageous thing. Andabsolutely, yes, we put our self
care and our own wellness aftereverybody else or after taking
(27:53):
15 minutes for yourself, right?
To read that book that's beencollecting dust on the shelf,
because it's just what you want.
to do. Nothing. Nothing.
Christian (28:06):
You know, watch 90 day fiance. It's okay. Right?
It's okay. I mean, I'm notsaying I'm not okay. Yeah.
That's all right. Here we herewe are.
Lady Grey (28:17):
Let's do one more.
kind of fun question here. Let'ssee, before we wrap up, okay.
Obviously, you probably havesome fans, I want to know about
your most outrageous fan orsupporter. And if you want to,
you can totally give them ashout out on here. That's
fantastic.
Christian (28:33):
I think the first one that I will shout out I will
shout out our fans, Sarah. Sheknows who she is, has actually
been a fan of mine and turns outto be a good friend of mine now,
since rent. So from rent days,and then to ain't too proud and
she is now the biggest ain't tooproud fan.
(28:53):
Second, I have to shout out allof the Japanese audiences when I
was with rent, specificallythose that came to the New
Year's Eve show. So we did ashow and it was New Year's Eve.
And if you know the show and acttwo, there's a moment where they
go 543 opensesame Happy NewYear. And we timed it. We
(29:17):
started the show so that thatwould hit on the new year. And
sure enough, we we got it righton the money. And that was
brilliant. But it was also ourlast show in Japan. We had we
always had like a little lineoutside for Stage Door
afterwards, which was beautiful.
The line was so long, it took usclose to two hours to get
through. Because it literallywrapped through the building.
(29:42):
And it's customary to give giftsin this situation. And they did.
Some of them had come before andhad printed out the picture that
they took the first time theycame on like a thank you note. I
have someone give me a handtowel which is which is big in
the Japanese culture with Bennywritten in Japanese Gosh, like
(30:04):
just just the most thoughtfulthings are just people that sat
there for, you know, two hourswhile they were waiting for
their favorite characters tocome through, just to say thank
you. They weren't really not alot of them were looking for
pictures. They sat there andsaid, Thank you. And so for me,
that is the most outrageousfandom I have ever been a part
(30:25):
of. Amazing. So I that's theshout out I've got to give.
Lady Grey (30:33):
Let's say that you have some new fans from this
experience and new people thatwant to connect with you. How
can they find you?
Christian (30:42):
The best way is Instagram. So
@christianthompsonactor is thebiggest way. you can also check
in on the showainttooproudmusical.com to see
when we get that date for whenwe come back. And you know,
definitely catch us on NBC forone night only on December 10, I
(31:05):
believe where you know, youmight be able to see a familiar
face, watch my Instagram space.
There's some cool things coming.
Lady Grey (31:12):
Christian, thank you so much. This has been such a
joy to reconnect with you.
Christian (31:18):
This has been a the biggest honor for me. And I'm
just so glad to be here and tobe talking to you again.
Lady Grey (31:24):
Well, you are always welcome anytime you want to come
back on the show. Thank you somuch. And thank you for teaching
us to live a little moreoutrageously.
Well, outrageous friends. It hasbeen my honor and my pleasure to
have you here today. I hope thatyou took away some outrageous
(31:45):
ideas for your own life. If youenjoyed yourself, make sure that
you are subscribed to liveoutrageously with Lady gray on
whatever your podcast app is.
You can also connect with mepersonally on facebook
facebook.com/outrageousladygreyor on Instagram at lady.grey.
Also be sure to check out ourpodcast website at
(32:08):
www.liveoutrageously.com.
Once again, this is Lady Greyencouraging you to go out and
live outrageously.
Because as a creator, your only job is to create right
(00:02):
at the end of the day youraudience is going to react
however, they're going to react.
You can't control that. But whatyou can control is whether or
not you're putting pen to paperor you're moving.
Lady Grey (00:15):
Hello, you lovely humans. Welcome to the live
outrageously with Lady graypodcast. I'm your hostess lady
gray. And I have had the greathonor to interview a number of
super inspiring world changersabout how they live
outrageously. So we're going toshare about how they push
(00:36):
boundaries. They fight forchange, and how they seriously
shake up the status quo.
Friends, I am so excited towelcome Christian Thompson to
the show. He is currentlyplaying Smokey Robinson on
Broadway, and ain't too proud.
The Life and Times of thetemptations. He is an actor, a
singer, a dancer, achoreographer, director,
(00:59):
emerging writer, but mostimportantly, an outrageous
creator. Welcome, welcome.
Welcome Cristian.
Christian (01:09):
Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be
here.
Lady Grey (01:12):
It's so great to talk to you again. So let's talk
about the fact you've had thisreally kind of outrageous
journey already. You're quiteyoung, and a lot of us know you
for your work on Broadway. But Iwanted to kind of give you the
opportunity to kick things offby sharing what you would kind
of consider your other careerhighlights or things that have
(01:33):
happened in your life, thatyou're really, really proud of
Christian (01:36):
Sure. I'm really humbled by my journey so far, I
think is the best way I wouldput it. I guess the highlight
clip for me right would bestarting at eight years old and
deciding that I was going to bean actor, right. And everything
after that was, it became apractical thing. So it wasn't so
much of a dream, which is alwaysinteresting to talk to people
(01:59):
about. So that was the firsthighlight was this eight, nine
year old kid going, I'm going tobe an actor, not I hope one day
I'll be I'm going to be anactor, that weirdo. So did that
I think the next highlight wouldbe being a part of the Jimmy
awards. National High SchoolMusical Theater awards, I think
(02:19):
is the acronym, but they'reknown as the Jimmy's. So I was
fortunate enough to win.
Basically, the award for BestMale Actor in the state of
Florida High School male actorwent to New York to compete with
actors from all over thecountry. So I got to do that.
And I met some of the mostamazing people and got to
(02:40):
perform on my first Broadwaystage at the Minskoff for one
night only. And that was anincredible journey. Right after
that, the next highlight isdefinitely going to Penn State
and the full ride to go to PennState to study musical theater
where I met some brilliantpeople, and just had a great
time learning and kind of honingthe craft. Right after that. I
(03:00):
mean, it was kind of bing bang,boom, after that, I jumped on a
cruise ship for five and a halfmonths. And not too much time
later, I joined the 20thanniversary cast of rent. And we
got to go all over the countryand got to go to Japan for a
month. So to be able to do thatshow. And to do it as Benny and
understudy Roger to be one ofthe few professional black
(03:24):
Rogers ever in the history wasreally big for me.
Lady Grey (03:30):
Amazing,
Christian (03:30):
pretty soon after that was ain't too proud. And I
think somewhere in there wasalso a show called blood at the
root, which I'm super proud of.
So the first script that gotpublished that has my name in it
for original cast, which isunreal. And, but that was a
brilliant, brilliant show that Iwas so fortunate to be a part of
(03:51):
the creation of while I was atPenn State. So that's quite a
long list of things that havehappened just in a very short
amount of time.
Lady Grey (04:00):
I'm really curious about your decision to become an
actor. So you said that when youwere super young, you just knew
that you wanted to be an actor.
Did you have any kind of plan B?
Or was that it?
Christian (04:14):
no plan B? No, no plan B, that was never kind of a
thing for me. And I credit it alot to my mom, who is the
original outrageous thinker ofthe family, because she had this
child and was living in anapartment and it was getting
ready to move and made sure thatshe moved to a house that was in
(04:37):
the same district as the artselementary school. So it was a
part of the magnet program downhere in South Florida, where
each school has a differentdiscipline. And you can bust
kids in for that discipline. Buta lot of times you have to
audition or you know there'sdifferent reasons why sometimes
you can't go to that school, butshe made sure that The arts were
(05:01):
going to be important in my lifein some way. Did she know this
was gonna happen? Absolutelynot. But she, she knew how
important the arts were it wasinstilled in her by her mother.
And so that's, that's reallywhere it started. And I think
because of that, I alwaysthought it was possible, it was
(05:22):
never not a possibility. Becauseeven at in first grade, and
second grade, I was learning allof the disciplines, I was going
to dance, I was going to band.
And then in third grade, whichis around the time, I decided I
wanted to be an actor, they makeyou pick a major and a minor. So
you stop doing all of thedisciplines. And you, you major
in one discipline, a new minorin another and I picked acting
(05:43):
and in strings, where I playedthe viola, an acting program
actually got cut later thatyear. And so Viola became my
major and technical theaterbecame a minor, but we still did
shows, and it was between thatand a production of cats that I
saw, which is why I'm still acat person to this day, between
my initials being cat and catsbeing the first professional
(06:07):
show I've seen, you know, I'mkind of stuck on the cat train.
But between those two things, itjust felt right. And it felt,
again, practical. I think thatwas the crazy part about it.
Lady Grey (06:21):
A lot of people would see that as very outrageous. You
always hear of parents who say,what's your backup plan going to
be? What are you going to do ifBroadway doesn't work out or
theater just isn't a reality?
And so it strikes me as beingkind of outrageous to go out
there, and outrageous on yourmom's part to let you pursue
your career that way.
Christian (06:45):
Of course, if I had known my mother, as a friend of
hers at the time, I probablywould have questioned some of
her choices. It was so funnybecause I was doing Viola. And
we started to go to concerts,specifically Dave Matthews Band
concerts, because you wanted toshow me that you could play
strings in a different way. Andshe told me later, it wasn't
(07:07):
that she thought, Oh, I wasgoing to be a professional Viola
player, you know, pick up theviolin finally and do that. She
was just like, it's just goingto open so many doors for you,
it's going to open what yourbrain can do for you. And that's
really the way she came at it.
And I came at it with this ideaof like, this is what I'm gonna
do. I don't understand how shehad the courage to trust in me,
(07:27):
I feel like this child, but shetrusted that, you know, if this
is the journey I was to go on.
She would be by my side and hasbeen up until she was my date
for opening night on Broadway.
Lady Grey (07:43):
That's amazing.
That's amazing. Well, it soundslike you have a really special
Mom, I look forward to meetingher someday.
Christian (07:49):
Absolutely.
Lady Grey (07:49):
And also, as a side note, huge Dave fan. All right.
So but that's a conversation foranother day. Or another day.
Right? Okay, so let's talk aboutright now. It's a weird time.
Obviously, the pandemic hastotally changed performance life
and New York and all of that. Iwould love to know, how do you
think Broadway is going to lookand feel changed? When I'm
(08:13):
saying when not if but when wego back?
Christian (08:17):
Right now, of course when? Absolutely. When? That's
definitely not a question. Yeah,I think it's gonna be really
different. I think it's going totake some time to get used to.
But while I say that, I wasfortunate enough to be up in New
York this past weekend. I cansay this now because they
announced it to film with theinto proud cast for the special
(08:42):
on NBC called one night only. Soyeah, thank you so much. Tina
Fey is hosting and it's, it'sgoing to be a great time, we got
to see kind of a glimpse of, youknow, what is this COVID life
look like, and it's a lot lesstouchy feely than it was before.
You know, there aren't a lot ofhugs and things like that
happening. But the chemistryhasn't changed at all, you know,
(09:05):
the love that I have for thesepeople and the love I have for
what we do hasn't changed and ifanything, it's grown. So I think
we're gonna see, you know,there's gonna be some
hesitation, and there's gonna besome growing pains as far as
we've now we've got to gettested, temperature checks and
whatnot, or, like when we're inrehearsal, we've got to stay six
feet away, and all of thoselittle things that are gonna
(09:28):
kind of be a nuisance, but Ithink what we're gonna see is
just an outpouring of love andsupport that goes back and forth
from the people on stage to thepeople out in the audience of
just having this nationaltreasure back of having this art
form back. I think it's, it's ifyou look through history, you
(09:51):
know, the American musicaltheatre, art form has just it's
always been at the center ofwhat we do as Americans and how
we communicate with each otherand how we express ourselves.
And to not have that right now,I think is really trying. So I
think to have that back is goingto just be a really special
(10:12):
moment.
Lady Grey (10:13):
So in terms of this idea of a plan B, has it changed
your perspective on that? Haveyou had to figure out other ways
to be creative or come up withnew projects? Or take a side gig
or? Right?
Christian (10:28):
Sure, that's a fantastic question. And a
question I think everybody haskind of tackled right in this
moment. But the key word that Ikeep hearing from myself and
from my colleagues is pivot,right, it's not so much of a
plan B, but it's inhibiting anddiversifying what it means to
create. So for me, I've startedwriting, it's my big, outrageous
(10:52):
moment of 2020, is I finally satdown at my computer and decided
to write some shows and write,I've got a couple TV and movie
ideas that are finally comingout as well. So not just age,
but that I would not have hadthat without Corona. Truthfully,
because one of the biggestexcuses I always gave myself was
(11:14):
I just don't have the time. AndCorona said, All right, I'll
give you all the time you need.
So I started writing, and I'vesent out some of my scripts, and
I've gotten a great response.
And all of a sudden, I'm lookingin the mirror and I'm going,
Hey, you might not suck at this.
You know, no, but it was one ofthose things where that is such
a big worry, you've got theimposter syndrome, you know,
(11:38):
where people are just gonna callyou out. You know, but you never
know until you do it. Or younever know what the reaction is
going to be. And truthfully, youshouldn't worry about it.
Because as a creator, your onlyjob is to create, right at the
end of the day, your audience isgoing to react however they're
going to react, you can'tcontrol that. But what you can
control is whether or not you'reputting pen to paper or you're
(12:00):
moving.
So I'm doing that every once ina while, you know, still
releasing some freestyle dancevideos. I've got a couple of
choreographed dance videos thatare on kind of the docket. But
that's been the big thing for meis pivoting and understanding
that you've got to diversify. Itcan't just be one mode of
expression. Because God forbidanything happens. You can't lose
(12:25):
that expression. You as theartistic person use the creative
person. You need that outlet. Ithink at the beginning of COVID,
I was going crazy, because Ididn't have it. That's kind of
been it for me. So not a plan B,there are some people that have
said, thank you so much theater,this is my bow. That is not
where I'm at.
Lady Grey (12:45):
Well, that is really fantastic to hear. Because I
think a lot of I think a lot ofpeople are asking themselves
this question like, Okay, I'vegot to completely give up what
I've been doing in the past,that your comment about pivoting
and diversifying, I think isjust brilliant. I think that's
the key here, especially forartists who absolutely,
(13:08):
generally artists are naturallymultifaceted.
I love that you're working onnew projects, and I'm excited to
hear about them. Are youdancing? How are you staying in
shape for returning to Broadway?
Christian (13:23):
Well, I'm glad you've asked me today. Because today I
get to sit here and tell you Iactually just came from the gym.
So there you go. And no,truthfully, towards the
beginning of Corona, I wasn'tleaving my house, my apartment
in New York, they had shut downthe gym within the building as
well. And so for a while Ididn't do anything, which has
(13:46):
been tough, actually, becausethen I gained a substantial
amount of weight that has reallykind of affected my confidence
and self image. And you know,all of those things. Recently, I
have decided to kind of get backon the horse. I've enlisted the
help of my friends over at builtfor the stage, which is a
(14:06):
fitness regimen and plan andwhatnot that caters towards
performers. And so I'm nowworking with them to kind of get
back in shape. And the big goal,you know, they ask you what's
your goal. And so it wastwofold. It was to regain
confidence. And then it was toget ready for the show. Because
even if it's six months out, Ispent six months doing nothing.
(14:29):
So I need at least six months toto get something back. You know,
you got to at least do the sameamount of time getting active.
It's been a journey. I thinkthis almost a year now has been
a full journey.
Lady Grey (14:46):
I know for me, there are people that are inspiring to
me or mentors or people I checkin with. Is there anything like
that that you're doing to staymotivated?
Christian (14:55):
Actually, I'm doing the opposite which I hate to be
contrary, but I'm actuallytrying to stay away from looking
at or towards people. Because Ifeel like that's when I start to
compare myself, which is, Iguess, my own psyche and thing.
But yeah, for me, it's like,Okay, I need to stop scrolling
(15:16):
Instagram, I need to stoplooking at my friends that have
lost 20 pounds, you know, I wasone of my cast mates while we
were filming was like, Yeah, mancouldn't keep no weight on. So I
lost like 20 pounds. I was like,how dare you, sir. You know, but
for him that was just asaffecting to him as me gaining
(15:40):
20 pounds. And I think that wasthe big thing that I learned in
that moment. There was because alot of it was, you know, muscle
or whatever that he had lost.
And that was really devastating.
So I think that was the biglesson was to kind of stop
comparing, because no two peopleare alike. So that's, that's
really it for me is not so muchlooking towards people, but kind
(16:01):
of looking inward self imagewise, are you confident again,
are you do you feel like you cando certain things? You know, I
mean, for a while there, Icouldn't do 10 push ups. I mean,
it was a guy breath. So it'sokay, we're, you know, we're on
the upswing. It's a journey, andit always is going to be
journey. So hopefully I'm on theup.
Lady Grey (16:24):
I think I already know the answer to this
question. But it may havechanged since you and I last sat
down and had a cup of coffee. SoI'm curious what you think that
your dream role or your dreamshow is?
Christian (16:43):
Fascinating. What did I say last
Lady Grey (16:45):
you said Hadestown
Christian (16:48):
Ah, that's right. I did I know because I had just
seen it. And it still is justone of the most brilliant things
I've ever seen. No, I think andI always grimace every time I
answer this question, because itat first glance, sounds very
cliche. But my dream role in mydream show right now is
definitely Hamilton in Hamilton,which took a long time to get to
(17:12):
Quick, quick backstory.
Before I graduated from PennState, they were transferring
from the Public to Broadway. AndI went in and auditioned and got
all the way through to finalcallbacks for the original
Broadway cast, and then didn'tget it, which was just
(17:32):
heartbreaking. But that was thefirst of many heartbreaking
close calls with Hamilton. I'vebeen in for them well over I
think 30 times now. So it's oneof those things, and everybody
that meets me, everybody thatknows me, you know, it's just
it's a matter of, not if butwhen, for the longest time, I
was looking at roles like bur, Iwas looking at roles, like
(17:53):
Jefferson Lafayette, but itwasn't until I got to see it. I
think for the second time when Iwas working merch at Hamilton,
which I can unpack later, youwant to talk about pivoting, I
saw one of the Hamilton's thatwas probably one of the best
actors that I've ever seen. AndI realized just how brilliant
(18:15):
that role is, and just howspecific it is to my personage.
And my experience, his bigmetaphor is about being in the
eye of a hurricane, I'veactually stood in the middle of
the eye of a hurricane beforebecause I live in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. So I knowexactly what that looks like and
what he's talking about, in thatmoment, talking about writing,
(18:38):
like you're running out of time,that's the new one for me. But
I've got four or five projectsthat I've already completed. So
from that, to his love of hiphop, and use of hip hop, the
idea of wanting to show peoplewhat you're made of, and to make
your parents proud, you know, isone of his big things. So it's
(18:59):
one of those things where I'mnot an orphan, of course, still
have my mother, but I alwayswant to make her proud. A lot of
it has to do with making herproud. So all of those little
things. And I mean, I can gothrough the whole show, to the
point where it's scary to thepoint where I went, Oh, I've
been looking at the wrong role.
And truthfully, I think incasting has also been looking at
me for the wrong role. I thinkthey see Lawrence, you know,
(19:22):
like his son, or, you know,maybe Jefferson because I've got
the afro going on, you know, meand I've either, you know, low
effort buddies. But I think assoon as we both come to the
conclusion that maybe I shouldbe seen for Hamilton, I think
things may fall into place.
Lady Grey (19:42):
That's amazing. I feel like that's a confidence
thing too, for you coming intoan understanding of your ability
to carry a show like that, aswell.
Christian (19:52):
Absolutely. I think that was one of the biggest
reasons why I never put Hamiltonin that conversation and I
didn't really realize it until Igot on Broadway until I realized
that I was holding myself backfrom teachable character.
Because I was nervous that Iwasn't worthy of that. So I'm
(20:14):
slowly trying to shed that.
Lady Grey (20:16):
Yeah. And it's dreaming big. It's being
outrageous with your dreams too.
And this part of the reason thatI started this podcast in the
first place, is to to promotethe idea that it's okay to dream
these sort of enormous dreamsand have a passion and to aim
for something that maybe peoplehave told you is out of your
reach or your own mind set hastold you that it's out of your
(20:42):
reach, but we we spend so muchtime you know, with these
negative stories that we tellourselves, and especially
performers are, oh my gosh,we're the worst at
Christian (20:52):
Oh, yeah,
Lady Grey (20:52):
self deprecating comments, you know, and yeah,
and perfectionism, right? Ithink the idea of dreaming
bigger, and outside the box ofwhat everybody else has told you
as possible is part of thereason for this podcast.
Christian (21:07):
Absolutely. And it's why I was so excited to get on
this. But part of my thing, Ithink, is not only people
telling you what you can orcan't do, but I think it's also
the silence. For the longesttime, I looked at really
successful people. And I lookedat the people around them, the
people around them usually aretelling them yes, you can do
(21:28):
that. Yes, you. But it wasbecause they got to a place
where people finally got onboard. But at some point, almost
every brilliant person in thespotlight, had to say, No, I'm
going to do this. And you caneither come with me or you can
watch me from the sidelines. Butfor me, that was a big thing
wasn't so much people telling meI couldn't do it. There's no one
(21:50):
told me that I could write noone was like, Hey, you can if
you want to write a script, gowrite a script, you know, so
it's waiting for permission tolive outrageously. And you can
miss some of the greatestmoments when you're waiting for
permission to be great. Youdon't need permission, you've
got enough because you alreadyare.
Lady Grey (22:10):
that was your sound bite just to be clear. There it
is. So if you were gonna dream,obviously, we just talked about
Hamilton, right? Like, that's afantastic thing to dream about.
You've written some of thesescripts, and you're talking
about shows and everything. Solet's say that I gave you
unlimited resources and timemoney, people all of that. What
(22:35):
would you do? What would be thefirst thing that you'd do
Christian (22:42):
I would do it all Ah, see, now we're not being
outrageous now. Theoutrageousness? No, that's okay,
that's like, well, we'll playthe game though. I think the
first thing I would dotruthfully, is produce one of
the latest scripts that I'mworking on right now. It's a
musical with another Penn StaterMaria wearies. We're
(23:02):
collaborating on it. And it'sreally important to us. It's
tackling culture and beingbiracial, and what culture and
history means to biracialpeople. So that is something I'm
very excited about and has agood head of steam already. It
does mean so much to me. And Ithink is going to be really
(23:24):
important. And you know, and Ijust want as many people as
possible to see it. But yeah, ifI was being really outrageous, I
would do that I'd finally havean album and I had finally make
my own podcast, all those thingswould also happen.
Lady Grey (23:38):
I love that you're writing from your experience,
too. I think that is so keyright now, in the dialogue
culturally in our society. And Ithink we're at the beginning, I
feel like we're just at thebeginning of musical theater,
being this beautiful vessel forthe messages that need to get
(24:01):
through. So I love that that'syour outrageous dream, right?
And the job writing this andputting your heart and your
story into it that really ismeaningful. I know a lot of
other people share the same hopethat we will be able to dialogue
and gain ground if we can usethe arts to do that. No more
power to everyone.
Christian (24:20):
Absolutely. So thank you for saying that. First off,
that means a lot. Right now allI know how to do is write from
my experience, at leastpartially. And I think it's been
my mission statement for forquite some time now to highlight
biracial stories, andspecifically for me mixed of
(24:42):
white and black cultures aresuper, super important to me,
because I think it's a large andgrowing population that doesn't
often get the spotlight. I thinkwe get used in a way, right i
think oh, you know, beautifulbabies. Or, oh my gosh, this
makes person so you know,beautiful and talented. But do
(25:05):
you know their story? Like howmany of those stories have you
actually seen, not many, you'vekind of just fantasize them and
moved on. So it's really beenimportant to me to start to
create a space. And I know thereare other artists out there
doing it as well, to create aspace for these stories. But
when you're truly almost polaropposite cultures, I think it's
(25:30):
a superpower. And I love it. AndI wouldn't trade it for the
world. I just want everyone elseto know how special it is, as
well.
Lady Grey (25:36):
And thank you for sharing that. Because I know
it's a place of vulnerability,and it's a hard dialogue to have
in our society right now. It'sreally difficult. So thank you
for sharing that.
I would like to make this momentthe time for Christian's
Outrageous Advice. So put onyour thinking cap.
Christian (25:56):
Okay. All right.
Lady Grey (25:58):
We're looking for practical everyday advice. Okay.
Well, maybe you do thingsoutrageously, and or how people
who are listening to this can dosomething outrageous, infuse
that into their daily life.
Christian (26:13):
if we're going to be outrageous daily, I think the
first step for me is doing allthe things I give myself excuses
not to do. So sometimes that canbe going to the gym. I think
sometimes that can also bewatching a foreign film. That in
(26:33):
itself is outrageous, but wedon't really think of it that
way. Can you get past your ownbias, to watch a different
culture and read subtitles,because that story is important.
Or try that new recipe that youweren't going to do, because
it's going to take 30 extraminutes. And I really need to
get food on the table. But thoselittle things all of a sudden
(26:54):
start to unlock just what'spossible. All of a sudden, Oh,
those 30 minutes actually wentreally quick. And my kid helped.
And they really liked it. All ofa sudden, you got a chef on your
hands and you didn't even knowit. You know, the the butterfly
effect of those small thingswhere you don't let yourself off
the hook is just amazing. Butthere's a balance between giving
(27:19):
grace and continuing tochallenge yourself. And that's
the balance that I think is funto figure out. And I think
that's that, you know thatequation equals living
outrageously daily.
Lady Grey (27:32):
That is such fantastic advice. And I think I
think the other thing you know,you were talking about taking
care of yourself as well. Butfor some people, that's the
outrageous thing. Andabsolutely, yes, we put our self
care and our own wellness aftereverybody else or after taking
(27:53):
15 minutes for yourself, right?
To read that book that's beencollecting dust on the shelf,
because it's just what you want.
to do. Nothing. Nothing.
Christian (28:06):
You know, watch 90 day fiance. It's okay. Right?
It's okay. I mean, I'm notsaying I'm not okay. Yeah.
That's all right. Here we herewe are.
Lady Grey (28:17):
Let's do one more.
kind of fun question here. Let'ssee, before we wrap up, okay.
Obviously, you probably havesome fans, I want to know about
your most outrageous fan orsupporter. And if you want to,
you can totally give them ashout out on here. That's
fantastic.
Christian (28:33):
I think the first one that I will shout out I will
shout out our fans, Sarah. Sheknows who she is, has actually
been a fan of mine and turns outto be a good friend of mine now,
since rent. So from rent days,and then to ain't too proud and
she is now the biggest ain't tooproud fan.
(28:53):
Second, I have to shout out allof the Japanese audiences when I
was with rent, specificallythose that came to the New
Year's Eve show. So we did ashow and it was New Year's Eve.
And if you know the show and acttwo, there's a moment where they
go 543 opensesame Happy NewYear. And we timed it. We
(29:17):
started the show so that thatwould hit on the new year. And
sure enough, we we got it righton the money. And that was
brilliant. But it was also ourlast show in Japan. We had we
always had like a little lineoutside for Stage Door
afterwards, which was beautiful.
The line was so long, it took usclose to two hours to get
through. Because it literallywrapped through the building.
(29:42):
And it's customary to give giftsin this situation. And they did.
Some of them had come before andhad printed out the picture that
they took the first time theycame on like a thank you note. I
have someone give me a handtowel which is which is big in
the Japanese culture with Bennywritten in Japanese Gosh, like
(30:04):
just just the most thoughtfulthings are just people that sat
there for, you know, two hourswhile they were waiting for
their favorite characters tocome through, just to say thank
you. They weren't really not alot of them were looking for
pictures. They sat there andsaid, Thank you. And so for me,
that is the most outrageousfandom I have ever been a part
(30:25):
of. Amazing. So I that's theshout out I've got to give.
Lady Grey (30:33):
Let's say that you have some new fans from this
experience and new people thatwant to connect with you. How
can they find you?
Christian (30:42):
The best way is Instagram. So
@christianthompsonactor is thebiggest way. you can also check
in on the showainttooproudmusical.com to see
when we get that date for whenwe come back. And you know,
definitely catch us on NBC forone night only on December 10, I
(31:05):
believe where you know, youmight be able to see a familiar
face, watch my Instagram space.
There's some cool things coming.
Lady Grey (31:12):
Christian, thank you so much. This has been such a
joy to reconnect with you.
Christian (31:18):
This has been a the biggest honor for me. And I'm
just so glad to be here and tobe talking to you again.
Lady Grey (31:24):
Well, you are always welcome anytime you want to come
back on the show. Thank you somuch. And thank you for teaching
us to live a little moreoutrageously.
Well, outrageous friends. It hasbeen my honor and my pleasure to
have you here today. I hope thatyou took away some outrageous
(31:45):
ideas for your own life. If youenjoyed yourself, make sure that
you are subscribed to liveoutrageously with Lady gray on
whatever your podcast app is.
You can also connect with mepersonally on facebook
facebook.com/outrageousladygreyor on Instagram at lady.grey.
Also be sure to check out ourpodcast website at
(32:08):
www.liveoutrageously.com.
Once again, this is Lady Greyencouraging you to go out and
live outrageously.
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