Tony Award-Winner Greg Jbara

Join Sally as she talks with Tony Award-Winner Greg Jbara. Raised in Westland, Michigan, Greg's journey of passion and perseverance is a testament to his tenacity and talent. From his first school plays to founding the Impact Jazz Dance Company during his time at the University of Michigan, we'll hear his unique perspectives on the significance of dance in theatre, especially for musical theatre actors.

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Original music and audio production provided by Jarrett Nicolay at Mixtape Studios. www.mynewmixtape.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the second season of the Dance Studio
podcast.
This podcast is for dancers,teachers, dance moms and
especially dance studio owners.
In the first season, we coveredtopics like scoliosis, eating
disorders and point shoereadiness, along with several
episodes on different dancecareer paths and awesome dance

(00:21):
programs for you and your dancestudents.
In the second season, you cancount on hearing from Tony Award
winners, american BalletTheater teachers, competition
judges and so much more.
The Dance Studio podcast fansare loving the information this
podcast provides.
Take it from season one guest,jennifer Miletto.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
My name is Jen Miletto and I am a former
student of Sally's, now dancingprofessionally at Disney.
As well as teaching dance as acollege professor, sally has
been my mentor through my entiredance career.
What I love about her and herpodcast is that she is not only
willing to be completely openabout everything that she has
learned in her career, but sheis also so curious about what

(01:04):
others have learned in theirunique experience, and she wants
to share all of it with herlisteners.
There is a reason why I havestuck with Sally all of these
years she is committed toadvocating for the success of
the dance community.
If you are a studio owner,teacher, dancer or aspiring to
be any of those things, do notmiss this podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Welcome Dance Studio owners.
Today, our very special guestis Tony Award winner Greg Jabara
.
Welcome, greg Sally.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
We're still not in the same place, but how long ago
was it?
It was the 70s right.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
It was the 70s and I was going to say you've not only
won a Tony Award for your partin Billy Elliot, but you've also
appeared on Broadway in SeriousMoney, born yesterday, dan
Yankees, victor, victoria, dirtyRotten Scoundrels, and you
played the part of Billy Flynnin Chicago.
But personally I think yourgreatest role of all time might

(02:07):
have been playing my father andMary Poppins in Pamela School of
Dance Recital.
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Hands down.
That is still the bar thatnever gets met my entire career.
You're absolutely right, Sally.
Now I'm going to weep justquietly for a moment.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yes, it was the 70s and that was a big role for me.
It was a very exciting year.
I was about 10, and I got toplay Jane in Mary Poppins, and
your brother played my brother,michael, and you played my
father.
But first, why don't you talkto us about where you grew up

(02:43):
and how you got interested inthe theater?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Sure, wayne Westland School District.
So I was born in WestlandMichigan and for Native
Michiganders we all know that itwas a city named after a
shopping mall, which is fact,because it was Nankin Township
and then Hudson's departmentstore built a mall and then they
decided to name the areasurrounding the mall, which was

(03:06):
called Westland Mall, becausethey built satellites from
downtown Detroit, northland,eastland, southland and Westland
Mall.
I'm from the town that wasnamed after a shopping mall,
which I think is really aperfect metaphor for the lives
that we've lived as children,growing up in suburban Detroit
but went to the Wayne WestlandSchools.
At a time I was a little olderthan you let's see how much

(03:29):
older I would have been five orsix years older than you seven,
yes, five or six years older ifI was born in 61.
And the Wayne Westland Schools.
It was a time when, now thatI'm a parent myself, I
understand it's really just paidbabysitting, but we boomers
benefited from the community,the society, going yeah, we'll
pay for great public schoolsbecause then you're going to

(03:49):
keep our kids there and busy,hopefully and productively, and
out of prison, while we all haveour jobs.
Because everybody worked exceptsome of the moms, actually a
lot of the moms with prolificsize families or even small
families.
You know the moms were thehomemakers, dads were working
and the kids, hopefully, werenot in jail Because you still

(04:11):
hadn't finished high school whenyou left Michigan.
But when I was at Wayne MemorialHigh School we had a 68-member
men's chorus.
There were 68 guys and most ofthem were jocks.
They were in choir in a men'schorus, not to mention the
concert choir and the vocalensemble and then we did
musicals and plays and we hadmarching band and jazz ensemble

(04:33):
and concert orchestra andsymphony orchestra.
There was just everything.
We had a TV broadcast stationwith a full studio and we had a
radio station.
All at our high school andjunior high.
There were so manyopportunities, from performing
arts to student government.
I just grew up in a place and Iwas raised Catholic.
So as an altar boy in thirdstarting in third grade I was up

(04:54):
in front of people cold-readingscripture that had names that
were like 12 syllables long anddoing that five times a week
because the adults were nevergetting up to do the 530 mass or
630 mass every weekday morningbefore I went to school.
So there was great opportunity,because now I'm a recovering
Catholic.
But I'm forever indebtedbecause it was my religious

(05:16):
upbringing that really got meinto public speaking and being
in front of people.
And then I went to publicschools where they said here,
here are all these things, whatdo you like to do, what do you
have talent in?
Please pursue it.
But the real important pivothere is that in ninth grade
there was a some mutual.
The junior highs all did someevent and there was these girls

(05:38):
from Adams Junior High, lindaGoodrich, along with Sandy Pope
back in Carol Law and a slew ofothers, but Linda Goodrich was.
That was the first time I laidmy eyes on her and I had a mad
crush.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
You're not alone.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yes, she.
I think she was already astudent at Pamela Dunworth's
School of Dance in an outerdrive, right, was it on an outer
drive?
Yes, yes, but it wasn't till Iwas in high school.
Nothing romantically everhappened, but it was clear that
I would follow her like a puppydog.
We did tons of plays andmusicals together, but there was

(06:12):
a time when she came to me anda fellow way night, carmen
Yurech.
She was a year older than me andshe asked us if we wanted to
come and be Adagio balletpartners for their dance company
, because they needed guys andI'm thinking wait, I get to be
your dance partner in a sweaty,hot dance studio with mirrors

(06:35):
the entire wall, and I get topick you up and set you on my
shoulder and dip you in a fishand I'm thinking, yes, sign me
up.
And then it actually turned out.
Maybe that first recital therewere a couple of girls who were
bigger than Linda and I mighthave been other than Patrick
Lynch, who is, you know,basketball player, but he also

(06:55):
danced.
You remember Patrick right?
Who now do you know?
Yeah, I do know that they'remarried.
Yeah, pat and Pat are married.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
I know yes.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
I know.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
But but I was partnered with, you know, taller
women.
So for a while I was longinglypicking up bigger girls and
looking across the studio atLinda, dreaming of the day I get
to be her partner.
And I think I ultimately did,because we were the Mary Poppins
family at one recital.
What year was that?

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I don't know exactly the year, but I was 78, maybe 70
.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Oh, so it could have been my senior year, after I'd
already been doing it for a year.
Yeah, so I had to wait a yearbefore I could finally be Linda
Goodrich's dance partner.
That's how we met and that wasmy performing arts life up until
then.
I did, I did everything,everything Band, I was marching
band president.
I was in every show.

(07:51):
I was in all the choirs.
I was a very happy performer.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
It just sounds like, first of all, your school was
extremely arts forward, and itsounds like not only you weren't
an outlier, a lot of boys weredoing all of the same things
that you were doing and enjoyingit, yeah it was cool.
Which is kind of strange forthe 70s right.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
It is, it really is.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Because that wasn't what was going on in not too far
away, in Dearborn.
In our schools we didn't havethe same atmosphere.
So did you dance before youwere in ninth grade?

Speaker 3 (08:23):
I didn't study dance outside of the.
You know choreography we do forthe musical for that year, so
whatever that was.
But I never studied privatelyuntil Linda Goodrich, the siren,
came calling from you know comedo ballet.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
And how did your parents feel about you doing
dance?
Oh, they loved it.
They loved everything.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Oh they loved it.
Yeah, because you know I didn'tembarrass myself, yeah, and they
were.
It was very different and forthat kind of training, even
though I wasn't taking theclasses, you know, really it was
weightlifting with chicks,that's what it really was for
guys.
But for those of us whounderstood creating a line and
being able to walk in tempo,because we really were just

(09:06):
forklifts with legs who wentaround and picked the girls up
and they needed to be picked up,but it was invaluable because
it did give me a certainconfidence and I got to observe
and you know the girls sort oftook pity on me and said, yeah,
here we'll teach you a grandjetet and you know, and there'd
be giggles and but there were,there was opportunity to sort of
be exposed to it.
So that later on, when I went toMichigan and went to Juilliard

(09:29):
and the dance classes werecoming up, there was a certain
comfort and ability andfamiliarity and a knowledge that
I had really thanks to the timespent.
But, boy, if I had known whatthe benefits were, although it
didn't really inhibit me becausethe classes were available
later on in my training, but youknow, if I could have taken tap

(09:50):
class when I was there, orgymnastics?
You know, Pamela don't, but butthen again, you know, we were
from a very poor, you know verymiddle class family where those
classes weren't cheap.
They were expensive, yeah, andluckily we who were recruited
got to do it for free.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
You know, always do.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, all we had to pay for was our costumes.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
you know actually the boys probably would have gotten
the free lessons.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
You think, you think so.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, I do, I mean.
I can't speak for Pam.
But right, because we alwaysneed them, yeah, but anyway
thank goodness.
So how did you start thisimpact dance company?

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Oh yeah.
So I'm at Michigan.
So I say to my folks well, thisis clearly my calling, I want
to be an actor.
And they went uh, no, you canbe.
How about?
A communications major?
And you can minor in physics,which you're excelling at in
high school, and you know youcan do theater on the side,
because we don't want you comingback home and living in our

(10:51):
house when you're, when you getyour college degree.
So I was like, yeah, okay, andthe great thing about going to
University of Michigan in anArbor is they had the University
Activities Center, which was astudent run organization outside
of the university that providedall kinds of performing arts
and other opportunities fornon-departmental passion.

(11:13):
So if you weren't a dancemanager at Michigan, you could
still take dance classes throughUAC, uac and they did the soft
show, which was the sophomore uh, directed run, designed, cast,
all sophomores a musical in thefall.
Well, that's what I did,because I wasn't a theater major

(11:34):
so I couldn't do the departmentproductions and I worked at a
TV station and learned invaluable experience being a
floor manager and operating TVcameras and writing copy and
operating Chiron boxes.
You know the do graphics.
Michigan had a phenomenalpublic service station there,
invaluable.
But I was in this musical ofsweet charity that, important to
know, starred Beth Holmes.

(11:56):
That's her professional name.
Now Beth Holmes has retired butis like one of the most
prominent casting directors inLos Angeles.
She starred as charity HopeValentine in that production.
Douglas Sills he was Tonynominated for his role as the
Scarlet Pimpernel.
He was Vittorio Vidal.
It was directed by OliverGoldstich who, if you Google him

(12:17):
, he's a huge prolific TVproducer, writer, creator.
And then the choreographers forthat production, who are also
sophomores, were Sue Addison,michelle Melkersen.
We did the show Great success.
Was that the Lydia Mendelson?
So much fun.
Then Sue Addison and MichelleMelkersen come to me and go hey,
we want to start a dancecompany.
We wondered if you'd be our guy, because we need a guy.

(12:38):
And I went yeah, I know how tobe a guy.
Linda Goodrich recruited me tobe a guy in a dance company
years ago.
I'll do that.
I'll be like lift.
Yeah, but we want to.
You know you're really going tobecause you're a really good
dancer, because we did all thatFawciesque stuff from sweet
charity.
They're going.
You know he's a guy.
And so the three of usco-founded Impact Jazz Dance.

(13:00):
It was called Impact Jazz DanceCompany and we were housed in
the ballroom at the StudentUnion.
That's where we did back thenour concerts and did our classes
.
You know that was something wekept going the entire time we
were there.
But I ended up leaving midwayof my third year at Michigan but
it was still ongoing with thetwo of them and other people
because the company had grown.

(13:21):
And then maybe five, seven yearsago, sue Addison she and her
husband co-founded the WaldorfCharter School that our kids
went to.
We're at a soup plantation,which is like this buffet style
cafeteria food that kids lovebecause they can go at the soft
serve ice cream machine withoutthe parents knowing and just eat
tons of you know tooth rottingsugar.
But we were there and I sawanother actor who I knew and

(13:43):
we're talking at a table withhis family and then I hear from
the cross room is that GregJabara?
And it was Sue Addison, who Ihadn't seen since we were doing
this dance company and she goesyou should really come.
We were starting a Waldorfschool and it was right.
When I had taken dirty, rottenscoundrels, I was about to go
back to New York with my wholefamily because my kids hadn't
started grade school yet.

(14:04):
Long story short, our kids,when we came back, when dirty,
rotten scoundrels was over, wecame back to our house and our
kids got into the lottery andgot into that Waldorf school and
that's where they reallythrived.
And there again, dance.
Sue Addison, my familybenefited exponentially.
You can't even count the valueof that.
So that's how impact jazzhappened and I think I sent you

(14:25):
some paperwork that it was in,you know, one of the
publications that it's stillhappening today.
They've changed it to justimpact dance.
They took impact jazz dance outof it.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
You were the founder.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
But yeah, although more indirectly, but with Linda
Goodrich, who now, we must boast, is stepping back in to fill
the void of their director ofthe Musical Theater Program.
But she had retired as aprofessor of dance at the
Musical Theater Program atMichigan.
But Linda and I were a memberof the pilot program.
She and about seven otheractors were this pilot program

(14:59):
that was spearheaded by ConnieBarron and Beverly Renalde under
Dean Boylan back in the schooland he goes.
We need a musical theaterprogram here, Connie, here
Beverly, round up some kids,show me that we can do it.
And Connie knew Linda.
I don't know how Linda reachedout to me.
Once again, we need a guy andyou know, the University of

(15:19):
Michigan Musical TheaterTraining Program now is one of
the premier places to go if youwant to be trained outside of
New York City as a musicaltheater actor.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
So it was small when you went there and Linda went
there at the same time with you.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
We started it it didn't even exist.
Wow, it took about three orfour years because they were
going to start out my third yearand I had audition, even though
I was part of the foundinggroup and.
But I auditioned and theyaccepted me, but I had to take
like another two years ofclasses that were just music

(15:54):
department oriented and therewas no guarantee that this thing
was going to work Right.
And then I got accepted toJuilliard.
That was a whole other journey.
You know mentors saying youneed to go to a better program
that's established and you couldstay here and take a risk or go
to something if they'll takeyou.
So that's how I ended up leaving.
I never got to see it come tofruition.
But it wasn't till Brent Wagnerit wasn't really till he came

(16:15):
in as the artistic director,which was about four years after
we started it that it reallyreally, really took off.
But yeah, I like to claim I was.
I gave a little bit of bloodand love to helping that program
, but it really was.
It was Dean Boylan, the dean ofthe School of Music, and then
Connie Barron and BeverlyRinaldi and then Linda Goodrich,

(16:39):
who I still have a crush on.
And then she ended up being thedirector of and then, yes, then
she goes because she and I Ileft, she got a job doing the
national tour of sugar babiesand then ultimately came back
and they took her in as aprofessor and that was the
smartest thing they could havedone, because she nurtured some
of the most important youngBroadway stars who were products

(17:01):
of that program.
She's yeah, she was a gift tothem and me.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
A gift to me.
I didn't say I was a gift.
Thank God for Linda Goodrich.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Agree.
How about talking aboutJuilliard and your mentors?

Speaker 3 (17:15):
So it was Connie Barron.
By my second year I changed mymajor to theater.
My parents hung their head inshame but you know, I got a job.
I was a cook at Mountain Jackson Jackson Road and I worked in
the cafeteria at West Quad and Idid a non-union children's
theater tour.
And then I dropped out afterthe first semester of my third
year, knowing I was going toaudition at the Juilliard School

(17:37):
.
Now I knew that I had to goaway.
I had to go someplace becauseeverybody at Michigan sing.
You need to go to a betterprogram and I went.
Okay.
So the Michigan Mafia, connieBarron, who's a few years older,
one of her dear friends, sharonJensen, was the president of
the League of ProfessionalTheater Training Schools, which
back then was Juilliard and my UYale SMU University of

(18:00):
Washington ACT.
There was like Cincinnati NorthCarolina School of the Arts.
There were, like there was thisconsortium of colleges that had
conservatory-like actortraining programs and they were.
It was just acting.
They weren't musical theaterprograms.
Well, juilliard wasn't.
So what Sharon Jensen taught meover the phone was explained to
me and I realized is if I'mgoing to leave Michigan and

(18:23):
where I'm at, yeah, I need to goto New York.
I need to go to New York Citybecause if I get into a school
there, when you're inperformances, the industry is
there and they're going to getto see all the different roles
you're going to play and they'regoing to have a real good sense
of who you are and what you cando as an artist.
Where, if I graduate from theUniversity of Michigan program,
I still have to now start allover when I get to New York

(18:44):
because they're not coming toAnn Arbor to see my work.
A production photo isn't goingto sell me to an agent, so I'm
going to have to hit thepavement again, although a lot
of the programs now do showcasesfor their graduating classes in
New York City and Los Angeles,which is a vital and important
thing to do, but it used to onlybe for the schools that were in

(19:04):
New York.
Bottom line was my last twoyears of repertory were, you
know, seen by everybody and Ihad an agent.
Before I started my fourth year,pbs did a special about the
Juilliard School celebrating its80 years and I was chosen as
one of the actors to representthe acting program.
So I got to do two contrastingscenes live on PBS and the next

(19:26):
day William Morris, triad and JMichael Blumen Associates all
reached out, said we want tomeet Greg Jabara.
And I met with them all and Ichose to go with J Michael
Blumen Associates because theyhad a huge commercial department
and I still had a year ofschool to finish and I wanted to
finish.
My parents were afraid I wouldnever finish anything and I
really wanted to finish and getmy degree because my parents

(19:49):
also said you want a high schoolring or you want a college ring
.
And I went oh, I'm going tograduate college.
I needed a college ring that myparents owed me.
They were going to pay for it.
That was the brass ring that Iwas looking at, but it was also
while I was a student.
I could do, I could auditionfor commercials and maybe they
could be snuck in between classor I could only miss a day.
But I wasn't going to take a job, which I was offered in my

(20:12):
third year.
I read per cast for Simon andCumin Casting while they were
doing Brighton Beach Memoirs onBroadway and as a reader for
them.
And Neil Simon and MannyAsenberg said will you do the
national tour?
We want to hire you to go playWaikowsky in the national tour,
and I went.
Thank you, that's great, but no, I have a year of school to

(20:33):
finish.
Call me when I'm done, butdon't fire me as your reader,
because I really like the moneyfor this too.
So there were opportunities, butI really wanted to finish, and
it was a great opportunitybecause I ended up with an agent
before I was even done.
So, when Juliard had itsshowcase at the end of the year
for my class, I wasn't sweatingbullets like the majority of
them were.
It was such a privilege and aluxury to know I'm okay.

(20:56):
I had already booked.
Actually, my first on-camerajob was a TV commercial for the
Detroit Free Press.
Of all coincidences, they werecasting and shooting at New York
.
I auditioned, they hired me notknowing that I was a Michigan
Wow.
So I thought this is anotheromen.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
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Speaker 3 (21:31):
Go to akadasoftwarecom, aka
softwarecom, to inquire aboutyour free trial today, and then
I auditioned for the Juliardschool and the only weekend that
I was free from my financialobligations was the weekend they
were auditioning in SanFrancisco and I flew myself out
there and that's where Iauditioned and the fact that I

(21:54):
was there and not auditioning inChicago or in New York, which
were closer, that made animpression on them that they
went, that I was reallyambitious, hungry.
This is something I wanted.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
This is exactly what I want to know.
Where did you get your drive atsuch a young age?

Speaker 3 (22:10):
It was because all growing up, everything I tried
to do, everybody went yeah, thisis where you belong, Come on in
.
Yeah, this is for you, this isyour thing.
So I had nothing but positivereinforcement, especially in the
performing arts and in musicand in singing, my entire
childhood.
So there was a really firmfoundation of confidence and

(22:32):
belief, not because I had adream or I aspired, but because
I've been doing it forever, eventhough it's in school.
I did summer civic theater.
It was like I ate, slept andbreathed it my entire life and
that's where I belonged and it'swhere I was happiest and it's
where the world went.
Yeah, you got this thing andyou should be doing this.

(22:55):
So that's where it came from.
It wasn't because I'm watchingTV and I'm going oh, that looks
like fun, I'd love to do that.
It's because I was publiclyperforming, publicly speaking,
singing, dancing.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And you got good feedback.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
And it was always positive and I belong there.
My folks gave me the genes forbeing a performer.
Thankfully, even though thatroadblock at college was really
just, we didn't know anybody whomade a living in the performing
arts.
They were terrified for me.
I wasn't, I knew it, I knew.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
You knew you were going to be fine.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, I knew that's where I belonged and it was
going to come together becauseeverything had worked for me up
until then.
But my parents are justthinking big picture.
But every step I took, thatwent oh see, look, see, this is
good, I'm going to be okay.
Look, I'm out of other jobs butI'm doing the thing I love.
I mean all's off the dole.
I mean they cut off the moneythe moment I changed my major,

(23:50):
but I was fine.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
So what age was it that you saw a career?
What age was it when you went?
Maybe I could actually make aliving doing the thing that's so
fun for me.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Well, I knew that people made a living doing it
and I knew that there was aplace for me at every level that
I was in so far and I'd alwaysmoved to a bigger pond and
become a bigger fish and thenmoved to a bigger pond and every
new step.
It was probably when I gotaccepted into Juilliard that I
knew okay, and my parents toowent.

(24:22):
Oh, because they picked 26students from my class out of
about over 1200 who hadauditioned.
So, you know, and those are thepeople that really get
themselves there by then you'regoing.
Oh, this isn't just a pipedream, I'm not just kidding
myself, you know and the schoolwants talent coming out of that
program.
They're not going to wastetheir time either.
So that was a big turning point, you know.

(24:42):
That was validation, much moreprofound than anything, than
just the applause and the girlsthat I got to kiss, you know, in
grade school.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
So all right, let's jump right to the Tony.
What does it feel like to win aTony award, and what does that
do for your career?

Speaker 3 (24:58):
It does everything that you hope it would do.
So we were.
The family was here, we weren'tgoing to strike right then, but
all the work had run away fromCalifornia.
So there was very little workin Los Angeles and I'm living
here with two kids and amortgage and car payments and
there's no money coming in andmy wife and I are lying awake at
sleep at night, going I'm goingto have to take a FedEx job or

(25:21):
a cook job just so we can payour bills.
And then Dirty, rottenScoundrels came along and they
wooed me.
In addition to the idea ofuplifting my entire family and
coming to New York for two yearswith this is you're going to
originate a role and you knowDam Yankees, victor Victoria,
chicago it already opened withit.

(25:41):
I followed Jimmy Norton, so Iwasn't going to get any
recognition there, award wise,because award recognition is a
business ticket.
It puts a spotlight on you andit makes people want you just
because you got it right, eventhe nomination.
So the opportunity had neverreally come.
Victor Victoria, my role wasfor a musical.
I think I only sang a G at theend of the show.

(26:04):
So there are variables when theshows and development songs go
away, blah, blah blah.
So it ended up being a rolethat was great for me
financially and I got to meetimportant people in the film
industry because Julie Andrewswas.
So the people that came to seeher then saw me and it was great
.
But the Tony Award or awardrecognition Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels said come out, you'regoing to originate a role and

(26:26):
it was a really greatpossibility.
But the reality was, and asbrilliant as I was in Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, there wereother actors supporting actors
and other musicals who justeclipsed the demands of my role
and you can't give a nominationto everybody who did great work.
There's only five spots andthere were five or seven guys

(26:46):
who deserved a nomination aheadof me because of what they had
to do was much more amazing thanwhat was required for me.
So when Billy Elliot came along,it was and it was.
There was a strike that we hadjust come through in Los Angeles
.
The show had already beenrunning on the West End and the
role of the dad was nominatedfor an Olivier Award.
It had already run for a yearin Australia and the role of the

(27:09):
dad was nominated for a HelpmanAward.
So I'm now being business savvybecause you can make promises
and hopes and aspirations.
But when shows are indevelopment and try out out of
town, you don't know how yourcharacter is going to end up and
I'm not some big prima donnastar who can control how you're
going to change my character.
That's.
I didn't have that luxury.
So what was great about thecommon sense choice to go after

(27:31):
this job was it's already provenitself worthy of that kind of
attention in all the othermarkets before it was coming to
Broadway.
So it was a smart thing for meto do.
The only problem was the castingdirector didn't think I was
right for the role and didn'twant to see me.
And my agents had thrown everyother actor who could possibly

(27:53):
be right for dad at them andnone of them caught fire.
So I never went in because thecasting office wasn't interested
in me, because the last thingthey saw me do was playing a
French inspector in dirty,rotten scoundrels and they just
didn't see past that skinny,arrogant, you know, upper class
Frenchman.
So my agents said would youconsider?

(28:14):
And I'm in LA.
They said, would you considercoming into an audition?
And normally if I audition for aBroadway show, the way it works
is the producers of that show.
They fly me out that night, thenext morning I audition, and
that afternoon they put me up ata hotel in Times Square.
I audition in the morning, meetwith everybody and then they
put me on a plane and fly mehome and it's all paid for by

(28:35):
the show.
That's been since I left andit's kind of nice and it's
happened maybe a half a dozentimes.
Well, I said, oh, so they'regonna, they're interested.
They were like, well, actually,no, they don't think you're
right, but they haven't likedanybody else we've thrown.
So we're wondering if youconsider it.
So I have to come out on my owndime and I put myself up and
blah, blah, blah.

(28:55):
But I'm looking at thefinancial traits that were in
here in LA and I did theresearch on the show and for me
it was worth the couple hundredbucks it was going to cost.
And my brother Mike, who youknow well, who played your
brother Michael, and MaryPoppins said, yeah, come, stay
with us up in Westchester.
So I again proved to the peopleof the show that I wanted it.

(29:17):
I wasn't just there because itwas convenient, it was like.
My interest and it was also acrazy coincidence was if you'd
seen the movie of Billy Elliot,the film that the actor who
plays the dad is actuallyScottish and he wasn't the best
dialectician so he was reallydoing a Scottish accent in the
movie, not a really good Geordieaccent, which is where

(29:39):
easington is.
It's a Geordie accent.
So it's like if you're fromsome other country, you don't
know the difference betweenBrooklyn and New York, or I
should say Boston and Brooklyn.
You're not going to really knowthe difference.
Right, it's a, that's an, orChicago.
So you know American actorsdon't necessarily know that he's
doing just a lousy Geordie,mostly Scottish accent.
So they're all coming intoaudition and the creative team,

(30:01):
they're all losing their mindsbecause we know that's and we're
going, but we're sounding like.
We sound like the guy in themovie.
They're going, yeah, but he'snot.
That was Scottish.
We want a Geordie accent.
So you had to spend a sessionwith the dialect coach on the
show before they were going tospend any time in the callback
session, which my agent who aregreat enough they told that they

(30:22):
cajole the casting director toget me into the final callbacks.
I wasn't going to do a prescreen with anybody.
Get me in the room with withStephen Daldry and Julian Weber,
because there, clearly, thecasting director didn't think I
was right and I don't want it togo through any dissenters.
So I'm having my session withWilliam Connaker and I don't
know where I got it, but I havean ear for dialects and I worked

(30:44):
with him and he went yeah,great.
So he literally had to sign off.
If William didn't say, yeah,this guy can do the dialect,
they weren't going to waste mytime.
And this was four hours beforemy scheduled session, and if he
had said no, I would have beengoing home.
So not only did he know that Icould do it, he goes here's some
other things you need to knowgoing in and I went oh, this is

(31:05):
great, he has confidence in me,he thinks I might be great for
this project.
So then, while I was waitingfor my session with William it's
hours before my audition Daldry, who I'd never met before
Stephen Daldry, you know,academy nominated director, the
most amazing human being, genius, talent comes walking in.
Now what I do, and I've alwaysdone since the internet, is you

(31:28):
get a breakdown and says you'regoing to go audition for this
show and hear all the peopleinvolved writers, creative,
everybody.
You can go online and I look upevery single name and I find a
picture of that person, even ifI don't know them, and I look up
their history to find out ifthere's any connective tissue.
Now internet movie databaseactually does that for you.
Imdb Pro I can go and say, haveI ever worked with this person?

(31:50):
And it'll say yes, no, or youhave this person in common,
which is great for business.
But before IMDB, I would go andlook up everybody's name and
face and then on my auditionsheet I put their picture and
their name and whateverinformation I might have.
Because when you walk into theroom which is the only
opportunity you're going to getto make your impression when

(32:10):
they'd say, hi, I'm somebody, Igo I would already know who they
are.
And not that it was.
It's a subtle thing.
Jerry Lewis taught me this whenhe came into Damiengis his
first day at rehearsal heintroduced himself to every
single person and asked theirname.
And the second day he came torehearsal, he addressed every
single person by their firstname and it knocked everybody

(32:31):
out.
We went, holy crap, and it madeeveryone feel so important and
subtle as that is, I went.
That's something I'm going todo in everything I ever do and
it's been an invaluable tool andkindness and appropriate
respect to instead of callingsomebody big guy know their name

(32:52):
and because it means something.
So Steven Daugherty comes downthe hall and I'm still long
haired, unshaven, not in myaudition outfit.
We said hello, shared nicethings.
He appreciated the fact that Iflew myself out for this and I
said, yeah, I'm really lookingforward, I'll see you in a
couple hours.
And then he went and took go dophone calls.
And then I went away to myfavorite barber in Times Square

(33:14):
because I hadn't been I've beenaway for over a year and a half
and cut all my hair off numberfour clipper and put change into
an outfit that looked a lotlike what the dad wore in the
movie leather coat, work boots,jeans, work shirt.
And that's how I walked intothe audition.
And even for Steven he saw,just a matter of minutes, a
completely different look.
Right, and suddenly I've got myJordy accent.

(33:36):
So that was how I got the gig.
And after the first several hoursession he goes.
So how long are you in town?
And I said as long as it takes.
And he went okay, you'll behearing from us, you know, the
next 24 hours.
So then I left, stayed with mybrother, got a call by the end
of the next day.
They wanted me to come back inwhen it did another work session
, which was just with Steven andJulian, the assistant director.

(33:59):
And what I always say is theyalready knew that I could do the
character.
They already knew that I coulddo the work.
Now they wanted to find out whoI was as a human being, because
what that job was was being thepatriarch of a show that has 24
children in it.
And this job is not going to beabout you and your ego.
This show is aboutunderstanding.

(34:21):
We need to protect and nurtureand support these kids because
they are the heart of this show.
And are you that person?
And having two sons who were atthe time a year and a half and
maybe you know, four and a halffive, steven even offered to put
my kids in the ensemble and I,before I'd gotten hired, but he

(34:44):
goes well, we could put yourkids to the show.
And I went no, no, no, thankyou.
I wouldn't do that to any child.
But it took several months ofwaiting and then ultimately got
hired.
But I had to turn the job downbecause the British producers
weren't going to pay for thecost of relocating me to New
York.
London producers are used tohaving everybody live in London.

(35:05):
So if you're a London stageactor, film actor, tv actor,
everybody lives in London orthey have a house in the country
but they all have a place inLondon.
Here it's LA and New York.
And if you're an LA actor andyou want to work in New York,
jody Rottens, countels,everybody relocated and paid for
the expenses to move my wholefamily so I could do that job.
London producers said no, wedon't do that and I went oh okay

(35:27):
, well, I can't do the job andliterally had to turn it down
after haggling and working out,kings and me taking his biggest
sacrifice on the show butknowing it was going to be a
success because and it alreadyproven itself in other markets
you know I didn't, I didn'tactually make any money.
You know my salary till.
Well, after the show was openyou go in just making enough

(35:50):
money to cover your expenses inNew York and cover your expenses
paying your bills back in LA.
You know for the house and youknow that kind of thing and
without knowing it's going totake off and that's kind of the
rule, which is kind of the issuewith the strike that's going on
with TV and film right now.
It's the same thing.
Actors take a huge riskinvesting themselves in a show
early on, but when it startsmaking money for everybody who

(36:12):
produces it down the road, theactors need to get their share.
And that's the normal onBroadway.
Everybody goes in, go and allright, we'll all do it for
nothing.
But when it starts catchingfire, everybody starts
incrementally making a littlebit more money and that's the
right thing to do and that'swhat it was.
And so the Tony Awards arecoming up and they happen at
Radio City Music Hall and theproducers of the event the

(36:35):
theater wing are considering notbecause the red carpet happens
on a very narrow sidewalk on50th Street adjacent to the
Radio City and it's a realtraffic disruptor and it really
is difficult to keep safe andthey were considering not having
a plus one on the red carpetwhen you're coming in for all

(36:56):
the TV and all the step andrepeat photo stuff and all that,
and it's like plus one meansthat your spouse gets to go with
you, you know, because they'regoing to be with you at the
event.
But what do you mean?
They can't walk through the redcarpet with me and if you're a
single person, you bring yourmom, or you bring your sibling
or or your lover, or you bringyour agent.
Someone gets to share thatexperience with you, and they

(37:18):
were considering making it noplus one.
We just want the people thatare nominated just for logistics
, and we all went well, then wewon't be doing a red carpet,
let's just go right to theceremony.
And we literally all put ourfoot down and they went all
right, here we go.
But thinking that my wife mightnot be able to, we wouldn't do a
red carpet I thought to myselfif I win, I'm going to take her

(37:40):
with me, I'm going to bring herup on stage, because no one
really got to chance to see whomy wife is.
Who's the really the other halfof why I was able to do this,
the success story and you canGoogle my speech on YouTube, I
won't reiterate it, but itreally was celebrating the fact
that I couldn't have done what Idid if my wife wasn't hadn't
spent the last year primarilyalone raising our children in LA

(38:03):
while I was in New York chasingthis opportunity.
So the great thing was when ithappened that night that I was
able to take her hand,unbeknownst to her, take her
with me up on stage and she wentwith me through the whole
gauntlet, I mean the whole pressthing and our show.
Billy Elliot performed theirnumber right after like 20

(38:26):
minutes, 30 minutes after mycategory was announced.
So I went right into a dressingroom and got changed and
prepped for our performance andmy wife got treated like royalty
.
They brought her a chair andfood and they brought a monitor
for her to watch the broadcastand back stage.
And then she went with me whenwe went up to the rainbow room
for the press gauntlet and thebest part about it was she never

(38:50):
had to defer to me to talkabout what that night was like,
because she was with me everystep of the way and it was a
shared experience, because itwasn't shared earned experience.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
So she's not an actress.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
She's still a union dues paying member of SAG after
yes.
She was in a drunken stupor ina bar in New York City.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah, but it turns out we had she.
Actually, it was while I wasdoing Victor Victoria.
She had worked on a film andthe director of that film was
actually going to direct thebroadcast that we did for
Japanese public television.
So he had to go see the showfor like a week and Julie went
with him to see Victor Victoria.
So she had seen the show, eventhough on the night that we met,

(39:41):
when she'd come into the barwith a handful of the New York
Rangers hockey team, she didn'tremember me and she didn't.
But she said, oh, I saw thatshow.
And then I lured her in withtickets to see Nathan Lane in.
Funny Thing Happened on the Wayof the Forum and she was
already like half one foot overthe state line because she was

(40:02):
going to move to LA.
So a little free dinner, alittle free theater from someone
who seemed pretty safe, youknow, sounded good to her.
And then the rest is history.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
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services, body Dynamics aims tosupport the whole performer.
Learn more about their services, including physical therapy,
dance, fitness, nutrition,counseling, backstage triage and
more, at BodyDynamicsInccom.

(40:58):
That's BodyDynamicsInccom.
Or find them at BodyDynamicsIncon Facebook and Instagram.
See how Body Dynamics can helpyou dance better, faster,
stronger together.
How important do you thinkdance is to theater?

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Ballet is important if you're going to be a football
player, because it teaches yourbody things about poison,
familiarity and grace that willbenefit being an athlete.
Dance does the same thing foran actor, whether you're going
to be a dancer or not.
When you learn how to move,when you understand how things
work, when you become focused onjust trying to create a line,

(41:44):
then you suddenly become awareof habitual movement that maybe
you want to get rid of or use asa tool for a characterization.
So dance, it's an importanttool for any performer, whether
it's front and center of whatyou do or it just informs
something else.
That might be your particularfocus.
But as a musical theater actorbecause I auditioned for

(42:05):
musicals in those auditions youhave to dance and it ends up
being something that they go.
Oh, he can move.
And at Juilliard we had a moderndance teacher.
We had Anna Sokolo, who waslike the queen of modern dance.
She was one of our teachers fora movement class.
Mary Jane Brown was our tapteacher.
So even though Juilliard wasn'ta musical theater training
program, they trained classicalstage actors.

(42:27):
They understand you needmovement and so all of it was a
part of our training over thefour years and I was giddy
because I knew that you knowthat the tap classes would
benefit me ridiculously and someof those photos I don't know if
you saw them that I sent you,there's a leap, there's a
drummer, a percussionist doingbeats and we're running across

(42:47):
the room and leaping and running, and leaping and running.
And I was like, yeah, look,there's, there's a little form
right there, because I canremember when they finally got
that program at Michigantogether and I had to audition,
I had to do a dance audition.
My entire dance routine was onthe floor.
I never did one single leap.
I wasn't about to show them thegiraffe trying to, you know,

(43:10):
spread his legs and cover someground.
I was always on the floor.
So my greatest pride is thatthe photographer captured a
moment in that movement classwhere I was actually leaping,
you know, like a gazelle, but,yeah, dance, vital to my success
as an actor on all levels.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
So what advice would you give somebody right now
who's maybe 18, a dancer wantingto get on Broadway?
What should they be doing?

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Well, this is really important advice, and let me
just explain why.
Because when Damien Keyes wastrying out at the Old Globe
Theater, one of the New Yorkpapers wrote a little blip, you
know, an anticipation showcoming to New York.
And they boasted and the showboasts Broadway's top male
dancers.
And they listed Scott Wise, whowon a Tony Award, for Jerome

(43:59):
Robbins, broadway, michael Bress, corey English, joey Peasey,
gregory Jabara my name waslisted and I'm not a dancer, but
in writing and I know I've gotit framed somewhere it's
somewhere in a box in thatgarage but it was like never,
ever again in my life will youever see dancer Gregory Jabara

(44:23):
Like it doesn't even say that onmy resume.
It says actor who sings andmoves without embarrassing
himself.
But it's vital as a dancer.
If you're going to come tomusical theater from a dance
background, you're going to needsinging ability and you're
going to need acting ability.
So if you want to be asuccessful dancer, you should be

(44:44):
taking singing classes and youshould be taking acting classes,
even if you end up just being afeatured dancer who never,
really ever, has to sing,because there are Broadway shows
who have a couple of featureddancers who all they do is like
the dream ballet or somethingthat doesn't require them having
the chops that the rest of thesinging ensemble has.
But, like dance, benefited meas an actor, it will only

(45:07):
benefit you as a dancer, andespecially if you want to get
into performing musical theaterbeing a triple threat if you
really, if that's somethingyou're aspiring to, those are
things that need to be a part ofyour routine in terms of making
yourself more marketable andmore appealing so that people
will hire you.
And the other thing isharkening back to that second

(45:29):
session I had with the BillyElliot creative.
They're going to hire people whoare comfortable in their own
skin, people who don't have adesperation about them, people
who aren't carrying a lot ofemotional baggage.
There are a lot of like bigsuperstars who just like shot
into superstardom and they'revery difficult to deal with.

(45:49):
And when people are castingshows, especially shows that
they hope to have a very longrun, they want to put a
community together of people whoaren't toxic and who are happy
and who know how to take care ofthemselves.
And that means you don't haveto be you know everything's
great.
It means have a strong supportgroup.

(46:11):
Or, if you don't have the luxuryof a family that nurtures what
you want to aspire to do.
Make sure you have friends whosupport you and remind you how
important you are, because thatconfidence coming into an
audition is as important as theability, because there are going
to be 30 people who can do thejob and do it well.

(46:32):
They want the person who theywant to hang out with for the
next however many days or monthsor years that this job may be.
That's what it really comesdown to.
So you need all the talentthat's a given and then, ideally
, you're a person that's likableand people want to be around,
because that's even moreimportant.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
I think that's so important.
I'm so glad you said that,because people get rehired.
They have a good reputation.
They have a bad reputation,doesn't matter how talented they
are.
Nobody's going to want themaround, right?

Speaker 3 (47:05):
And I've seen it happen.
I've worked with people whowere let go from a job that I
was on, but the two examplesremain nameless because they
both were stupid, talentedpeople but they had to get off
their high horse.
And I was on two differentshows consecutively where people
were really talented.
People were let go or were toldlook, either this has to happen

(47:29):
or you're done.
And it was the wake up callthey needed and that is actually
what the creative team did.
They went.
No, we could let this personjust crash and burn.
But, man, they have such greatpotential and we know they can
help themselves.
We're going to have to givethem a bruise and hopefully
they'll rise above.
And both individuals did, andour ridiculous gifts to the

(47:52):
Broadway stage and television tothis day.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
So how do you take care of yourself?
That's a grueling schedule,right the Broadway shows, oh
yeah.
So how do you manage to stayfresh for each performance and
how do you take care of yourhealth during a long run?

Speaker 3 (48:10):
The dancers are on an athletic level like an Olympian
, the discipline that is theirlife.
The dancers on a Broadway show.
So I can't.
I can't say I know that.
But I know that when I'm on aBroadway show Billy Elliot was
not at all vocally demanding Idid a lot of screaming.
I had to learn how to yellwithout hurting my voice but I

(48:31):
was actually able to slack offin Billy Elliot.
But dirty, rotten scoundrels.
Damienkes, you can't go out atnight, you can't go out.
And carousan, you can't go outdrinking, having late, you know
midnight dinners, which isreally the Broadway life.
That's when everything happens.
You have to go.
I can't do that because ittakes a toll on your ability to
do your job and that's the wakeup call for me.

(48:52):
I actually ended up injuringmyself during Billy Elliot, but
it was actually because I wasplaying softball that day in the
Broadway show league and pulledsomething.
Oh boy, I hope the insurancecompanies don't hear that.
But you can't take for grantedthat you're invincible, because
when you really realize andappreciate that this is your
livelihood, you go.
Oh, I need.
These are steps I need to taketo protect myself and it takes

(49:13):
discipline, but dancers kind ofhave it.
I don't think all ballerinasare cigarette smokers.
Like they were.
I just couldn't believe it,like literally we'd all break
from class and they'd all headto the elevator and down and out
to the smoking area.
The ballerinas and I'm going,yeah, okay.
But you know there areindividuals who come from very
lively, you know they like toplay hard, but when they get

(49:36):
into the rigors of a Broadwayshow it kind of shows you what
you must do and what you need.
And those that don't sadly endup getting replaced, you know,
because they end up being tooinjured or they can't do the job
or they start showing up late.
And that's why we haveunderstudies and that's why
there's a list of minimally 10people that every casting

(49:56):
director knows, for every showthat's happening right now, that
if someone doesn't appreciatethe job they have, there are at
least 10 other people that areready to come in and show that
they're grateful to have thatgig.
When you have that job youdevelop a gratitude and it
really is.
And that's part of the beautyof the Broadway community, I
think, is that everyone thatworks there knows how lucky they

(50:18):
are and they cherish it andthey enjoy every single aspect.
The discipline thing.
You know, in the rehearsals, inthe culture of the show, for
someone who's new, they'reprobably going to come in more
prepared in terms of what itwill take to stay in shape and
be able to do your job.
Then we'll be needed.
In my younger days it was, youknow, the Sunday matinee would

(50:41):
finish and then you would justbe stupid for the next 24 hours
and then you had all of Mondayand Tuesday day to recover and
then you started doing showsagain on Tuesday night and you
were a saint and then youfinished on Sunday and then you
played really hard.
I had to give that up.
As you know, as you get older,the harsh reality was I gained

(51:05):
so much weight after my Broadwaylife.
It started coming on duringBilly Elliot.
I started gaining weight.
I actually gained weight for therole but then kept gaining
weight because I was going outevery night because I didn't
have to really take care of myvoice.
You know I didn't have to soundpretty.
Then I went to my TV gig and Ijust got fat because you know,
doing television you can workwith a hangover.

(51:28):
And the reality was I had it.
You can and have.
I'm not proud to admit.
So yeah, and then I just had togo oh, you can't do this.
And it wasn't embarrassingbehavior, but it was just like I
was getting fat.
I got fat, I was clinicallyobese, and it was just like, oh,
I can't play that hard, I haveto take care of myself.

(51:49):
I'm not 28 anymore, you know.
So yeah, you learn.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Name some people that you were just overly impressed
to be able to work with.
That blew you away.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
We talked about Jerry Lewis right, that skill that he
has about making people feelimportant.
He was a gift to come in.
He replaced Victor Garber asthe devil in Damienkes, and
Charlotte Dambois came in for BBNeworth and that was our new
cast, and that was pretty dreamy.
Jerry Lewis was the mostgenerous, kind, candid but

(52:25):
lovely, loving individual.
He was amazing.
He also gifted me a moment thatI never thought possible.
We're doing Damienkes, but I'min rehearsals now for Victoria,
which I'm going to leaveDamienkes to go do, and Jerry
comes to me one day and goeswill you bring me with you to
rehearsal so I can go say hi toBlake and Julie, blake Edwards

(52:47):
and Julie Andrews and I'mthinking you're Jerry Lewis, you
don't need me to bring you torehearsal, you can just walk
into 890 Studios and the worldwill stop for you.
But he was so kind inempowering me with this purpose
and so I went.
Yeah, I would love to, he goes.

(53:08):
So what would David be?
Good, I go tomorrow 10 o'clock,but he goes, he goes, well,
I'll come by my car and pick youup and we'll go.
And I was like, okay, I don'thave to ride the subway, I'm
riding in Jerry's car.
This will be a blast.
So we walk into 890 Studios andI knew we needed to come.
You know, probably half hourearly before we're going to
start, when all the dancers arewarming up and we're just having

(53:29):
coffee and catching up, and Iwalk in the room you know this
is a rehearsal room that hasJulie Andrews, blake Edwards,
tony Roberts you know it was abig heavy header crowd and then
all the amazing cast in the show.
But I walk in with Jerry Lewisand it's like who, and it was
like that's right.
I just came in with an icon andBlake and Julie and Jerry go

(53:51):
Blake, julie, there's this bighug fest.
And then they just sat down andall of us just came around and
sat on the floor while theycaught up because they hadn't
seen each other in person inquite a long time.
Apparently, and I'm thinkingthat's my pal Jerry.
I brought Jerry in here to hangout with you know, julie and
Blake.
That was a magic moment that hegifted me.

(54:13):
The other amazing thing firstday of rehearsal, you know you
all, everybody comes in and allthe designers, everybody's there
.
They're going to show you howthe set's going to work and
everybody talks about and theyshow you everything.
Everybody ooze and awes and wedon't really work.
Maybe we'll sing through somesongs, but it's really just
everybody kind of meet and greet.
Well, julie's there in a Oxfordshirt, semi-opaque, with a

(54:34):
floral bra on, and it's veryclear that it's not completely
opaque and she's looking.
This is Julie Andrews.
She's looking like smoking hotand this is what this is 1995.
How old was she?
She was probably 50, 60 andstunning.

(54:55):
And I'm thinking I'm going tohell.
I'm excited to see Maria VonTrapp and she's a nun and she's
smoking hot.
That was.
That was like the firstimpression.
Tom Selig and I met doing thefilm in and out, and at the end
of that movie we're wrappingdays.

(55:17):
He made a point of saying to meyou're hilarious, he goes,
you're very talented, you'refunny.
I have a production company.
We'll work together one day.
And in this industry and I'vebeen in it since 1985, at the
end of every job everybody goesman, this was a blast, we'll do
this again.
You know all the people.
You know producers, directors,everybody will do this again.

(55:39):
It's like, yeah, great, but youknow, out of sight, out of mind
, and it's not blown smoke whenthey enjoy you.
That's how they say.
I'd love to find something elseto do.
My late brother, who was a TVproducer until Tom Selig, was
the most prolific employer.
He would hire me to do all theannouncer work on every TV show
he produced.
Tom Selig said this to me andI'm leaving the last day of work

(56:01):
on.
All right, I'm validated.
Magnum PI just said he wouldwork with me again.
I don't know how that'll everwork, but you know I'm feeling
validated.
He's doing a new sitcom with EdAsner and David Krumholz and
Penelope and Miller and Ed Asner.
I did Born Yesterday onBroadway.

(56:21):
It's a sitcom, so the first dayyou do a table read.
They did a table read with aguest star.
He didn't work that.
That evening they brought infive other actors.
Selig is a producer on this.
He was in the room.
It's the first time I'd seenhim since we had worked on In
and Out a couple of years, maybetwo years ago.
It was like a big hey, man, Ihaven't seen you.
Great, I did this audition,made a big choice, it was

(56:43):
perfect.
He goes.
Okay, greg's a guy we're doneMoving on, so he hires me to do
this guest role on this series.
That never went past sixepisodes.
Then another single cameracomedy.
My agents now knew at thispoint if Tom Selig's doing
anything, get Greg in on it,because Tom likes to work with
Greg.
Well, they did.
It was called Touch Mama Call.

(57:03):
We only shot the pilot, but Tomhired me again for that.
So I win the Tony Award.
I'm in New York, I'm riding ahigh.
I just got offered to play RobPattinson's dad in Remember Me
the movie.
It was like a straight offerbecause I was a Tony Award
winner.
It was like the first time thathad ever happened for a movie.

(57:24):
And then Blue Blood, justcoming to New York starring Tom
Selig, and I'm thinking, oh,I'll get my agents on that, at
the very least I'll get a gueststarring role on an episode.
And I went in three times in thepre-limb auditions for that
first season.
Tom was never in the room but Iwent in three times.
Nothing Never got hired and Ididn't stink it up.

(57:45):
I mean they were reallywell-prepared, good auditions,
solid, great.
I mean good enough.
They kept bringing me backThree times.
Nothing Never got hired.
I thought, oh, honeymoon's over,no more Tom Selig.
Well, toward the end of thefirst season, my agent calls and
says Tom Selig wants you forthis character.
It's got a two-episode arc.
He wants you, but the producersare asking if you'd be willing

(58:08):
to come in and read for themtomorrow.
And I went.
I will jump through hoops.
I have no ego at all.
The key to getting a job Ilearned I have learned is that
you got to be in the room andlet those people meet you.
So they go.
Oh, and we like him, besidesbeing able to be, do the job.
So I went.

(58:30):
I would do that in a heartbeat.
I can't do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow we're putting, we'redoing a put in rehearsal for a
brand new Billy in Billy Elliot.
It's this child's Broadwaydebut and the only rehearsal I'm
going to have with him, withorchestra, is tomorrow, and I
must be there for that child.
I cannot not be there.
So any other day I'll do it,but I can't be there.

(58:53):
And I also had a cold.
So I was little doesn't soundlike perfectly clear.
But that wasn't an excuse.
The real reason was I have anobligation to my current job.
Give me another day, I'll comethe next day, then my agent's
gone.
Oh, all right.
So that I went, felt absolutelygood about my choice, went and

(59:13):
did the put in rehearsal for thekid and before we started the
second show, got a call from theagent and said all right,
they're just going to give youthe role.
And then I went.
God, I love Tom Selleck, thatguy's the best.
Because the bottom line was Tomobviously went, I want Greg to
do it, and they and they at allwent.
Once I was on set and met themall they went.

(59:33):
We all knew you, we've all seenBilly Elliot, we love it, blah,
blah, blah.
But they wanted to meet mebecause they didn't know me and
I would have done it.
But the other hook on that is on.
That is Tom's wife Jilly.
She was the original white catin cats on the West End.
Jilly has loved me since in andout, because she knew I came

(59:53):
from musical theater and shecomes from musical theater and
she was interested in playingMrs Wilkinson in the Broadway
run of Billy Elliot and itdidn't come to fruition for
whatever reason.
But she was completely dialedinto what was going on in my
world and, knowing Tom thoughhe's a tremendous loyal
professional friend you know shehad her finger on the pulse of

(01:00:15):
what was going on in the Tonysmore than he did, and I know
that she really is the guardianangel who said what about Greg
for that role, the DCPI, it'sit's time to bring him in.
I always tell people she was asimportant because she likes me,
tom loves her.
I'm golden.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
This episode is brought to you by Mix Tape
Studios, a full servicerecording studio online at
mynewmixtapecom, a one-stop shopfor all your recital and
competition music editing needs.
So if you were starting today,what would you do differently

(01:00:58):
than you did when you wereactually starting?
What mistakes did you make thatyou would not repeat?

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
now?
Oh, not a single one.
I mean, I'm really happy that Ihave a.
I have a great career, you know, I'm able to have a family and
be a working actor and I neversuffered once there were, in my
early days.
There were people who loved andcared about me, who weren't
necessarily in the business, whowould say you should be a

(01:01:27):
bigger star by now.
I'm angry that it's nothappening for you.
And I always knew, because of mylife, the trajectory.
There was always something forme, always, and it wasn't like I
had to hope or dream.
I would apply myself, I wouldgo after things and the right
things would come to me at theright time, and I've always
believed that.

(01:01:47):
And so I wouldn't change athing.
I was even married to RebeccaLuecker.
The beautiful, late RebeccaLuecker was no longer with us
and that marriage was not thebest choice for us.
And we went through, you know,a really rough time, but that
led to me meeting my wife andhaving the life I have.
So there's been a lot ofhardship, but I wouldn't change

(01:02:09):
anything.
And the thing I would emphasizeis I always went after stuff,
like I didn't wait for stuff tocome to me.
If I saw something, I went howcan I get there?
Because you got to play to win,like the lottery.
You know, if you don't get yourhat in the ring then you're not
going to be considered.
So don't sit back.
I never sat back.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
How to get the nerve to go for things.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
I'm not basing my confidence on you know, whim and
dream.
Like we spoke before, peoplealways confirmed that I had
talent and gave me opportunityto learn that for myself and to
enjoy it, and that's been mywhole life.
You know, I've been doing thissince third grade and if you ask
my family, I mean I was frostythe snowman in the Christmas

(01:02:53):
concert in first grade and Ididn't even sing, I just had to
walk around with tissue paper onmy head and I was terrified,
I'll plainly admit.
But you know, I've been seekingthe spotlight my entire life
and, and and gratefully, I hadthe tools to be successful in
doing it.
And then, once I became aphysics minor at Michigan, I
realized everybody was doing intheir heads, in those, you know,

(01:03:16):
courses that took me hours tostudy, to do.
And I'm realizing I want to bea scientist, but man, I don't
have that gift.
But I do as a performer,because everybody keeps going oh
yeah, we want you to play therole, come do it.
So seeing where my forte is andstaying on it and challenging
it, that's what I've always done.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
That's great.
I'm so glad you found somethingso early that you enjoyed so
much and got such great feedbackfor exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
So.
We have two sons.
Our youngest son is in collegea baseball player, doesn't
really know what he wants tomajor in, doesn't know if he
wants to pursue baseballprofessionally.
His older brother knew in 11thgrade he wanted to be a pilot
and he got into Embry Riddle andhe graduated top of his class
with honors as a commercialmulti-engine pilot and in 11th

(01:04:07):
grade knew that's going to be mything and he was in one of the
best performing art schools andhas more talent than I do at his
age, than I had at his age.
But he went.
Oh my gosh, I don't like thepeople, I don't like the
competition, I don't like theunjustified, unmitigated ego.
Because my son grew upbackstage on Broadway and he

(01:04:28):
knew the people who really dothis for a living, the humble,
hardworking.
You know the ethic that is theworking people of Broadway.
And he was like going, you kidshave no idea and you don't
deserve it.
You're all horrible humanbeings with this entitlement.
And he goes.
I don't want to be in that, Idon't like it, I don't want to

(01:04:49):
go this journey.
I don't want to do it.
I want to be a pilot and thatmakes me happy and he's great at
it.
And, to echo what you weresaying, as a parent I'm going.
Oh, my wife and I go.
Thank God, our oldest childfound something that makes him
want to get up in the morningand that he's successful at and
that validates him.
And we keep telling our youngerson just know, your older

(01:05:12):
brother's an anomaly, yourparents, both of us.
Really, it was two years ofcollege before we said this is
what we're going to do.
You know, even though I had apassion, you know, until
everything falls into place andsays yeah, yeah, no, you're
right, you're right, this iswhere you belong.
You know it's hard to reallyput your foot down until then,
but we keep reminding ouryoungest keep pursuing something

(01:05:32):
, but don't.
You don't have to have theanswers yet.
No, you don't have to know, youdon't have to know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
But I think what you're saying is so good that
you just kept going where youwere enjoying it most Right, the
path of least resistance.
Almost just let yourself behappy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
Yeah, even though, even though everybody else said,
no, we want you to have anacademic degree.
It's like I would love to makeyou happy, but this makes me
happy.
Makes me happy.
I see a lot of people who justaren't talented, who are in New
York and, you know, really wantto be actors and I still try and

(01:06:12):
find the most discreet ways ofsharing.
You know, at some point you gotto go, you know paying the
bills, and think, well, it'snice to be able to have the
things I want, you know, and oh,this other career isn't so bad
and it's not telling me no allthe time.
And you know it's hard to watchpeople who really want it.
I'm also I realize I'm part ofa very privileged group of

(01:06:37):
Actors Equity Union members whoget to make a living as an actor
.
It's a very small percentageit's less than 10% who make a
living, who make enough money tobe able to pay their insurance.
I'm very lucky, but I was alsovery ambitious.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
It seems like you were ambitious even as a child,
in a positive way.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
Yeah, my parents always said, sure, try that.
Even when I tried the footballteam and I created my mother,
she didn't tell me to have to.
Have broke my hand preseasonpractice and I was out.
Then she went.
Oh, I'm so happy she goes.
I didn't want you playingfootball and she goes.
I knew it was important for youto be with all your pals
playing football at MarshallJunior High, but I'm so glad

(01:07:17):
you're not, because I justdidn't want to see you get hurt.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
So you had really supportive parents too, didn't
you?

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
Yeah, I really did.
That's so nice, yeah, and Istill do, my mom's still with us
.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Are you just happy to be an actor for the rest of
your life, or do you have plansto do something different or
teach other people how to act?

Speaker 3 (01:07:38):
Once I fell in love and started a family, the acting
thing becomes the opportunityto do that.
The acting becomes the job.
So what I'm grateful is that Ihave two sons who are finding
their way and I have a wife wholoves me and I finally get her

(01:07:58):
back, because the reality wasraising two boys.
I was third in line, althoughshe was raising me too, because
it took a lot of work to get meto grow up.
But with this strike it's alittle brutal because there is
hope that if this gets resolvedI still have a job to go back to
.
But it also could all blow up.

(01:08:19):
If this goes too long, I couldbe back to the ranks of the
unemployed and I'm close toretirement.
I could.
When you unions why they'reimportant.
I'm vested in three differentunions actors, equity, screen
actors, guild and AFTERA interms of health insurance and
that sort of thing and pension.

(01:08:41):
So I won't have to worryfinancially.
I know I'll be able to pay thebills and live modestly as we've
done.
Like it's really interesting tostrike how there's no income and
you're like going oh, we can'tjust go out to dinner or the kid
can't just go to Costco and buy$200 worth of red meat because
he is a furnace and he has toput on 30 pounds at six foot

(01:09:04):
seven as a baseball player.
It's like all those things.
Suddenly you're starting to go,oh oh, oh, oh, here's reality.
So it's like the strike isbrutal, but the film which will
not be mentioned, even thoughfor the first time ever because
of the strike, it's unusual Plushad to sign a non disclosure
agreement when I did that film.
So between that and I wasn't, Ihad to wait till it came out,

(01:09:26):
and then now, with the strike, Ican't talk about it.
It's the strangest thing to notbe toot my own heart.
And but I still do reap thebenefits because I'm not on
social media talking about thiswonderful job but because it is
so successful, I'm still gettingall the beautiful validating
feedback from people who aregoing to see the film, which

(01:09:47):
will remain nameless because youknow, amongst strike, so where
can people follow you on socialmedia?
Short story, ignore myprofessional profile on Facebook
because it was hijacked bypeople in Vietnam and I have no
control over it and I thinkeither they or Facebook throws

(01:10:07):
it.
But I can't find out becauseMetta let go of all their life
support people on Facebook andthere's no way to get it
resolved.
And it's been since April.
So don't bother going there,although you can scroll through
for historical stuff, but Ithink they stopped using it for
propaganda.
It's amazing that it gothijacked.
But go there for like lookingfor the last couple of years if

(01:10:29):
you want to see anything.
It's but Gregory Jabaracom,wwwgregoryjabaracom, and I'm
investing more energy there thanI am on Facebook because I
can't do anything on socialmedia and I can't toot my own
horn.
But you can go there to findout what's going on and why I'm
wearing a Whitmore Lake T-shirt.

(01:10:49):
Whitmore Lake Tavern.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
All right, I will do that.
Thank you so much for giving usthis great interview, greg.
It's such an honor to have youon this show.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Oh it's.
Thank you, sally.
It's a.
It's great to be reconnectedwith you after so many years.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
I can't wait to see you in DC.
We're going to have a fundinner.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
We must.
I love DC.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
And it's only a train ride from New York.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
We'll have fun and we'll regret it.
It'll be great.

Speaker 1 (01:11:15):
Okay, that sounds even more fun.
Thank you, greg, thank you somuch.
Thanks for listening and don'tforget.
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