March 24, 2024 • 37 mins
Dive into the captivating episode of 'Making it Happen: A Career in the Performing Arts' with Leesa Csolak and actor, dancer, and singer Curtis Holland. Known for his contributions on Broadway, Holland shares insights into breaking into the performing arts industry, finding professional representation, and establishing a successful career.
In the episode Holland shares his journey in the performing arts, from experiencing his early encounters with musical theater to embarking on a vocal training journey.
Listen to this enriching episode that uncovers essential elements for pursuing and thriving in a performing arts career. Find out how genuine love for the arts, hard work, persistence, and readiness to evolve, contributes to success in any given field. This narrative truly resonates with anyone wishing to make it big in any industry.
Also, get rare glimpses into Holland's professional space transformation, handling unexpected career changes, interpreting the importance of 'fit' in casting, and understanding the diverse forms of success beyond Broadway.
The episode winds down, outlining the significance of authenticity, and the need to express oneself while savoring the journey, despite the challenges the industry presents.
Join us on Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern for more insightful dialogues on succeeding in the performing arts industry. For more nuggets, follow us at LeesaCsolak_ LBCTalent.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
I had the most success with tap and I was the most competitive.
I definitely felt just as loved.
I think they get concerned about where their abilities lie regarding the three areas.
At first, it's not about doing the best thing for your career,
it's about doing something.
(00:27):
Welcome to Making It Happen, a career in the performing arts where we discuss
how to break into the performing arts industry for yourself or your child, teen, or young adult.
Guests include professionals who are passionate and share my vision of helping
talented individuals land professional representation and have successful careers in the arts.
My name is Leesa Csolak and I I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:50):
a career in the performing arts, having helped hundreds of clients break into
the performing arts business on stage, including Broadway, in films,
television, commercial work, and more.
This podcast is supplemental to my groundbreaking online courses.
For more information, you can check out all the ways that you can benefit from
my courses, my how-to videos, my live seminars, my free weekly newsletters, and free guides.
(01:11):
Go to lbctalent.com. My guest today is Curtis Holland.
And so like get up, get a job, go to Target, go to Chipotle,
go to the barista, assist classes,
work at a competition, judge competitions.
Teach, do something, audition for Ogunquit, audition for Tuts,
(01:36):
audition for anything, do anything, just do something, and then everything will start to build.
And that's what I did and after a
while I kept auditioning oh I had some crazy auditions I had
some bad auditions because again my learning curve was immense
and I had many things to have to figure
out so wait I have a question before you go on I have
(01:58):
a question when did the vocal training start
when you moved to the city like were you a singer prior when
you were younger were you doing musical theater anywhere where
you had to sing like when did the vocal piece come in for you
we had i did musical theater in middle and
high school we had basic understanding of
music and a voice training
(02:21):
where we had to sing often but we
weren't sitting down saying this is how you breathe this breathe
from this is how you produce sound this is the best version of sound for you
to produce it was there was a lot of that that happened but it was we did not
sit down and have music theory we were working real time in for the space that.
(02:47):
Are whatever we're working on, whatever performance we're working on, needed singing.
Every morning, especially in middle school, we would get into a circle and we
would have warmups that we would do.
The last maybe 10 minutes was somebody in the middle leading like,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, now you go, and then we would just do that.
(03:07):
We were always warming up and we were always cognizant of notes.
Of tone, of being on pitch, of harmony.
Harmony we were we had to learn all of
that from a young age and we used it a lot we were singing harmonies
in in middle school and high school but we
were not getting music theory and one-on-one
(03:30):
individualized voice training i did
not start that until i got to the city and may
you know i poked here and there because i was
just trying to figure out where to get that that from but I started that
maybe around 2015 so the year after I got
to New York I had maybe a
few voice lessons in my first job in Oregon
(03:51):
when they brought in a master teacher to do a
master class got back to the city started getting voice
lessons a little bit more frequently and then got them
very frequently when I had to cover it varies sometimes
it's very frequent sometimes it's not just depending on you
know if I'm in a show and if I have time but right now
I am in a a season of being very diligent with
(04:12):
voice lessons and so it goes back and
forth i recommend doing that so much
sooner than later because here's the thing y'all they like to tell you that
everybody needs a singer dancer actor like you need to do all three you need
to sing more than you need to be able to dance you just have to if you want
to do music i'm speaking from a very specific place if you want to do musical
theater make sure you can sing even if you want to just start in the the ensemble.
(04:37):
Because now I'm speaking specifically to dancers, but if you want to be in the
ensemble and make a good check for being in the ensemble,
make sure you can sing, make sure you can hold a note, make sure you know how
to blend with the group, make sure you know how to stay on pitch,
make sure you know a good tone that is pleasing to the ear.
(04:57):
Figure that out, number one. And then right after that.
Make sure that you can dance, make sure that you can fake your way through a
dance call slash be exceptional at a movers call.
That's what you're going for. Acting, say what you want about me,
internet. I don't care. We'll figure that out.
Speaking as somebody who did figure it out and just naturally did.
(05:21):
And again, I had prior training. I wasn't starting from scritchety scratch.
I had training in middle school and high school that made me a little bit more prepared.
But as in regards to that know what
beats are know what pauses are know what you're blocking us no upstage no downstage
know how to use a prop know how to act authentically know how to breathe through
(05:43):
the moment know how to plant your feet so they're just kind of pillars in each
thing that are necessary and then everything out of that should come out of
your love for doing it here, here,
cheers to that. Yes.
It's true though. But I think for you as a, your, your first genre was dance.
(06:04):
You're still having to be an actor. You're in the performance.
Do you know, like there's it's in there.
And if you're a singer first and that's where you, you fall,
whether that's in your school choir and, or in the school musical theater,
which your description of what What went on in your junior high is very similar
to, I think, what happens across this country in junior high programs,
(06:26):
because that's what they can do.
That's all they can do. They're dealing with lots of children and trying to
expose them to the art. Right.
But if they're a singer first, they're having to, in performance,
tell the story within the song.
So you're an actor. It's all there.
It's just a matter of understanding, like you're mentioning and labeling pillars.
(06:47):
You know, those those different moments that you just have to have that general
idea to be able to get through all of that for sure.
But do you feel like I feel like to to be successful, you do have to be quite talented at.
At least one of the three areas. I feel like you do have to be either a great
(07:07):
dancer, a great singer, or if you're heading into the space of being in straight
plays and that type of thing, obviously you have to have that acting.
So I think there has to be this innate kind of talent that you were born with
or the attributes to be able to be good at that.
Like the football player who is, you know, six foot five and weighs whatever.
(07:29):
And he's going to be good at because of just what God gave him,
whatever you want to call it. Do you know what I mean? So there's that too.
But it's interesting that you started the vocal training later.
You had the basic concepts. You obviously had an ear for it.
You already understood music being such an advanced dancer.
You have to understand, you know, where to fit everything into the music.
(07:50):
So when you go to sing, you're You're going to know where to fit everything
into that accompaniment.
You know, like there's those pieces that you already kind of had pretty solid once you started those.
And my outside life, I grew up Episcopalian.
So we were listening to like Catholic music in church.
Like we had to sing the hymns all the time. And the cadence of Catholic music
(08:15):
and the chord progressions feel so rudimentary.
And not in a dissing way, but they're just so like...
You know what I'm saying? Yes, yes. From a very early age, I just always heard
the difference in notes. The progressions.
(08:36):
I just heard progressions growing up. And like...
For everyone out there, don't discredit your outside sources.
If you listen to music all the time, you're already getting this sense of musicality,
depending on what you're listening to.
I'm sure even Cardi B sometimes will give you a lesson in chord progressions.
You'll be able to find what I'm trying to say, because I think,
(08:59):
because now I'm standing on my soapbox for a second.
We get so tunnel vision on musical
theater that we forget that outside sources
are the the only reason why we are able to exist
inside of this space and they are they are
actively helping if you open yourself up to them and
hear the things around you see the things around you like see
(09:21):
see your grandma and take on her physicality you're already acting dance with
your parents like even or with your friends at a club you're already dancing
listening to music singing in the car you're already singing like this type
of real life thing is storytelling telling. And we can't forget that that's what we're here to do.
Absolutely. So I have to ask you, you have been in many Broadway shows,
(09:46):
most people who know you or have heard of you, or once they see this,
they're going to Google you.
They're going to know what shows you've been in.
How has your experience changed as a performer, as a part of a bigger whole, the project?
How has How has your experience changed from within as well as your perception
(10:10):
of who you are in that bigger space with the cast of said Broadway show?
How has that changed from your first Broadway show to now the show that you
will be starting very soon? I think I was young.
Also, my prefrontal cortex wasn't even developed yet when I started Broadway.
(10:32):
I had so much to learn and I still have so much to learn, but in a different way now.
At the time, I was soaking up so much information and just in a natural way
and in a wide-eyed type of way where everything was just new and I wanted to know it.
(10:52):
And it also varies the show.
I got really lucky. My first show was Shuffle Along, choreographed by Savion
Glover and directed by George Seawolf.
And with Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter,
Brandon Victor Dixon, Joshua Henry, and a whole cast of Black performers.
(11:16):
And the one white performer in our cast, Brooks Ashmanskas, is a legend. I was around then.
So much greatness and not only greatness because we're all great but so much seasoned greatness.
That's a good way to put it yeah and a varied varied ages so that i got to see
(11:38):
like top tier people in their in their 40s and in their 45s and then i also
got to see people in their 30s and then there were there were a few of us in
our in our young 20s in our early 20s and then And many people,
not even many, but just a scattered amount in their late 20s.
And the way that people just pour on you when you're new, it's so rare and so beautiful.
(12:01):
And they just did that. So I was just so protected. And I was in this little
bubble of warmth and education.
Also, the show that we were doing, again, this is just my personal experience,
but the show that we were doing was basically a history lesson.
And it was a history lesson that pertained to me. It was about the show Shuffle
Along in 1912 and beyond and how it came to fruition,
(12:28):
what happened to the people and how they paved the way for us today.
And not only the people doing their show, but just all Black performers and
all performers on Broadway, no matter your race, they were a big component of that.
So it was so beautiful to have a first show mean so much. And every show taught
(12:49):
me something very different.
After Shuffle Along, I did Mean Girls on Broadway, and that was the longest
running show that I've currently been in, or that I've been in to date,
let's say like that. We ran for almost three years.
Because it was a long run, I saw so many people cycle in and out of it.
(13:09):
So it kind of showed me the reality of what happens during a long Broadway show
of how relationships that you make with people, family members that you make,
family members that you curate leave, and you may still be there.
And how relationships ebb and flow during that time, how to keep things fresh,
how to keep things professional, how to keep the material consistent.
(13:31):
I think that was the show that taught me how to be a working professional because
my first show was just glitter and newness, so I didn't have the issue of getting bored.
My second show, I was there for so long, I got bored.
It's just what happens, and it's no one's fault
because the creation process is so different than actually just
(13:52):
running the thing every day for eight
times a week for how many
weeks on end you know it's a lot of work it's a
lot of work so it's taught me how to be consistent with how to be professional
which is just always a learning a learning game and a continuous learning experience
of just like how do i bring my best self to this how do i make sure that i don't
(14:15):
tire myself out you know it just goes on and on And I feel like that was continued through.
Music Man. And I think Music Man started to teach me that life happens,
because that was after the pandemic.
It taught me to be a little bit more grateful for being in this space,
but it also taught me that there's a life outside of Broadway.
(14:36):
And by this point, Broadway was no longer new to me.
So a lot of the things started to feel the same.
And that's not to discredit my
gratitude towards being on broadway it is
to say that after a while things start to feel
similar it's like oh the newness of
what this is is no longer here the newness of this and then there are other
(14:59):
things that will always feel new like getting into that specific theater is
always going to be new and like going if if you get the opportunity to go on
the tonys that's always a new experience but other things like the way that
you interact with people just becomes the same because this is a a cycle,
this is a business and what is asked of you becomes very similar just with a
(15:20):
different name or a different dance step or note attached to it.
I had to continue to learn how to work in the space of giving enough of myself to the project,
but also remembering that I am a person outside of this and what does a life
actually look like when it's not surrounded by musical musical theater when
(15:40):
I'm not inundated with trying to be the best.
Then I did Funny Girl on Broadway and I was a replacement.
And this is one of those shows where timing plus your talent and hard work plus
being able to easily fit into costumes of the person who was there before you
(16:01):
just kind of all come together.
And that's when it comes back to things like sometimes you just can't control
these things. Like I just happened to be maybe an inch taller than the person,
one of my friends, who I replaced.
And we just have the same track. We have the same dance ability.
We have the same vocal part. And I was available to step in for him when he had to go, I believe.
(16:26):
That show started to become a lot more just about camaraderie and friendship and fun.
Because at that point, I know what I'm doing. I know that I belong here and
the space that I went into at funny girl was just such a fun space,
The cast was amazing like the leads were were amazing and nice everyone was
(16:47):
great, so I just got to come in and,
I was starting to get a grasp on who I was as a person because by this point I'm,
27 28, so I'm just starting to get a grasp,
Granted I did shuffle along when I was 20 years old or 21 years old. Let's say I,
So I've had six years to grow up. I'm just able to bring a more exhaled version of myself.
(17:11):
More grounded. Yeah. And it's just what time provides. Yes.
And so now I am about to begin rehearsals, actually tomorrow,
for The Great Gatsby on Broadway.
Which is very exciting. It's so exciting.
I'm so excited. We did, we did it out in paper mill and we have the opportunity
(17:34):
to, you know, test it out.
And I am excited to bring an even fuller version of myself where,
you know, I, I have my own apartment and I've had my own apartment before,
but this is my first one bedroom y'all. It's really nice.
But, you know, my priorities are different. My family means more.
My friends are starting to mean so much more. The way that I want to take care
(17:58):
of myself, the financial goals that I have for myself,
the way that I save my money is different, the way that I meditate,
the regimen that I do in the morning, the activities that I want to have outside
of here, the video games I want to be able to play, the vacations I want to be able to go on.
Like things are just different and so i'm able
to do a lot of things i'm able to hold this as a
(18:18):
job and say this is a job
get your check from this job do your job well
and get out of there and go enjoy your life and then i also get to say while
i'm inside of this space while i'm at while i'm at broadway practice as one
of my friends likes to call it well as i'm at broadway practice have Have the
best time because times are fleeting and I am so lucky.
(18:43):
I'm lucky plus hard work. But I was so grateful to have been on Broadway five times now.
It does not happen like this for everyone.
And when it doesn't, y'all, that's not the end of the world.
It's just not. There's so much out there. There are so many more ways to make
money, so many different ways to make money.
Broadway, it stopped having control over my identity. Like me being in five
(19:07):
Broadway shows, after a while.
Like the fact that you're racking up and tallying up it's
not as exciting it's like no i just do this at this point
it's not okay i'm on my fifth show and
it's always nice to say like it is nice but that's not
the end all be all for me that's not my driving factor
(19:28):
is i can't wait to be in april with shows that's only
true i do want to get to eight just so that i can take a
playbill and then it kind of like take a strip from each and
spell out p-l-a-y-b-i-l-l and have it be
from one of my early selves so that's like a personal thing but like you see
what i'm saying like at this point it's it's just for lack of
a better term and don't fry me for this but it just becomes like
either a game or a way to make a good paycheck while doing an aspect of something
(19:54):
that you love because people are like oh my gosh you love being on broadway
i don't love being on broadway i love to dance i love to be with friends and
right now a lot of my friends are on broadway and the space where I get to dance.
And often I love telling the story.
I don't always love telling the story that I'm telling, whether I'm Broadway or in musical theater.
I have a good and moderate and substantial appreciation for musical theater,
(20:19):
but I am not a musical theater nerd.
And so I'm in a space where musical theater nerds thrive.
And if you're not a musical theater nerd, what's getting you through?
I like being with my friends. I love to dance. I love to sing.
Sometimes I like to cover an understudy. There are just fun things to do inside
(20:39):
of here while still making a check, and I think that's really wonderful.
I have this kind of wider scope where everything gets to exist.
You don't have to be a jaded, see you next Tuesday in order to do this.
You also don't have to be held in like, oh my gosh, I can't do that.
There are so many ways to get around, not only to get around,
(21:02):
but to be inside of the the space and just understand that there is so much
life. There's so much life inside of this.
There's so much like outside of this and both can exist at the same time. You're adulting now.
You are adulting. That's what it is happening.
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure, I'm sure when you get into, you know,
every show has a different group of people.
(21:23):
Every show has a different vibe inside every show and you have to find your
balance and you have to figure out what works for you. And it's important.
And I think it's very important what you just shared. And thank you for that
for parents to see it because I think the general public puts,
Kurt mentioned it to me when he booked Funny Girl and he said,
(21:47):
you know, Broadway, he's been doing art for years.
He's been performing for years in various, you know, out of town things and
very much in the tap space, as you know.
But he mentioned to me, he said, you know, Broadway, he called it the castle on the the hill.
And so the people who love theater, like you mentioned the term theater nerds,
(22:09):
you know, who like love theater and, you know, you're asked questions when you
start getting into the, you know, the funnel for this career path,
you know, what's your dream role? What is that? You.
They don't really have a dream role. They just loved exactly what you just said.
They just love to dance. They enjoy singing.
(22:32):
They enjoy telling a story. This is just the space that they live in.
And I think because of so much of this game being a closed-door,
gatekeeper kind of a game, the general public puts it on this huge pedestal.
But when you described it today, so much of it, it's like any other career path.
(22:55):
You want to become a surgeon, you want to become a doctor, you want to become
an attorney, you want to become a carpenter.
It's going to be exciting in the beginning. It's going to be thrilling to be
in that space initially.
And it's going to take a lot of hard work and you're going to have to absorb
all of the information that you can.
And you have to also, in those spaces, stay in your own lane. You know what I mean?
(23:16):
Because everyone comes out of school thinking they're going to change the world.
Like the majority of people come out of collegiate programs thinking they're
going to change everything on the planet.
And then they realize, oh, wait, you know, like I need to take a step back and
learn from the space that I'm in, learn from the people in that space,
respect the people who've been there so much longer than you have when you first begin.
(23:41):
And like you said, it's okay to be doing the art in various spaces as long as
you're doing what you love and when the time is right and that your type is right.
And like you mentioned with coming in as a replacement in Funny Girl,
fitting into that puzzle piece that they always talk about, that casting always talks about.
(24:02):
There's so much going into that side of it that you're not even aware of when
you first are trying to struggle to get to the castle, you know?
And then once you're there, it's a different feeling after five shows.
And something else that was really helpful on this, especially when it comes
to casting, I got the chance to help with auditions one day for Kimberly Akimbo. Yeah, it was awesome.
(24:27):
They're all, like, everyone who came in and auditioned was a star.
In their in their own right i was helping with the choreography but obviously
i was this was this was my first time being on the other side of the
table where people were asking me
like what do you think of this person i was like well yeah they're fine and
then you know at first i'm like yeah no they're great because when we go into
(24:48):
these auditions as performers we have like this we take on so much of oh my
gosh it's my fault like i didn't i didn't do my best y'all sometimes i'm gonna
i'm gonna tell I'll tell you two truths.
Number one, sometimes you're looking for something specific.
Number two, you're just not right for this.
You're just not right for it. And that has nothing to do with you itself.
(25:11):
You're just not what the person's looking for. You're not what the person envisioned
in their head, or they don't think that you have the spark that they need for
this character or for this song.
And it sounds like such a hurtful and personal thing, but y'all,
when they talk about it, they talk about it so pragmatically and so practically.
Like, what color is this? Blue. Is this red? No, it's not red.
(25:33):
Is that person right for this? No, they're not right. They don't have that thing. they don't look
young enough and it happens in an instant and they have forgotten about
you they're not sitting here talking about you after like ha johnny was
terrible like they're they're just not out here coming
for you like that and it's practical they are trying
to plan a show the same way that you were trying to clean
your house you are not sitting there like i'm gonna
(25:53):
miss this this toilet paper goodbye toilet
paper you do your job no i finished i'm you
know what i'm saying yeah they are done with it and it has nothing to
do with you what i also realized is you're just not made for
everything and you just can't be and as young people we
we want to be made for everything it's just it's part
of us and i still at at the
(26:14):
at the at the ripe tender age of 29 i'd
still go through times when i'm like i wish
that i was wanted more or i wish i was wanted by more people and it's like that's
just not that's not how this works and the more the more you figure that out
and i that's part of the wisdom too is like i'm made for the spaces that i'm
made for because my life has only gone in one direction. It didn't go in 17 directions.
(26:38):
So I can't be right for 17 things. That's a really good way to put it.
Yeah, but this one row has so many stops on it that I'm not going to miss out
on as much as I think I'm going to miss out on.
Absolutely. You know what? I teach inside my courses how the industry works
on the inside, right? So we talk about a lot of this.
And one thing I tell people is if you think about the person who wrote the book,
(27:03):
whether it's the book for Broadway for the show or it's the script for a TV
show or the commercial or a film,
those writers have in their heads who that character is, what that character
looks like, what that character sounds like, how tall they are,
(27:24):
whatever it is, what is in their personality.
Personality and you can't you know you can
only create the characters as
best as you can and at the end of the day you're going to be a type hence they
have the reason for typing people or figuring out what types of types of roles
that they can play and i do agree with you that people go to these open calls
(27:47):
or they go to an audition and they're looking at the breakdown and saying Oh, that's me.
That's me. That's me. And the majority of my adults that I work with,
I help them to understand what kind of character they truly can play based on that.
Thinking about the silhouette that they present on stage. This is beyond the
(28:10):
talent, beyond all of that.
Like what is really happening with your type so that you aren't in a headspace
of being disappointed thinking, this is my role. This is mine. This is mine.
And when you go back to thinking the person on the other side of the table who
wrote the show, who wrote the music, who wrote all those people that are part
of the creatives, they have a vision.
(28:31):
And if you're are going to fit into that vision of each one,
you know, of one of those characters or whatever, it is something that you cannot, you can't control.
Hence the reason casting says the puzzle pieces are the puzzle pieces.
We can wiggle them a little bit for the most part. Those are the puzzle pieces.
So what can we say? You could be a fabulous dancer and a great singer,
(28:52):
but the top note for that role is two notes higher than what you can actually say.
You know, that's just the way it goes on to
the next one on to the next one you know and sometimes
people are willing to make concessions and other times they're not and you can't
blame either party again yeah you've got it very well the puzzle pieces are
(29:12):
just the puzzle pieces or casting set it very well the puzzle pieces are the
post pieces give us your last thoughts on whether it's your,
experience as a whole or maybe advice or,
in general for folks for whether it's parents of talented young people or the older talent.
(29:34):
Struggling to get to the castle like just give us
a an ending thought yeah take a minute i'm gonna
do a few so we we have we'll probably
be here for five minutes that's fine that's fine go for
it number one somebody asked me
somebody and i scoff at him because he's already
done three broadway shows and he was like do you have any advice for somebody
who's coming in on his third broadway show i'm like shut you're
(29:57):
crushing it right my my
advice was you know after i rambled to
find it was save your money have a blast while you're doing it and know that
it's going to end save your money obviously live your life get your get your
check you you have a cute check do what you want get those get the sneakers
(30:18):
you'll be happy about it but also save your money because.
You're making a lot of money.
I feel like just relatively, and as we know the business, you're making a good chunk of money.
A lot of financial gurus say 10% of everything that you make.
And if you do that for 10 years of your life, I'm letting you know it really
(30:41):
makes a difference. And it is an awesome feeling.
Enjoy it while you're in it. Oh my God, God, please just have the best time.
Like, just take this time, do your work, be serious about the work.
When five, six, seven, eight happens, make sure you know your step.
I tell my kids that like when I teach now, like just when it's time to hit the
one, be where you're supposed to be.
(31:02):
But like, have a blast, goof off,
like do the things, like enjoy this time because this is your life now.
Like my rehearsal schedule is 10 to six, Monday through Saturday.
Day i'm going to live at my rehearsal space i
have to have fun i'm going to live at my theater i'm going to be
there eight times a week i need to be able to just have a good time
(31:22):
and feel good like have a blast number
three it's gonna close something's gonna happen either you're going to leave
the show or the show is going to leave you so that and that kind of emboldens
the first two points even more love it while you have it because you're not
going to have it forever Forever, your body may give out at some point.
(31:44):
We hope it doesn't knock on wood, but it might slash.
You're going to get tired in some way. And I used to think, no,
I want to do this forever. Y'all, you're going to get tired of doing it.
It's just going to hurt in a different way. In one of the many ways,
you might just want a different lifestyle. You might not want to do eight shows a week.
Your body might not be able to handle the stress. Your voice might not be able
(32:05):
to handle the stress. You might want to have kids and they may need a certain
different amount of attention.
And you're also going to want to save your money because you don't know the
next time that you're going to have this opportunity.
Like, so, so many things are true about that. So that's like my first nugget.
My second nugget is that I think that representation is so important and seeing.
(32:31):
Yourself in high spaces is, is so important.
And as a black gay man, I am currently seeing, and not only black gay man,
a black gay tall man who does a lot of different disciplines and dance and can
can fake his way through a lot of different disciplines in dance.
(32:51):
I'm currently in a space where our choreographer for Great Gatsby,
Dominique Kelly, is also an openly gay, Black, tall man who does so many different styles of dance.
And the way that it has reinvigorated me of what I think is possible in the
space of not only musical theater, but just in life, is so real.
(33:15):
And we wish that we could do this on our own.
Like, oh, I just think that I'm the best. There's no ceiling.
Nothing to stop me. But it always helps to see somebody doing it.
Somebody that looks like you. Somebody that thinks like you.
Somebody. And representation comes in all different shapes and sizes and colors.
Like, I felt represented by white men before. By white women. By Latinx people.
(33:40):
By the AAPI community. I felt represented by so many different types of people.
But there's nothing like seeing
yourself as closely as you can in a space where you think you want to be.
And everywhere that I go right now, I speak about it because of how important
it is and how much it has reinvigorated me.
(34:02):
It's meant the world and that cannot be diminished or underwhelmed.
My last piece of advice is that there are so many, so many ways to be able to
call yourself a performer without you having to be on Broadway.
Please don't let broadway be your end all be all get
there if you get there if you don't you are still an amazing person your
(34:25):
child is still an amazing person and you
end up where you are because of
who you are and so just be that thing first like just be like be live the lifestyle
and let the rewards come out of living your lifestyle and because that's kind
(34:46):
of what's been happening for me and for a lot of people who I know,
including Dominique Kelly and so many amazing people that I know are just out
here living. They're like, I just do this.
I simply just wake up in the morning. This is what I choose to do.
And because of that, I've been awarded these opportunities. It's a much better perspective to have.
(35:11):
Yeah. Much better perspective to have Because then in any moment, you're more relaxed.
Even as I said it, I started to calm down because it just does it to you. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it takes responsibility of having to be one thing and knowing that whatever
(35:31):
you are will grant you gifts.
Because, you know, we compare and we're like, oh, I don't know,
you already are going to get gifts.
It doesn't matter who you are right now. It doesn't matter what you choose to do today.
You are going to get gifts. And there needs to be some reassurance inside of
that before we try to add on the extra things to get a specific gift.
(35:56):
You're going to get gifts regardless.
Amazing. Let's end on that note. Oh, my goodness. I feel that.
Now, you know, it's so great, too, Curtis, honestly.
Thank you so much for this time because there are so many people that need to hear it from you.
Just like you were just saying, you're seeing yourself in working with the choreographer
(36:19):
for Gatsby and people are going to watch this and see you and see themselves
and be inspired by everything that you're saying.
So thank you for taking the time because it's really, I know for a fact that
the stories that people are sharing are helping.
They're helping parents, they're helping children, teens, they're helping new
(36:41):
talents. So you were remarkable.
Just so, yeah.
And you know what too, like very loving in your way, you know,
like it's like you really want to help people.
So maybe that's another calling down the road for you.
Thank you for doing this because I know you took time out of your,
(37:02):
your last day off before the big job starts, but I can't wait to see you up
on stage. Sage, have a good rest of your Sunday before the crazy starts tomorrow.
Thank you very much. You too. All right. Bye.
Bye. See you, Chris. Bye. See you later. Join me on Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Need more information? Visit LBCTalent.com and follow me on socials at LeesaCsolak_LBCTalent.
(37:26):
By sharing our stories, we can help other talented individuals land the career of their dreams.
If you're enjoying this podcast, please like and subscribe and hit the bell for notifications.
Thanks for watching!
I had the most success with tap and I was the most competitive.
I definitely felt just as loved.
I think they get concerned about where their abilities lie regarding the three areas.
At first, it's not about doing the best thing for your career,
it's about doing something.
(00:27):
Welcome to Making It Happen, a career in the performing arts where we discuss
how to break into the performing arts industry for yourself or your child, teen, or young adult.
Guests include professionals who are passionate and share my vision of helping
talented individuals land professional representation and have successful careers in the arts.
My name is Leesa Csolak and I I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:50):
a career in the performing arts, having helped hundreds of clients break into
the performing arts business on stage, including Broadway, in films,
television, commercial work, and more.
This podcast is supplemental to my groundbreaking online courses.
For more information, you can check out all the ways that you can benefit from
my courses, my how-to videos, my live seminars, my free weekly newsletters, and free guides.
(01:11):
Go to lbctalent.com. My guest today is Curtis Holland.
And so like get up, get a job, go to Target, go to Chipotle,
go to the barista, assist classes,
work at a competition, judge competitions.
Teach, do something, audition for Ogunquit, audition for Tuts,
(01:36):
audition for anything, do anything, just do something, and then everything will start to build.
And that's what I did and after a
while I kept auditioning oh I had some crazy auditions I had
some bad auditions because again my learning curve was immense
and I had many things to have to figure
out so wait I have a question before you go on I have
(01:58):
a question when did the vocal training start
when you moved to the city like were you a singer prior when
you were younger were you doing musical theater anywhere where
you had to sing like when did the vocal piece come in for you
we had i did musical theater in middle and
high school we had basic understanding of
music and a voice training
(02:21):
where we had to sing often but we
weren't sitting down saying this is how you breathe this breathe
from this is how you produce sound this is the best version of sound for you
to produce it was there was a lot of that that happened but it was we did not
sit down and have music theory we were working real time in for the space that.
(02:47):
Are whatever we're working on, whatever performance we're working on, needed singing.
Every morning, especially in middle school, we would get into a circle and we
would have warmups that we would do.
The last maybe 10 minutes was somebody in the middle leading like,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, now you go, and then we would just do that.
(03:07):
We were always warming up and we were always cognizant of notes.
Of tone, of being on pitch, of harmony.
Harmony we were we had to learn all of
that from a young age and we used it a lot we were singing harmonies
in in middle school and high school but we
were not getting music theory and one-on-one
(03:30):
individualized voice training i did
not start that until i got to the city and may
you know i poked here and there because i was
just trying to figure out where to get that that from but I started that
maybe around 2015 so the year after I got
to New York I had maybe a
few voice lessons in my first job in Oregon
(03:51):
when they brought in a master teacher to do a
master class got back to the city started getting voice
lessons a little bit more frequently and then got them
very frequently when I had to cover it varies sometimes
it's very frequent sometimes it's not just depending on you
know if I'm in a show and if I have time but right now
I am in a a season of being very diligent with
(04:12):
voice lessons and so it goes back and
forth i recommend doing that so much
sooner than later because here's the thing y'all they like to tell you that
everybody needs a singer dancer actor like you need to do all three you need
to sing more than you need to be able to dance you just have to if you want
to do music i'm speaking from a very specific place if you want to do musical
theater make sure you can sing even if you want to just start in the the ensemble.
(04:37):
Because now I'm speaking specifically to dancers, but if you want to be in the
ensemble and make a good check for being in the ensemble,
make sure you can sing, make sure you can hold a note, make sure you know how
to blend with the group, make sure you know how to stay on pitch,
make sure you know a good tone that is pleasing to the ear.
(04:57):
Figure that out, number one. And then right after that.
Make sure that you can dance, make sure that you can fake your way through a
dance call slash be exceptional at a movers call.
That's what you're going for. Acting, say what you want about me,
internet. I don't care. We'll figure that out.
Speaking as somebody who did figure it out and just naturally did.
(05:21):
And again, I had prior training. I wasn't starting from scritchety scratch.
I had training in middle school and high school that made me a little bit more prepared.
But as in regards to that know what
beats are know what pauses are know what you're blocking us no upstage no downstage
know how to use a prop know how to act authentically know how to breathe through
(05:43):
the moment know how to plant your feet so they're just kind of pillars in each
thing that are necessary and then everything out of that should come out of
your love for doing it here, here,
cheers to that. Yes.
It's true though. But I think for you as a, your, your first genre was dance.
(06:04):
You're still having to be an actor. You're in the performance.
Do you know, like there's it's in there.
And if you're a singer first and that's where you, you fall,
whether that's in your school choir and, or in the school musical theater,
which your description of what What went on in your junior high is very similar
to, I think, what happens across this country in junior high programs,
(06:26):
because that's what they can do.
That's all they can do. They're dealing with lots of children and trying to
expose them to the art. Right.
But if they're a singer first, they're having to, in performance,
tell the story within the song.
So you're an actor. It's all there.
It's just a matter of understanding, like you're mentioning and labeling pillars.
(06:47):
You know, those those different moments that you just have to have that general
idea to be able to get through all of that for sure.
But do you feel like I feel like to to be successful, you do have to be quite talented at.
At least one of the three areas. I feel like you do have to be either a great
(07:07):
dancer, a great singer, or if you're heading into the space of being in straight
plays and that type of thing, obviously you have to have that acting.
So I think there has to be this innate kind of talent that you were born with
or the attributes to be able to be good at that.
Like the football player who is, you know, six foot five and weighs whatever.
(07:29):
And he's going to be good at because of just what God gave him,
whatever you want to call it. Do you know what I mean? So there's that too.
But it's interesting that you started the vocal training later.
You had the basic concepts. You obviously had an ear for it.
You already understood music being such an advanced dancer.
You have to understand, you know, where to fit everything into the music.
(07:50):
So when you go to sing, you're You're going to know where to fit everything
into that accompaniment.
You know, like there's those pieces that you already kind of had pretty solid once you started those.
And my outside life, I grew up Episcopalian.
So we were listening to like Catholic music in church.
Like we had to sing the hymns all the time. And the cadence of Catholic music
(08:15):
and the chord progressions feel so rudimentary.
And not in a dissing way, but they're just so like...
You know what I'm saying? Yes, yes. From a very early age, I just always heard
the difference in notes. The progressions.
(08:36):
I just heard progressions growing up. And like...
For everyone out there, don't discredit your outside sources.
If you listen to music all the time, you're already getting this sense of musicality,
depending on what you're listening to.
I'm sure even Cardi B sometimes will give you a lesson in chord progressions.
You'll be able to find what I'm trying to say, because I think,
(08:59):
because now I'm standing on my soapbox for a second.
We get so tunnel vision on musical
theater that we forget that outside sources
are the the only reason why we are able to exist
inside of this space and they are they are
actively helping if you open yourself up to them and
hear the things around you see the things around you like see
(09:21):
see your grandma and take on her physicality you're already acting dance with
your parents like even or with your friends at a club you're already dancing
listening to music singing in the car you're already singing like this type
of real life thing is storytelling telling. And we can't forget that that's what we're here to do.
Absolutely. So I have to ask you, you have been in many Broadway shows,
(09:46):
most people who know you or have heard of you, or once they see this,
they're going to Google you.
They're going to know what shows you've been in.
How has your experience changed as a performer, as a part of a bigger whole, the project?
How has How has your experience changed from within as well as your perception
(10:10):
of who you are in that bigger space with the cast of said Broadway show?
How has that changed from your first Broadway show to now the show that you
will be starting very soon? I think I was young.
Also, my prefrontal cortex wasn't even developed yet when I started Broadway.
(10:32):
I had so much to learn and I still have so much to learn, but in a different way now.
At the time, I was soaking up so much information and just in a natural way
and in a wide-eyed type of way where everything was just new and I wanted to know it.
(10:52):
And it also varies the show.
I got really lucky. My first show was Shuffle Along, choreographed by Savion
Glover and directed by George Seawolf.
And with Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter,
Brandon Victor Dixon, Joshua Henry, and a whole cast of Black performers.
(11:16):
And the one white performer in our cast, Brooks Ashmanskas, is a legend. I was around then.
So much greatness and not only greatness because we're all great but so much seasoned greatness.
That's a good way to put it yeah and a varied varied ages so that i got to see
(11:38):
like top tier people in their in their 40s and in their 45s and then i also
got to see people in their 30s and then there were there were a few of us in
our in our young 20s in our early 20s and then And many people,
not even many, but just a scattered amount in their late 20s.
And the way that people just pour on you when you're new, it's so rare and so beautiful.
(12:01):
And they just did that. So I was just so protected. And I was in this little
bubble of warmth and education.
Also, the show that we were doing, again, this is just my personal experience,
but the show that we were doing was basically a history lesson.
And it was a history lesson that pertained to me. It was about the show Shuffle
Along in 1912 and beyond and how it came to fruition,
(12:28):
what happened to the people and how they paved the way for us today.
And not only the people doing their show, but just all Black performers and
all performers on Broadway, no matter your race, they were a big component of that.
So it was so beautiful to have a first show mean so much. And every show taught
(12:49):
me something very different.
After Shuffle Along, I did Mean Girls on Broadway, and that was the longest
running show that I've currently been in, or that I've been in to date,
let's say like that. We ran for almost three years.
Because it was a long run, I saw so many people cycle in and out of it.
(13:09):
So it kind of showed me the reality of what happens during a long Broadway show
of how relationships that you make with people, family members that you make,
family members that you curate leave, and you may still be there.
And how relationships ebb and flow during that time, how to keep things fresh,
how to keep things professional, how to keep the material consistent.
(13:31):
I think that was the show that taught me how to be a working professional because
my first show was just glitter and newness, so I didn't have the issue of getting bored.
My second show, I was there for so long, I got bored.
It's just what happens, and it's no one's fault
because the creation process is so different than actually just
(13:52):
running the thing every day for eight
times a week for how many
weeks on end you know it's a lot of work it's a
lot of work so it's taught me how to be consistent with how to be professional
which is just always a learning a learning game and a continuous learning experience
of just like how do i bring my best self to this how do i make sure that i don't
(14:15):
tire myself out you know it just goes on and on And I feel like that was continued through.
Music Man. And I think Music Man started to teach me that life happens,
because that was after the pandemic.
It taught me to be a little bit more grateful for being in this space,
but it also taught me that there's a life outside of Broadway.
(14:36):
And by this point, Broadway was no longer new to me.
So a lot of the things started to feel the same.
And that's not to discredit my
gratitude towards being on broadway it is
to say that after a while things start to feel
similar it's like oh the newness of
what this is is no longer here the newness of this and then there are other
(14:59):
things that will always feel new like getting into that specific theater is
always going to be new and like going if if you get the opportunity to go on
the tonys that's always a new experience but other things like the way that
you interact with people just becomes the same because this is a a cycle,
this is a business and what is asked of you becomes very similar just with a
(15:20):
different name or a different dance step or note attached to it.
I had to continue to learn how to work in the space of giving enough of myself to the project,
but also remembering that I am a person outside of this and what does a life
actually look like when it's not surrounded by musical musical theater when
(15:40):
I'm not inundated with trying to be the best.
Then I did Funny Girl on Broadway and I was a replacement.
And this is one of those shows where timing plus your talent and hard work plus
being able to easily fit into costumes of the person who was there before you
(16:01):
just kind of all come together.
And that's when it comes back to things like sometimes you just can't control
these things. Like I just happened to be maybe an inch taller than the person,
one of my friends, who I replaced.
And we just have the same track. We have the same dance ability.
We have the same vocal part. And I was available to step in for him when he had to go, I believe.
(16:26):
That show started to become a lot more just about camaraderie and friendship and fun.
Because at that point, I know what I'm doing. I know that I belong here and
the space that I went into at funny girl was just such a fun space,
The cast was amazing like the leads were were amazing and nice everyone was
(16:47):
great, so I just got to come in and,
I was starting to get a grasp on who I was as a person because by this point I'm,
27 28, so I'm just starting to get a grasp,
Granted I did shuffle along when I was 20 years old or 21 years old. Let's say I,
So I've had six years to grow up. I'm just able to bring a more exhaled version of myself.
(17:11):
More grounded. Yeah. And it's just what time provides. Yes.
And so now I am about to begin rehearsals, actually tomorrow,
for The Great Gatsby on Broadway.
Which is very exciting. It's so exciting.
I'm so excited. We did, we did it out in paper mill and we have the opportunity
(17:34):
to, you know, test it out.
And I am excited to bring an even fuller version of myself where,
you know, I, I have my own apartment and I've had my own apartment before,
but this is my first one bedroom y'all. It's really nice.
But, you know, my priorities are different. My family means more.
My friends are starting to mean so much more. The way that I want to take care
(17:58):
of myself, the financial goals that I have for myself,
the way that I save my money is different, the way that I meditate,
the regimen that I do in the morning, the activities that I want to have outside
of here, the video games I want to be able to play, the vacations I want to be able to go on.
Like things are just different and so i'm able
to do a lot of things i'm able to hold this as a
(18:18):
job and say this is a job
get your check from this job do your job well
and get out of there and go enjoy your life and then i also get to say while
i'm inside of this space while i'm at while i'm at broadway practice as one
of my friends likes to call it well as i'm at broadway practice have Have the
best time because times are fleeting and I am so lucky.
(18:43):
I'm lucky plus hard work. But I was so grateful to have been on Broadway five times now.
It does not happen like this for everyone.
And when it doesn't, y'all, that's not the end of the world.
It's just not. There's so much out there. There are so many more ways to make
money, so many different ways to make money.
Broadway, it stopped having control over my identity. Like me being in five
(19:07):
Broadway shows, after a while.
Like the fact that you're racking up and tallying up it's
not as exciting it's like no i just do this at this point
it's not okay i'm on my fifth show and
it's always nice to say like it is nice but that's not
the end all be all for me that's not my driving factor
(19:28):
is i can't wait to be in april with shows that's only
true i do want to get to eight just so that i can take a
playbill and then it kind of like take a strip from each and
spell out p-l-a-y-b-i-l-l and have it be
from one of my early selves so that's like a personal thing but like you see
what i'm saying like at this point it's it's just for lack of
a better term and don't fry me for this but it just becomes like
either a game or a way to make a good paycheck while doing an aspect of something
(19:54):
that you love because people are like oh my gosh you love being on broadway
i don't love being on broadway i love to dance i love to be with friends and
right now a lot of my friends are on broadway and the space where I get to dance.
And often I love telling the story.
I don't always love telling the story that I'm telling, whether I'm Broadway or in musical theater.
I have a good and moderate and substantial appreciation for musical theater,
(20:19):
but I am not a musical theater nerd.
And so I'm in a space where musical theater nerds thrive.
And if you're not a musical theater nerd, what's getting you through?
I like being with my friends. I love to dance. I love to sing.
Sometimes I like to cover an understudy. There are just fun things to do inside
(20:39):
of here while still making a check, and I think that's really wonderful.
I have this kind of wider scope where everything gets to exist.
You don't have to be a jaded, see you next Tuesday in order to do this.
You also don't have to be held in like, oh my gosh, I can't do that.
There are so many ways to get around, not only to get around,
(21:02):
but to be inside of the the space and just understand that there is so much
life. There's so much life inside of this.
There's so much like outside of this and both can exist at the same time. You're adulting now.
You are adulting. That's what it is happening.
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure, I'm sure when you get into, you know,
every show has a different group of people.
(21:23):
Every show has a different vibe inside every show and you have to find your
balance and you have to figure out what works for you. And it's important.
And I think it's very important what you just shared. And thank you for that
for parents to see it because I think the general public puts,
Kurt mentioned it to me when he booked Funny Girl and he said,
(21:47):
you know, Broadway, he's been doing art for years.
He's been performing for years in various, you know, out of town things and
very much in the tap space, as you know.
But he mentioned to me, he said, you know, Broadway, he called it the castle on the the hill.
And so the people who love theater, like you mentioned the term theater nerds,
(22:09):
you know, who like love theater and, you know, you're asked questions when you
start getting into the, you know, the funnel for this career path,
you know, what's your dream role? What is that? You.
They don't really have a dream role. They just loved exactly what you just said.
They just love to dance. They enjoy singing.
(22:32):
They enjoy telling a story. This is just the space that they live in.
And I think because of so much of this game being a closed-door,
gatekeeper kind of a game, the general public puts it on this huge pedestal.
But when you described it today, so much of it, it's like any other career path.
(22:55):
You want to become a surgeon, you want to become a doctor, you want to become
an attorney, you want to become a carpenter.
It's going to be exciting in the beginning. It's going to be thrilling to be
in that space initially.
And it's going to take a lot of hard work and you're going to have to absorb
all of the information that you can.
And you have to also, in those spaces, stay in your own lane. You know what I mean?
(23:16):
Because everyone comes out of school thinking they're going to change the world.
Like the majority of people come out of collegiate programs thinking they're
going to change everything on the planet.
And then they realize, oh, wait, you know, like I need to take a step back and
learn from the space that I'm in, learn from the people in that space,
respect the people who've been there so much longer than you have when you first begin.
(23:41):
And like you said, it's okay to be doing the art in various spaces as long as
you're doing what you love and when the time is right and that your type is right.
And like you mentioned with coming in as a replacement in Funny Girl,
fitting into that puzzle piece that they always talk about, that casting always talks about.
(24:02):
There's so much going into that side of it that you're not even aware of when
you first are trying to struggle to get to the castle, you know?
And then once you're there, it's a different feeling after five shows.
And something else that was really helpful on this, especially when it comes
to casting, I got the chance to help with auditions one day for Kimberly Akimbo. Yeah, it was awesome.
(24:27):
They're all, like, everyone who came in and auditioned was a star.
In their in their own right i was helping with the choreography but obviously
i was this was this was my first time being on the other side of the
table where people were asking me
like what do you think of this person i was like well yeah they're fine and
then you know at first i'm like yeah no they're great because when we go into
(24:48):
these auditions as performers we have like this we take on so much of oh my
gosh it's my fault like i didn't i didn't do my best y'all sometimes i'm gonna
i'm gonna tell I'll tell you two truths.
Number one, sometimes you're looking for something specific.
Number two, you're just not right for this.
You're just not right for it. And that has nothing to do with you itself.
(25:11):
You're just not what the person's looking for. You're not what the person envisioned
in their head, or they don't think that you have the spark that they need for
this character or for this song.
And it sounds like such a hurtful and personal thing, but y'all,
when they talk about it, they talk about it so pragmatically and so practically.
Like, what color is this? Blue. Is this red? No, it's not red.
(25:33):
Is that person right for this? No, they're not right. They don't have that thing. they don't look
young enough and it happens in an instant and they have forgotten about
you they're not sitting here talking about you after like ha johnny was
terrible like they're they're just not out here coming
for you like that and it's practical they are trying
to plan a show the same way that you were trying to clean
your house you are not sitting there like i'm gonna
(25:53):
miss this this toilet paper goodbye toilet
paper you do your job no i finished i'm you
know what i'm saying yeah they are done with it and it has nothing to
do with you what i also realized is you're just not made for
everything and you just can't be and as young people we
we want to be made for everything it's just it's part
of us and i still at at the
(26:14):
at the at the ripe tender age of 29 i'd
still go through times when i'm like i wish
that i was wanted more or i wish i was wanted by more people and it's like that's
just not that's not how this works and the more the more you figure that out
and i that's part of the wisdom too is like i'm made for the spaces that i'm
made for because my life has only gone in one direction. It didn't go in 17 directions.
(26:38):
So I can't be right for 17 things. That's a really good way to put it.
Yeah, but this one row has so many stops on it that I'm not going to miss out
on as much as I think I'm going to miss out on.
Absolutely. You know what? I teach inside my courses how the industry works
on the inside, right? So we talk about a lot of this.
And one thing I tell people is if you think about the person who wrote the book,
(27:03):
whether it's the book for Broadway for the show or it's the script for a TV
show or the commercial or a film,
those writers have in their heads who that character is, what that character
looks like, what that character sounds like, how tall they are,
(27:24):
whatever it is, what is in their personality.
Personality and you can't you know you can
only create the characters as
best as you can and at the end of the day you're going to be a type hence they
have the reason for typing people or figuring out what types of types of roles
that they can play and i do agree with you that people go to these open calls
(27:47):
or they go to an audition and they're looking at the breakdown and saying Oh, that's me.
That's me. That's me. And the majority of my adults that I work with,
I help them to understand what kind of character they truly can play based on that.
Thinking about the silhouette that they present on stage. This is beyond the
(28:10):
talent, beyond all of that.
Like what is really happening with your type so that you aren't in a headspace
of being disappointed thinking, this is my role. This is mine. This is mine.
And when you go back to thinking the person on the other side of the table who
wrote the show, who wrote the music, who wrote all those people that are part
of the creatives, they have a vision.
(28:31):
And if you're are going to fit into that vision of each one,
you know, of one of those characters or whatever, it is something that you cannot, you can't control.
Hence the reason casting says the puzzle pieces are the puzzle pieces.
We can wiggle them a little bit for the most part. Those are the puzzle pieces.
So what can we say? You could be a fabulous dancer and a great singer,
(28:52):
but the top note for that role is two notes higher than what you can actually say.
You know, that's just the way it goes on to
the next one on to the next one you know and sometimes
people are willing to make concessions and other times they're not and you can't
blame either party again yeah you've got it very well the puzzle pieces are
(29:12):
just the puzzle pieces or casting set it very well the puzzle pieces are the
post pieces give us your last thoughts on whether it's your,
experience as a whole or maybe advice or,
in general for folks for whether it's parents of talented young people or the older talent.
(29:34):
Struggling to get to the castle like just give us
a an ending thought yeah take a minute i'm gonna
do a few so we we have we'll probably
be here for five minutes that's fine that's fine go for
it number one somebody asked me
somebody and i scoff at him because he's already
done three broadway shows and he was like do you have any advice for somebody
who's coming in on his third broadway show i'm like shut you're
(29:57):
crushing it right my my
advice was you know after i rambled to
find it was save your money have a blast while you're doing it and know that
it's going to end save your money obviously live your life get your get your
check you you have a cute check do what you want get those get the sneakers
(30:18):
you'll be happy about it but also save your money because.
You're making a lot of money.
I feel like just relatively, and as we know the business, you're making a good chunk of money.
A lot of financial gurus say 10% of everything that you make.
And if you do that for 10 years of your life, I'm letting you know it really
(30:41):
makes a difference. And it is an awesome feeling.
Enjoy it while you're in it. Oh my God, God, please just have the best time.
Like, just take this time, do your work, be serious about the work.
When five, six, seven, eight happens, make sure you know your step.
I tell my kids that like when I teach now, like just when it's time to hit the
one, be where you're supposed to be.
(31:02):
But like, have a blast, goof off,
like do the things, like enjoy this time because this is your life now.
Like my rehearsal schedule is 10 to six, Monday through Saturday.
Day i'm going to live at my rehearsal space i
have to have fun i'm going to live at my theater i'm going to be
there eight times a week i need to be able to just have a good time
(31:22):
and feel good like have a blast number
three it's gonna close something's gonna happen either you're going to leave
the show or the show is going to leave you so that and that kind of emboldens
the first two points even more love it while you have it because you're not
going to have it forever Forever, your body may give out at some point.
(31:44):
We hope it doesn't knock on wood, but it might slash.
You're going to get tired in some way. And I used to think, no,
I want to do this forever. Y'all, you're going to get tired of doing it.
It's just going to hurt in a different way. In one of the many ways,
you might just want a different lifestyle. You might not want to do eight shows a week.
Your body might not be able to handle the stress. Your voice might not be able
(32:05):
to handle the stress. You might want to have kids and they may need a certain
different amount of attention.
And you're also going to want to save your money because you don't know the
next time that you're going to have this opportunity.
Like, so, so many things are true about that. So that's like my first nugget.
My second nugget is that I think that representation is so important and seeing.
(32:31):
Yourself in high spaces is, is so important.
And as a black gay man, I am currently seeing, and not only black gay man,
a black gay tall man who does a lot of different disciplines and dance and can
can fake his way through a lot of different disciplines in dance.
(32:51):
I'm currently in a space where our choreographer for Great Gatsby,
Dominique Kelly, is also an openly gay, Black, tall man who does so many different styles of dance.
And the way that it has reinvigorated me of what I think is possible in the
space of not only musical theater, but just in life, is so real.
(33:15):
And we wish that we could do this on our own.
Like, oh, I just think that I'm the best. There's no ceiling.
Nothing to stop me. But it always helps to see somebody doing it.
Somebody that looks like you. Somebody that thinks like you.
Somebody. And representation comes in all different shapes and sizes and colors.
Like, I felt represented by white men before. By white women. By Latinx people.
(33:40):
By the AAPI community. I felt represented by so many different types of people.
But there's nothing like seeing
yourself as closely as you can in a space where you think you want to be.
And everywhere that I go right now, I speak about it because of how important
it is and how much it has reinvigorated me.
(34:02):
It's meant the world and that cannot be diminished or underwhelmed.
My last piece of advice is that there are so many, so many ways to be able to
call yourself a performer without you having to be on Broadway.
Please don't let broadway be your end all be all get
there if you get there if you don't you are still an amazing person your
(34:25):
child is still an amazing person and you
end up where you are because of
who you are and so just be that thing first like just be like be live the lifestyle
and let the rewards come out of living your lifestyle and because that's kind
(34:46):
of what's been happening for me and for a lot of people who I know,
including Dominique Kelly and so many amazing people that I know are just out
here living. They're like, I just do this.
I simply just wake up in the morning. This is what I choose to do.
And because of that, I've been awarded these opportunities. It's a much better perspective to have.
(35:11):
Yeah. Much better perspective to have Because then in any moment, you're more relaxed.
Even as I said it, I started to calm down because it just does it to you. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it takes responsibility of having to be one thing and knowing that whatever
(35:31):
you are will grant you gifts.
Because, you know, we compare and we're like, oh, I don't know,
you already are going to get gifts.
It doesn't matter who you are right now. It doesn't matter what you choose to do today.
You are going to get gifts. And there needs to be some reassurance inside of
that before we try to add on the extra things to get a specific gift.
(35:56):
You're going to get gifts regardless.
Amazing. Let's end on that note. Oh, my goodness. I feel that.
Now, you know, it's so great, too, Curtis, honestly.
Thank you so much for this time because there are so many people that need to hear it from you.
Just like you were just saying, you're seeing yourself in working with the choreographer
(36:19):
for Gatsby and people are going to watch this and see you and see themselves
and be inspired by everything that you're saying.
So thank you for taking the time because it's really, I know for a fact that
the stories that people are sharing are helping.
They're helping parents, they're helping children, teens, they're helping new
(36:41):
talents. So you were remarkable.
Just so, yeah.
And you know what too, like very loving in your way, you know,
like it's like you really want to help people.
So maybe that's another calling down the road for you.
Thank you for doing this because I know you took time out of your,
(37:02):
your last day off before the big job starts, but I can't wait to see you up
on stage. Sage, have a good rest of your Sunday before the crazy starts tomorrow.
Thank you very much. You too. All right. Bye.
Bye. See you, Chris. Bye. See you later. Join me on Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Need more information? Visit LBCTalent.com and follow me on socials at LeesaCsolak_LBCTalent.
(37:26):
By sharing our stories, we can help other talented individuals land the career of their dreams.
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