April 28, 2024 • 33 mins
In this compelling episode of "Making It Happen - A Career in the Performing Arts," Leesa Csolak, the CEO, founder and our seasoned host engages with Glenn Cook, a parent who has effectively steered his children's careers in the entertainment world. Glenn shares about his journey, full of audition misadventures and Broadway triumphs, and how he supports his children in the demanding performing arts industry.
With Glenn's insightful anecdotes and Leesa's insider expertise, they discuss the significant parental role in cultivating talent and shaping the career of a young actor. This interaction provides not just engaging storytelling but also invaluable advice from auditions to representation, confronting rejections, being resilient, and discovering the profession's unexpected benefits.
This episode highlights the importance of a quality performing arts school in sparking a young performer's career and the unique challenges one may face living outside conventional professional work areas. It also underlines the significance of teamwork and passion in an acting career. As Glenn talks about his son's Broadway debut and the mantra steering their journey, both budding performers and their parents will gain insightful tips to fuel their progression in the industry.
Join us in this enlightening conversation that showcases a firsthand perspective on personal growth, grit, and fervor in the performing arts. Tune in, get inspired and discover how to efficiently and elegantly "Make it Happen" in this vibrant world.
Don't forget to look into our numerous resources such as webinars, seminars, free guides, and online courses that could be the essential guidance you've been looking for. All resources are available at lbctalent.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:06):
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 Lisa Solak and I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:29):
a career in the performing arts, having helped hundreds of clients break into
the performing arts business on stage, including Broadway, films,
television, commercial work, and more.
This podcast is supplemental to my groundbreaking online courses.
For more information, check out all the way you can benefit from my courses,
my how-to videos, my live webinars, my in-person seminars, and free guides. Go to lbctalent.com.
(00:54):
My guest today is Glenn Cook.
Hi, Glenn. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing today?
I'm doing great. I'm so excited that you could be here on the podcast today.
We've been talking for quite some time and sharing stories. And I feel like
a lot of what you've experienced parallels what I've experienced.
And some of the, you know, some of the story is a little bit different, which is wonderful.
(01:18):
And I think all of the, you know, the listeners are going to learn a lot,
especially those that live outside of the states in which most of this professional work is done.
So can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and about your
two kids who have been in the industry?
Sure. My name is Glenn Cook. I'm a freelance writer and photographer.
(01:41):
I have worked in journalism for...
Far longer than I care to admit. We live in Alexandria, Virginia.
At the time that our kids were growing up, we were in Fairfax County,
Virginia, which is about four hours outside New York. Two of my, I have four kids.
We're all in the arts. The oldest is a graphic designer.
The youngest works, or the second oldest works in a daycare.
(02:06):
And then we have twins, Ben and Emma. And Ben and Emma are the entertainers in our family.
We used to say that growing, when they were growing up, we could not do dinner.
We had to do dinner theater because
every meal had to have some sort of performance by one of the four kids.
They could not sit still through an entire dinner without performing.
(02:27):
I love that. I love that. So, so is this when you started to realize that they
had an affinity for this?
Like how old were they when you started to realize this obviously during dinner,
but when did that happen?
Well, I mean, it started, I mean, it was, It started basically from as soon
as I could, but we enrolled Kate in her first dance class when she was three,
(02:48):
and then Emma followed suit.
The latter three children were born within a calendar year, and I write a blog
that I call our reality show.
And the reason is because Life with Us was a reality show, raising three kids
within a year. But she enrolled at three, and then we moved from North Carolina to Virginia.
(03:11):
And then we enrolled Emma in a dance class along with Kate, and they loved it.
And Ben was going to pursue gymnastics, and he enjoyed that.
But then he decided he wanted to dance as well. So by the age of five,
we had all three of them in dance classes. Oh, wow. Wow, that's busy already.
Yeah. Well, but the nice thing about it was it was a centralized location.
(03:33):
We could get them to tuck and roll pretty easily, which made it much easier
than if one was playing soccer and one was playing, doing gymnastics and one
was doing dance. We didn't have that circle.
For us, it was an economy of scale we actually appreciated.
So tell us a little bit about the journey with
ben and emma from the beginning like when did it
become a serious thing how did they first get involved
(03:56):
in the professional side did one get involved first and then the other did they
both get involved in the pro side at the same time for those of you who are
listening who don't know glenn's son ben is very highly credited and we'll talk
about that and some of the things that you went through as a dad he's still
very Very much in the industry as an adult,
which is a huge accomplishment to be able to be involved as a child and teen
(04:20):
and then continue into adulthood.
So he's to be commended for that. I know he does a lot of film and television, a lot of Broadway.
It seemed Broadway is what brought him into the limelight.
Let's talk about when that happened. Was there a transition?
Was it something that surprised you?
Were you seeking out professional rep for him? How did that all work for you?
(04:42):
Well it's interesting because the first time that he got on stage was a it was a dance recital.
And they did this thing called who let the frogs out
and it was just you know it's a cute little number et cetera et cetera and the
audience erupted when he danced and my wife and i looked at each other and went
uh-oh and then when that show ended we could not drag him off the stage And
(05:08):
he said, I feel like I'm home.
He was six, maybe.
And he loved it. He absolutely loved it.
Kate and Emma liked it and they enjoyed it and it was part of their lives,
but it wasn't their passion.
Who expects a 17-year-old to have a passion? isn't
that crazy when they're that young like a lot i've seen
(05:30):
a lot of that because i have as the listeners know
i used to own a performing arts school for many many years
over 40 years and just seeing that you can see it at a young age and i think
parents recognize it like when you were sitting there and you watched that happen
and you said that to your wife were you like was it like light bulb moment like
there's something here and i think in our heart of hearts We know that even
(05:52):
though there are a lot of parents who will say, oh, well,
you know, I'm going to be biased because this is my child.
And they'll talk like that to their friends and neighbors.
But in your heart of hearts, I think people know where you did you feel that
way at that moment? And especially when he started talking in that way.
Yes, because we knew something was different. I mean, it was one of those things
(06:14):
where we knew automatically that there was something different about it.
And, you know, the thing is, is that when my wife and I both are involved in
education and one of the things we've always talked about with kids is that
if they have a passion for something,
allow them to pursue it, but they will get out of it what they put into it.
And so if this passion is something that drives them this way,
(06:39):
then as parents, we need to make the accommodations.
And so we were fortunate financially and from a work standpoint to be able to do that.
And I know a lot of people aren't able to do that, and I feel very fortunate that we were.
One reason we moved from North Carolina to Virginia was to give them more opportunities.
And when this opportunity presented itself and, you know, he danced that year
(07:04):
and then he danced the next year and then he came to us and said, I want to get a manager.
I want to get an agent. Really?
Yes. He came to you. So where did he, I mean, that's a young age,
you know, you're just at age eight, you're just starting.
Most kids are just starting to be able to read and comprehend what that is,
you know, like what they're reading.
And at that age, he's asking for an agent or a manager.
(07:26):
Like, did he hear it from someone? did someone approach him i believe it's you
know i mean at the time the person that ran the dance studio that he was at
and had found it which the school it's metropolitan school of the arts and they
they're a wonderful place i think she said at some point you know you could do this profession.
Well that little light went off in his brain and he was like yes i want to do
(07:49):
this this is what i want to do and you know he liked playing football he liked
doing other kid things but at the same in time, it was, this is what I want to do.
Sure. You were lucky to be at a school with someone who understood the professional side.
And I think there are definitely listeners out there with children in the same situation.
Maybe they're, you know, singing on the fireplace hearth every,
(08:12):
you know, Saturday night for whoever's over for, you know, for dessert that
night at the neighbors and friends, whatever. And they're wondering what they should do.
That was really lucky to be with, to be around somebody that was in the industry,
because I think you do have to seek out professionals in the business to give
you an opinion because you don't know as a parent and you could be missing an
(08:35):
opportunity for your child. So it certainly is important.
So you were lucky to be with that level of professional right from the beginning. It was the school.
Did they employ a lot of people who had been in the industry,
who worked in the industry? Yes, they did, and they still do today.
And it's been one of the nicest things has been seeing Emma and Ben both come back to teach there now.
(08:55):
But they always have worked really hard at, if you want to do this,
if you want to immerse yourself in doing this, we're going to provide you with training.
If you want to do this as a hobby, we're going to allow you to do it as a hobby.
These are what our expectations are, and this is what we want you to do when
(09:17):
you're participating in class.
Your level of commitment to it and your level of enjoyment in what you take
out of it is what's most important.
With various dance and performing arts schools there are some that are more
concert dance leaning and others that are more competitive dance leaning was
he in a school that offered competitive dance training or was he in more of
(09:40):
a like um technical type of school.
He was more, what MSA has always emphasized is more performance and technical over competitive.
They don't compete. They do shows over the course of a year,
and then they come up to their annual recital, which is always sort of mixed
(10:01):
musical theater with dance to varying degrees.
Okay. Now than it did then.
But they've always been about the technical end of things. Sure.
And it's about the joy of performance and about the joy of giving back.
I love that. Yeah, I love that. And I'm not saying that a competitive school isn't technical.
They absolutely are. And there's a lot of competition dancers that do extremely
(10:23):
well in the professional industry, obviously.
But I know it's different for a parent. You know, where do you put your child?
Do you spend the time in that competition scene? Or do you spend it more in,
like you're saying, performance for the sake of performance?
Interesting. So was, did they have, did your school have any,
were they part of the transition to getting him an agent or a manager?
(10:44):
Or was that something you and your wife had to take on on your own?
To a degree, because the founder knew a local manager who worked in the area.
We live outside, like I said, outside D.C.
And so while there are filming opportunities and there are opportunities for performance in the D.C.
Area especially, and then there are filming opportunities in Baltimore,
(11:06):
which is about an hour away from us. It's still not, I mean,
it's not a rigorous professional scene.
You know, it got to us with the question of, do you want to try to get an agent?
Do you want to try to get a manager? And that's where we had to start learning
about this process and learning about the differences between a manager and
an agent and who could help and who could not.
(11:26):
At the time, there was a woman by the name of Linda Townsend who works,
still works in this area. And Linda, we had to audition him in the basement
and he had to sing, dance, and then read.
And so the folks at MSA helped him get prepared for that audition.
And he sang, I Can Do That. And she signed him right away. And then started
(11:50):
sending him out for stuff.
So that experience, now you're signed. Now, your daughters are still dancing.
So you have three others at home and you have Ben now signed. Is that correct?
One child lived in North Carolina. Okay.
We had Kate, Emma, and Ben were all living with us. And then Nicholas was visiting in the summers.
(12:11):
Understood. Okay. So now you are getting auditions. And at the time,
self-tapes were not really a big deal thing back then.
So give us a little bit of an idea of what that experience was like getting him to auditions.
How did that work for you guys? The first audition he went to,
he was at the Kennedy Center for a Debbie Allen show,
(12:33):
and he thought he was going to do really well, and he was real cocky,
and he was all these different things, and it didn't happen.
But got cut and was devastated by it.
And the question was, you know, for us, it was one of those litmus tests.
Okay, you've been cut. What does that mean?
(12:54):
What do you need to work on? You want to continue doing this.
His response was, of course, I want to continue doing this.
And that inner resilience, I think, was something that, you know,
he was born with it in many respects.
And we just encouraged it. but he had it
and it was no i'm not gonna quit this
just because it didn't go well and so
(13:15):
his second audition believe it or not just his
second audition he booked a christmas carol at ford's theater's tiny tent a
little bit of a rite of passage for young boys if they have those shows going
on in their areas for sure exactly and so that christmas season he performed
in that And then he landed Young Lake Duff in the Folger Theater production of Macbeth.
(13:38):
And it was directed by Penn of Penn and Teller, co-directed with another man.
And, you know, went from that, then nothing for six months.
Then from that got christmas carol
again got another show and then
at the last day of that show he got found out that he had an audition for ragtime
(14:01):
ah okay now how old was he at this point he just turned 11 okay all right yeah
i didn't realize it was ragtime so that was his first big show?
He had done a audition for Grosch in Les Mis, which I got out of New York.
That was another experience in which,
(14:24):
he bombed. Let me ask you this, because I think sometimes, and I've had clients,
I have clients all over the country and out of the country, actually on five continents.
But what happens sometimes is there's pressure, right?
That the kid feels maybe not even coming from the parent, usually not because
they're going to put pressure on themselves because they're usually type A type
kids, you know, who want to obviously put their best foot forward and do well in those moments.
(14:49):
Now they know that, that you guys as parents have taken the time,
the money put in this effort to travel to this, you know, this big city,
this other state, this other place.
And they, they don't just have the pressure of like, okay, I need to do well
in the room with the dancing and acting, but now they feel this pressure of
we traveled all this way.
(15:10):
You know, did that enter into it at all? Cause that's happened to some people
where they're coming from Chicago, they land in New York and they have this
moment, you know, how the auditions go. They're only in there for like five
to 15 minutes, whatever it is.
And it's a lot, you know, to try to balance. So how, how was that for you guys?
Well, I mean, for us, it was, it was a combination of things.
I don't think that, I think the pressure on him came from the.
(15:35):
Lack of knowledge that we had. And the lack of knowledge that we had was,
you know, we didn't know that you're going to go in and sing 16 bars or 32 bars.
And then we found out, oh yeah, you've got this audition tomorrow in New York
City for this. You should go do it.
Yeah. Do you have 16 bars? Do you have 32 bars of this song from this show?
(15:57):
And we didn't have access to somebody who could do it for us.
So we desperately tried to cobble together something and then went up and he did the audition.
And like I said, it didn't go well.
The acting went fine, but the singing was terrible. He would tell you that to this day.
(16:17):
And I will never forget riding train up with him and watching him practice and
thinking, this is not going to go well.
And then thinking to myself, It doesn't matter that it's not going to go well.
It matters that he gets to experience it.
And that has been sort of a guidepost for us the whole time.
(16:38):
Every experience you learn something from it and every opportunity that you
have to learn something, you take it because if you can learn something from
it, it's something else you can add to your toolbox. You have an experience
that you would not have otherwise had.
And for him, it worked out beautifully.
He took that experience and said, okay, I don't really like to sing,
(17:02):
but if I have to sing, I'll sing.
And at that point, that's when he originally did not want to do the ragtime
audition because he was fearful as a singe.
But he also was faced with what he considered to be a prolonged period of unemployment.
(17:23):
At the age of what? 11. And he was in fourth grade at the time.
And, you know, it was, I will never forget it. He's like, dad,
I've got to go do this audition. And I was like, why is that?
And he says, because my grades suck when I'm unemployed.
And that's so cute. He was that kid that, you know, you just,
(17:44):
he, if he had, if he had free time on his hands, he would waste it.
But if he scheduled to the nth degree, he would maximize it.
Yeah. There's a lot, a lot of people in the industry like that.
And some kids are that way. And he was.
And all the way, I would say, through even early adulthood, he starts getting
itchy when he's not doing something that he considers to be creative or productive. Yeah.
(18:07):
So did you guys end up adding like a vocal coach to your team to help you with that?
Because I know my experience was a lot of that same thing where you get the
audition the day before and then you have to learn a new song or you have to learn a new something.
And we were lucky enough to have a team of people around us,
you know, because I had the performing arts school who I could call and say,
(18:28):
listen, can I bring my son over after rehearsal or after practice at nine o'clock at night?
And can you teach him this song real quick? Or can you give us the 16 bars?
This is what he wants to sing. Or can you do it over the phone?
Like, what can we do to make this happen? There was a lot of that little bit
of juggling, but it was so much fun.
And again, my kids absolutely loved it and adored it and lived for it.
(18:49):
So I knew that this was an okay thing to do.
Most parents wouldn't do that, you know, like run out at nine o'clock at night
to go to, you know, the high school music director's house to learn a song that
he needs for the next day.
But without that, doing the best you can is still amazing because it gave him,
like you're saying, this opportunity to see this other world,
(19:12):
to see what it could be, to see what's out there, to then go, okay,
the next time I go, I'm going to be able to do A, B, C, and D.
But did you guys end up adding?
A vocal coach to his team or what ended up happening with you guys?
We added, fortunately, MSA, the dance studio, also had music lessons as well.
So we were able to add a vocal coach for him.
(19:35):
And especially as in between the Les Mis audition and then what became the Ragtime audition.
So he had it. He could do 16 bars. And I was trying to remember what the song was.
It was something from Music Man.
But on the last day of The Heavens Are Hung in Black Brunt at Ford's Theater,
which had reopened the theater for its 200th anniversary, so this is 2009,
(19:59):
he had the audition for Ragtime.
And it was for the understudy for Little Boy for the Kennedy Center run.
And we took a tour of the Capitol that morning because Harry Reid,
who at the time was the head of the Senate, had seen the show and invited the
cast to come take a private tour of the Capitol. Oh, very cool.
(20:20):
That's very cool. And he had a chance to do that.
And then he, we went and had lunch and he's like, okay, I'll do the audition.
It's like, okay, if you don't, it's not a big deal, but not a big deal to me.
And he said, well, what is your advice?
And I said, kick ass, take names and have fun. And believe it or not,
(20:42):
that's become a mantra for us.
That child is 26 years old. He says, I've got to audition for something.
And I say, kick ass, take names and have fun.
He walked in. He walked out. He said, they say it's for the understudy.
I was like, OK. I said, how'd you do? How do you feel?
And what'd you learn? And he says, well, I did pretty well. I feel pretty good.
(21:05):
And I learned that there are some very nice people in that room.
And by the time we got to the parking lot, we got a call saying they'd like
to offer him the understudy role.
And one piece of advice that we'd always given him was you have to be polite
and you have to make connections, connect to the people that are at the casting table.
Even if you don't feel like it's gone well, no matter what, you walk up to each
(21:30):
person and you say thank you for the opportunity and extend your hand.
That's just polite. That's just how you do it. It's just about being polite.
And so that's what he did and got the understudy role.
Had six weeks in which we had to navigate getting into the Kennedy Center every
day from our suburban Fairfax County house, trying to convince his school that,
(21:53):
you know, that he could do his schoolwork, quote unquote,
and everything else. So we managed to get that done.
And then he did, I think it was eight weeks.
But one of the things that we had to do with his school was have him do some
sort of a project, you know, the project-based learning. He had to do a project related to the show.
(22:18):
And it was, we had him interview other cast members about what it was like to be an understudy.
What did they learn from being an understudy?
Did they gain from being an understudy? And as it turns out,
I mean, he interviewed people who were Broadway veterans.
And so he walked away from the experience understanding what that was and what that role was.
(22:41):
And so when the show ended and they said it was going to be potentially transferring
and they said if you want to audition for it you can we're not we're going to
take most of the original cast but if you want to audition for it you can and
but just realize what kind of commitment that it is.
And we said okay and asked him if he wanted to and he's like of course and he
(23:05):
auditioned got got the understudy role, and made his debut in the role on Broadway.
That's amazing. So that was his Broadway debut. Yes, that's amazing.
I think you guys have handled everything so well because there are parents who
get too emotional about these things,
you know, like they don't understand that, you know, what's really going on
(23:28):
on the other side of the table, the responsibilities of directors and producers
and what they have to do. So there's There's a piece of that.
And as a parent, I find when I'm working with a lot of my clients who have children
doing this or wanting to do this, they don't even understand how we get a manager
or an agent, how we go through that process.
(23:49):
It's not like calling up, you know, you go into the, you know….
You Google doctors because you need a doctor because you have a toothache,
you know, you need a dentist and you just pick one and you call them and they
go, yeah, sure, we'll fit you in today.
Like that is not the world that we live in, right?
So that piece of it is, you know, is something that, you know,
(24:10):
it's kind of a reality check when you get involved in this that it's not as
easy as it seems, you know, your story is like, okay, super talented little boy,
very passionate about what he's doing, very comfortable in the space and going through this process.
But at the end of the game, most parents would have had a difficult time with
(24:31):
an understudy role in that situation and him not even having one chance to go on.
You know, like when you think about what goes on in high schools and junior
highs, if they want to understudy, let's say Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz that
they're doing at the junior high,
that parent is in there, you know, demanding that
their kid has at least three shows or whatever you
(24:51):
know and and it's not that's not this world
it's not like public school at all do you
want to speak on any of that yeah i mean part of
that was the reason why he didn't go on in dc was because it
was was one of our in first
encounters with a stage parent it was insistent that
her son go on for every role that he was able to do and the
(25:14):
broadway run was net negotiated and ben
became very good friends with with the young man and he he's
a he's a great kid but his at the time what ended up happening was when we negotiated
the broadway contract was if he go on as the alternate twice twice at least
twice a week and so that was the plan then of course unfortunately the show
(25:37):
which which was such a beautiful show,
and received seven Tony nominations, closed.
Closed very early. It opened in November and closed in January.
Let's move on because Ben is so well known for, you can say,
the next show that he landed.
Well, what was funny was this was also running sort of in parallel.
(25:57):
He was one of the first set of 10 or 11-year-olds to audition for Billy Elliot.
And he was in that first cattle call of kids going up and then he did that audition
and they said, yay, he's got some potential.
Come back in six months. Yay, he's got some potential. Come back in six months.
(26:19):
Yeah, he was in the funnel.
He was in the funnel. Mm-hmm. And it was interesting at the time because when
we found out that Ragtime was going to close...
I said to him, why don't you write an email to the casting director from Billy
Elliot, which is Nora Brennan, and say to Nora, hey, I'm doing this show.
(26:40):
I'm doing this one performance.
Could you come see it? And he's like, oh, well, do I? Typical boy.
Yeah, typical boy. And I said, but if you do it and she comes,
then it's an opportunity for you.
If she doesn't okay well then that gives you another indicator as far as as
(27:01):
far as how they feel and she came nora was very gracious she came she saw it
and at the end of it she went backstage,
and she congratulated him and then said i think i also want to bring you in
for michael and so she brought him in during the next round of michael auditions
and that's when he got ensemble understudy Michael for the Broadway run.
(27:24):
Meanwhile, still trying out for Billy. So he did the Billy ensemble Michael
track for 15 months and was training the entire time.
And he went through multiple Billy auditions and then finally was cast to be
a Billy on the tour, or they said he was going to be cast as Billy. And then.
(27:46):
They announced the Broadway closing, and then they said, well,
we want you to go out as Michael on the tour and train for Billy and go in.
So he went out as Michael, got hurt, had his first major injury, and then after rehab,
debuted in June of, the last day of June of 2012, and did it for a year.
(28:09):
Nice. Wow. So he was on tour. So he was, was that a domestic tour or did it
go outside of the country as well?
Domestic tour. He went to, well, 40 states and the five major cities in Canada as well.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that must have been an experience. As a parent,
can you talk a little bit about the actual logistics of what you and your wife
(28:36):
had to deal with, with all of that?
Because I think that would be very interesting to everyone who's listening,
who's a parent with the child wanting to do this you know
you you have decisions as parents to make the entire time you
know the question you're you're balancing other children
you're balancing other things in your life and you're trying
to say will this work will this not work
(28:58):
what do we do here what do we do there and when the opportunity for for him
came to do the tour we were like okay hmm and it took some internal conversations
because we had you know emma was at home we had kate at home as well.
And kate was going through some struggles at the time
(29:19):
that she's since overcome it was
we're having to pour all this energy into him doing this
back and forth between new york struggle but we
found some parents and we found people that were helping us
out part-time we were helping them out part time to do
that juggle and then we were fortunate that we
were able to get somebody who would go out
(29:41):
with him on tour and serve as his guardian that was for us we the way we did
it was we made sure that we paid his guardian out of his salary because we were
trying to make this as much as zero sum game as possible we did that in the
time that he had an apartment in new york he paid for.
Because we were trying to avoid that imbalance, especially with having other kids.
(30:04):
Yes. Know that, you know, no, he's paying for this.
He's out of the money that's coming into this. He's not just going to get to
spend all the money like, you know, it's not his allowance.
So we got a guardian who is still a member of our extended family to this day.
His name is Gino Murphy, and he is one of the kindest human beings I've ever known in my life.
(30:27):
And he went out with him for 18 months. Jill and I made the stated goal that
we were not going to go more than two weeks without seeing him.
So, fortunately, we were able to negotiate in the contract that they would pay
for one flight every month. And that was part of the negotiation.
By this time, he no longer was working with just a manager, but he had been
(30:50):
adopted by CESD as an agent. And so the agent helped negotiate that.
And so we were able to do that back and forth.
And so for that 18 months, one of the two of us, I'd say probably most of the
time it was me, would go out for three or four days every two weeks.
We would take the cost of one of the flights and the production would pay for
(31:13):
the other cost. Nice. Yeah. Can I just interject for everyone?
CESD is one of the top bi-coastal agencies in the country and they're very,
very much at the high level of this industry.
So that is pretty amazing that he was that young and signed with a bi-coastal
agent because that is the goal that most people have when they get in,
(31:36):
you know, to be with a top agency.
So that's, you know, that's their job to negotiate those kind of things and
try to make things easier for the for the client.
Yeah. And they've been wonderful to work with. So, yeah, he did Billy Elliot for three years.
Thanks for watching the Making It Happen A Career in the Performing Arts podcast.
(31:56):
Tune in next at 8 p.m. Eastern for part two of my Inland Cook.
If you'd like to connect with Glenn or his son, Ben or Emma,
follow them on socials or visit Glenn's page at glenncook.substack.com stage dad.
His series is designed to help parents understand what it takes to support a
(32:16):
child who wants to pursue performing as a career.
Need more information? Visit lbctalent.com and follow me on socials at lisasolak
underscore 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 below and hit the
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(32:37):
Music.
Music.
(00:06):
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 Lisa Solak and I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:29):
a career in the performing arts, having helped hundreds of clients break into
the performing arts business on stage, including Broadway, films,
television, commercial work, and more.
This podcast is supplemental to my groundbreaking online courses.
For more information, check out all the way you can benefit from my courses,
my how-to videos, my live webinars, my in-person seminars, and free guides. Go to lbctalent.com.
(00:54):
My guest today is Glenn Cook.
Hi, Glenn. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing today?
I'm doing great. I'm so excited that you could be here on the podcast today.
We've been talking for quite some time and sharing stories. And I feel like
a lot of what you've experienced parallels what I've experienced.
And some of the, you know, some of the story is a little bit different, which is wonderful.
(01:18):
And I think all of the, you know, the listeners are going to learn a lot,
especially those that live outside of the states in which most of this professional work is done.
So can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and about your
two kids who have been in the industry?
Sure. My name is Glenn Cook. I'm a freelance writer and photographer.
(01:41):
I have worked in journalism for...
Far longer than I care to admit. We live in Alexandria, Virginia.
At the time that our kids were growing up, we were in Fairfax County,
Virginia, which is about four hours outside New York. Two of my, I have four kids.
We're all in the arts. The oldest is a graphic designer.
The youngest works, or the second oldest works in a daycare.
(02:06):
And then we have twins, Ben and Emma. And Ben and Emma are the entertainers in our family.
We used to say that growing, when they were growing up, we could not do dinner.
We had to do dinner theater because
every meal had to have some sort of performance by one of the four kids.
They could not sit still through an entire dinner without performing.
(02:27):
I love that. I love that. So, so is this when you started to realize that they
had an affinity for this?
Like how old were they when you started to realize this obviously during dinner,
but when did that happen?
Well, I mean, it started, I mean, it was, It started basically from as soon
as I could, but we enrolled Kate in her first dance class when she was three,
(02:48):
and then Emma followed suit.
The latter three children were born within a calendar year, and I write a blog
that I call our reality show.
And the reason is because Life with Us was a reality show, raising three kids
within a year. But she enrolled at three, and then we moved from North Carolina to Virginia.
(03:11):
And then we enrolled Emma in a dance class along with Kate, and they loved it.
And Ben was going to pursue gymnastics, and he enjoyed that.
But then he decided he wanted to dance as well. So by the age of five,
we had all three of them in dance classes. Oh, wow. Wow, that's busy already.
Yeah. Well, but the nice thing about it was it was a centralized location.
(03:33):
We could get them to tuck and roll pretty easily, which made it much easier
than if one was playing soccer and one was playing, doing gymnastics and one
was doing dance. We didn't have that circle.
For us, it was an economy of scale we actually appreciated.
So tell us a little bit about the journey with
ben and emma from the beginning like when did it
become a serious thing how did they first get involved
(03:56):
in the professional side did one get involved first and then the other did they
both get involved in the pro side at the same time for those of you who are
listening who don't know glenn's son ben is very highly credited and we'll talk
about that and some of the things that you went through as a dad he's still
very Very much in the industry as an adult,
which is a huge accomplishment to be able to be involved as a child and teen
(04:20):
and then continue into adulthood.
So he's to be commended for that. I know he does a lot of film and television, a lot of Broadway.
It seemed Broadway is what brought him into the limelight.
Let's talk about when that happened. Was there a transition?
Was it something that surprised you?
Were you seeking out professional rep for him? How did that all work for you?
(04:42):
Well it's interesting because the first time that he got on stage was a it was a dance recital.
And they did this thing called who let the frogs out
and it was just you know it's a cute little number et cetera et cetera and the
audience erupted when he danced and my wife and i looked at each other and went
uh-oh and then when that show ended we could not drag him off the stage And
(05:08):
he said, I feel like I'm home.
He was six, maybe.
And he loved it. He absolutely loved it.
Kate and Emma liked it and they enjoyed it and it was part of their lives,
but it wasn't their passion.
Who expects a 17-year-old to have a passion? isn't
that crazy when they're that young like a lot i've seen
(05:30):
a lot of that because i have as the listeners know
i used to own a performing arts school for many many years
over 40 years and just seeing that you can see it at a young age and i think
parents recognize it like when you were sitting there and you watched that happen
and you said that to your wife were you like was it like light bulb moment like
there's something here and i think in our heart of hearts We know that even
(05:52):
though there are a lot of parents who will say, oh, well,
you know, I'm going to be biased because this is my child.
And they'll talk like that to their friends and neighbors.
But in your heart of hearts, I think people know where you did you feel that
way at that moment? And especially when he started talking in that way.
Yes, because we knew something was different. I mean, it was one of those things
(06:14):
where we knew automatically that there was something different about it.
And, you know, the thing is, is that when my wife and I both are involved in
education and one of the things we've always talked about with kids is that
if they have a passion for something,
allow them to pursue it, but they will get out of it what they put into it.
And so if this passion is something that drives them this way,
(06:39):
then as parents, we need to make the accommodations.
And so we were fortunate financially and from a work standpoint to be able to do that.
And I know a lot of people aren't able to do that, and I feel very fortunate that we were.
One reason we moved from North Carolina to Virginia was to give them more opportunities.
And when this opportunity presented itself and, you know, he danced that year
(07:04):
and then he danced the next year and then he came to us and said, I want to get a manager.
I want to get an agent. Really?
Yes. He came to you. So where did he, I mean, that's a young age,
you know, you're just at age eight, you're just starting.
Most kids are just starting to be able to read and comprehend what that is,
you know, like what they're reading.
And at that age, he's asking for an agent or a manager.
(07:26):
Like, did he hear it from someone? did someone approach him i believe it's you
know i mean at the time the person that ran the dance studio that he was at
and had found it which the school it's metropolitan school of the arts and they
they're a wonderful place i think she said at some point you know you could do this profession.
Well that little light went off in his brain and he was like yes i want to do
(07:49):
this this is what i want to do and you know he liked playing football he liked
doing other kid things but at the same in time, it was, this is what I want to do.
Sure. You were lucky to be at a school with someone who understood the professional side.
And I think there are definitely listeners out there with children in the same situation.
Maybe they're, you know, singing on the fireplace hearth every,
(08:12):
you know, Saturday night for whoever's over for, you know, for dessert that
night at the neighbors and friends, whatever. And they're wondering what they should do.
That was really lucky to be with, to be around somebody that was in the industry,
because I think you do have to seek out professionals in the business to give
you an opinion because you don't know as a parent and you could be missing an
(08:35):
opportunity for your child. So it certainly is important.
So you were lucky to be with that level of professional right from the beginning. It was the school.
Did they employ a lot of people who had been in the industry,
who worked in the industry? Yes, they did, and they still do today.
And it's been one of the nicest things has been seeing Emma and Ben both come back to teach there now.
(08:55):
But they always have worked really hard at, if you want to do this,
if you want to immerse yourself in doing this, we're going to provide you with training.
If you want to do this as a hobby, we're going to allow you to do it as a hobby.
These are what our expectations are, and this is what we want you to do when
(09:17):
you're participating in class.
Your level of commitment to it and your level of enjoyment in what you take
out of it is what's most important.
With various dance and performing arts schools there are some that are more
concert dance leaning and others that are more competitive dance leaning was
he in a school that offered competitive dance training or was he in more of
(09:40):
a like um technical type of school.
He was more, what MSA has always emphasized is more performance and technical over competitive.
They don't compete. They do shows over the course of a year,
and then they come up to their annual recital, which is always sort of mixed
(10:01):
musical theater with dance to varying degrees.
Okay. Now than it did then.
But they've always been about the technical end of things. Sure.
And it's about the joy of performance and about the joy of giving back.
I love that. Yeah, I love that. And I'm not saying that a competitive school isn't technical.
They absolutely are. And there's a lot of competition dancers that do extremely
(10:23):
well in the professional industry, obviously.
But I know it's different for a parent. You know, where do you put your child?
Do you spend the time in that competition scene? Or do you spend it more in,
like you're saying, performance for the sake of performance?
Interesting. So was, did they have, did your school have any,
were they part of the transition to getting him an agent or a manager?
(10:44):
Or was that something you and your wife had to take on on your own?
To a degree, because the founder knew a local manager who worked in the area.
We live outside, like I said, outside D.C.
And so while there are filming opportunities and there are opportunities for performance in the D.C.
Area especially, and then there are filming opportunities in Baltimore,
(11:06):
which is about an hour away from us. It's still not, I mean,
it's not a rigorous professional scene.
You know, it got to us with the question of, do you want to try to get an agent?
Do you want to try to get a manager? And that's where we had to start learning
about this process and learning about the differences between a manager and
an agent and who could help and who could not.
(11:26):
At the time, there was a woman by the name of Linda Townsend who works,
still works in this area. And Linda, we had to audition him in the basement
and he had to sing, dance, and then read.
And so the folks at MSA helped him get prepared for that audition.
And he sang, I Can Do That. And she signed him right away. And then started
(11:50):
sending him out for stuff.
So that experience, now you're signed. Now, your daughters are still dancing.
So you have three others at home and you have Ben now signed. Is that correct?
One child lived in North Carolina. Okay.
We had Kate, Emma, and Ben were all living with us. And then Nicholas was visiting in the summers.
(12:11):
Understood. Okay. So now you are getting auditions. And at the time,
self-tapes were not really a big deal thing back then.
So give us a little bit of an idea of what that experience was like getting him to auditions.
How did that work for you guys? The first audition he went to,
he was at the Kennedy Center for a Debbie Allen show,
(12:33):
and he thought he was going to do really well, and he was real cocky,
and he was all these different things, and it didn't happen.
But got cut and was devastated by it.
And the question was, you know, for us, it was one of those litmus tests.
Okay, you've been cut. What does that mean?
(12:54):
What do you need to work on? You want to continue doing this.
His response was, of course, I want to continue doing this.
And that inner resilience, I think, was something that, you know,
he was born with it in many respects.
And we just encouraged it. but he had it
and it was no i'm not gonna quit this
just because it didn't go well and so
(13:15):
his second audition believe it or not just his
second audition he booked a christmas carol at ford's theater's tiny tent a
little bit of a rite of passage for young boys if they have those shows going
on in their areas for sure exactly and so that christmas season he performed
in that And then he landed Young Lake Duff in the Folger Theater production of Macbeth.
(13:38):
And it was directed by Penn of Penn and Teller, co-directed with another man.
And, you know, went from that, then nothing for six months.
Then from that got christmas carol
again got another show and then
at the last day of that show he got found out that he had an audition for ragtime
(14:01):
ah okay now how old was he at this point he just turned 11 okay all right yeah
i didn't realize it was ragtime so that was his first big show?
He had done a audition for Grosch in Les Mis, which I got out of New York.
That was another experience in which,
(14:24):
he bombed. Let me ask you this, because I think sometimes, and I've had clients,
I have clients all over the country and out of the country, actually on five continents.
But what happens sometimes is there's pressure, right?
That the kid feels maybe not even coming from the parent, usually not because
they're going to put pressure on themselves because they're usually type A type
kids, you know, who want to obviously put their best foot forward and do well in those moments.
(14:49):
Now they know that, that you guys as parents have taken the time,
the money put in this effort to travel to this, you know, this big city,
this other state, this other place.
And they, they don't just have the pressure of like, okay, I need to do well
in the room with the dancing and acting, but now they feel this pressure of
we traveled all this way.
(15:10):
You know, did that enter into it at all? Cause that's happened to some people
where they're coming from Chicago, they land in New York and they have this
moment, you know, how the auditions go. They're only in there for like five
to 15 minutes, whatever it is.
And it's a lot, you know, to try to balance. So how, how was that for you guys?
Well, I mean, for us, it was, it was a combination of things.
I don't think that, I think the pressure on him came from the.
(15:35):
Lack of knowledge that we had. And the lack of knowledge that we had was,
you know, we didn't know that you're going to go in and sing 16 bars or 32 bars.
And then we found out, oh yeah, you've got this audition tomorrow in New York
City for this. You should go do it.
Yeah. Do you have 16 bars? Do you have 32 bars of this song from this show?
(15:57):
And we didn't have access to somebody who could do it for us.
So we desperately tried to cobble together something and then went up and he did the audition.
And like I said, it didn't go well.
The acting went fine, but the singing was terrible. He would tell you that to this day.
(16:17):
And I will never forget riding train up with him and watching him practice and
thinking, this is not going to go well.
And then thinking to myself, It doesn't matter that it's not going to go well.
It matters that he gets to experience it.
And that has been sort of a guidepost for us the whole time.
(16:38):
Every experience you learn something from it and every opportunity that you
have to learn something, you take it because if you can learn something from
it, it's something else you can add to your toolbox. You have an experience
that you would not have otherwise had.
And for him, it worked out beautifully.
He took that experience and said, okay, I don't really like to sing,
(17:02):
but if I have to sing, I'll sing.
And at that point, that's when he originally did not want to do the ragtime
audition because he was fearful as a singe.
But he also was faced with what he considered to be a prolonged period of unemployment.
(17:23):
At the age of what? 11. And he was in fourth grade at the time.
And, you know, it was, I will never forget it. He's like, dad,
I've got to go do this audition. And I was like, why is that?
And he says, because my grades suck when I'm unemployed.
And that's so cute. He was that kid that, you know, you just,
(17:44):
he, if he had, if he had free time on his hands, he would waste it.
But if he scheduled to the nth degree, he would maximize it.
Yeah. There's a lot, a lot of people in the industry like that.
And some kids are that way. And he was.
And all the way, I would say, through even early adulthood, he starts getting
itchy when he's not doing something that he considers to be creative or productive. Yeah.
(18:07):
So did you guys end up adding like a vocal coach to your team to help you with that?
Because I know my experience was a lot of that same thing where you get the
audition the day before and then you have to learn a new song or you have to learn a new something.
And we were lucky enough to have a team of people around us,
you know, because I had the performing arts school who I could call and say,
(18:28):
listen, can I bring my son over after rehearsal or after practice at nine o'clock at night?
And can you teach him this song real quick? Or can you give us the 16 bars?
This is what he wants to sing. Or can you do it over the phone?
Like, what can we do to make this happen? There was a lot of that little bit
of juggling, but it was so much fun.
And again, my kids absolutely loved it and adored it and lived for it.
(18:49):
So I knew that this was an okay thing to do.
Most parents wouldn't do that, you know, like run out at nine o'clock at night
to go to, you know, the high school music director's house to learn a song that
he needs for the next day.
But without that, doing the best you can is still amazing because it gave him,
like you're saying, this opportunity to see this other world,
(19:12):
to see what it could be, to see what's out there, to then go, okay,
the next time I go, I'm going to be able to do A, B, C, and D.
But did you guys end up adding?
A vocal coach to his team or what ended up happening with you guys?
We added, fortunately, MSA, the dance studio, also had music lessons as well.
So we were able to add a vocal coach for him.
(19:35):
And especially as in between the Les Mis audition and then what became the Ragtime audition.
So he had it. He could do 16 bars. And I was trying to remember what the song was.
It was something from Music Man.
But on the last day of The Heavens Are Hung in Black Brunt at Ford's Theater,
which had reopened the theater for its 200th anniversary, so this is 2009,
(19:59):
he had the audition for Ragtime.
And it was for the understudy for Little Boy for the Kennedy Center run.
And we took a tour of the Capitol that morning because Harry Reid,
who at the time was the head of the Senate, had seen the show and invited the
cast to come take a private tour of the Capitol. Oh, very cool.
(20:20):
That's very cool. And he had a chance to do that.
And then he, we went and had lunch and he's like, okay, I'll do the audition.
It's like, okay, if you don't, it's not a big deal, but not a big deal to me.
And he said, well, what is your advice?
And I said, kick ass, take names and have fun. And believe it or not,
(20:42):
that's become a mantra for us.
That child is 26 years old. He says, I've got to audition for something.
And I say, kick ass, take names and have fun.
He walked in. He walked out. He said, they say it's for the understudy.
I was like, OK. I said, how'd you do? How do you feel?
And what'd you learn? And he says, well, I did pretty well. I feel pretty good.
(21:05):
And I learned that there are some very nice people in that room.
And by the time we got to the parking lot, we got a call saying they'd like
to offer him the understudy role.
And one piece of advice that we'd always given him was you have to be polite
and you have to make connections, connect to the people that are at the casting table.
Even if you don't feel like it's gone well, no matter what, you walk up to each
(21:30):
person and you say thank you for the opportunity and extend your hand.
That's just polite. That's just how you do it. It's just about being polite.
And so that's what he did and got the understudy role.
Had six weeks in which we had to navigate getting into the Kennedy Center every
day from our suburban Fairfax County house, trying to convince his school that,
(21:53):
you know, that he could do his schoolwork, quote unquote,
and everything else. So we managed to get that done.
And then he did, I think it was eight weeks.
But one of the things that we had to do with his school was have him do some
sort of a project, you know, the project-based learning. He had to do a project related to the show.
(22:18):
And it was, we had him interview other cast members about what it was like to be an understudy.
What did they learn from being an understudy?
Did they gain from being an understudy? And as it turns out,
I mean, he interviewed people who were Broadway veterans.
And so he walked away from the experience understanding what that was and what that role was.
(22:41):
And so when the show ended and they said it was going to be potentially transferring
and they said if you want to audition for it you can we're not we're going to
take most of the original cast but if you want to audition for it you can and
but just realize what kind of commitment that it is.
And we said okay and asked him if he wanted to and he's like of course and he
(23:05):
auditioned got got the understudy role, and made his debut in the role on Broadway.
That's amazing. So that was his Broadway debut. Yes, that's amazing.
I think you guys have handled everything so well because there are parents who
get too emotional about these things,
you know, like they don't understand that, you know, what's really going on
(23:28):
on the other side of the table, the responsibilities of directors and producers
and what they have to do. So there's There's a piece of that.
And as a parent, I find when I'm working with a lot of my clients who have children
doing this or wanting to do this, they don't even understand how we get a manager
or an agent, how we go through that process.
(23:49):
It's not like calling up, you know, you go into the, you know….
You Google doctors because you need a doctor because you have a toothache,
you know, you need a dentist and you just pick one and you call them and they
go, yeah, sure, we'll fit you in today.
Like that is not the world that we live in, right?
So that piece of it is, you know, is something that, you know,
(24:10):
it's kind of a reality check when you get involved in this that it's not as
easy as it seems, you know, your story is like, okay, super talented little boy,
very passionate about what he's doing, very comfortable in the space and going through this process.
But at the end of the game, most parents would have had a difficult time with
(24:31):
an understudy role in that situation and him not even having one chance to go on.
You know, like when you think about what goes on in high schools and junior
highs, if they want to understudy, let's say Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz that
they're doing at the junior high,
that parent is in there, you know, demanding that
their kid has at least three shows or whatever you
(24:51):
know and and it's not that's not this world
it's not like public school at all do you
want to speak on any of that yeah i mean part of
that was the reason why he didn't go on in dc was because it
was was one of our in first
encounters with a stage parent it was insistent that
her son go on for every role that he was able to do and the
(25:14):
broadway run was net negotiated and ben
became very good friends with with the young man and he he's
a he's a great kid but his at the time what ended up happening was when we negotiated
the broadway contract was if he go on as the alternate twice twice at least
twice a week and so that was the plan then of course unfortunately the show
(25:37):
which which was such a beautiful show,
and received seven Tony nominations, closed.
Closed very early. It opened in November and closed in January.
Let's move on because Ben is so well known for, you can say,
the next show that he landed.
Well, what was funny was this was also running sort of in parallel.
(25:57):
He was one of the first set of 10 or 11-year-olds to audition for Billy Elliot.
And he was in that first cattle call of kids going up and then he did that audition
and they said, yay, he's got some potential.
Come back in six months. Yay, he's got some potential. Come back in six months.
(26:19):
Yeah, he was in the funnel.
He was in the funnel. Mm-hmm. And it was interesting at the time because when
we found out that Ragtime was going to close...
I said to him, why don't you write an email to the casting director from Billy
Elliot, which is Nora Brennan, and say to Nora, hey, I'm doing this show.
(26:40):
I'm doing this one performance.
Could you come see it? And he's like, oh, well, do I? Typical boy.
Yeah, typical boy. And I said, but if you do it and she comes,
then it's an opportunity for you.
If she doesn't okay well then that gives you another indicator as far as as
(27:01):
far as how they feel and she came nora was very gracious she came she saw it
and at the end of it she went backstage,
and she congratulated him and then said i think i also want to bring you in
for michael and so she brought him in during the next round of michael auditions
and that's when he got ensemble understudy Michael for the Broadway run.
(27:24):
Meanwhile, still trying out for Billy. So he did the Billy ensemble Michael
track for 15 months and was training the entire time.
And he went through multiple Billy auditions and then finally was cast to be
a Billy on the tour, or they said he was going to be cast as Billy. And then.
(27:46):
They announced the Broadway closing, and then they said, well,
we want you to go out as Michael on the tour and train for Billy and go in.
So he went out as Michael, got hurt, had his first major injury, and then after rehab,
debuted in June of, the last day of June of 2012, and did it for a year.
(28:09):
Nice. Wow. So he was on tour. So he was, was that a domestic tour or did it
go outside of the country as well?
Domestic tour. He went to, well, 40 states and the five major cities in Canada as well.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that must have been an experience. As a parent,
can you talk a little bit about the actual logistics of what you and your wife
(28:36):
had to deal with, with all of that?
Because I think that would be very interesting to everyone who's listening,
who's a parent with the child wanting to do this you know
you you have decisions as parents to make the entire time you
know the question you're you're balancing other children
you're balancing other things in your life and you're trying
to say will this work will this not work
(28:58):
what do we do here what do we do there and when the opportunity for for him
came to do the tour we were like okay hmm and it took some internal conversations
because we had you know emma was at home we had kate at home as well.
And kate was going through some struggles at the time
(29:19):
that she's since overcome it was
we're having to pour all this energy into him doing this
back and forth between new york struggle but we
found some parents and we found people that were helping us
out part-time we were helping them out part time to do
that juggle and then we were fortunate that we
were able to get somebody who would go out
(29:41):
with him on tour and serve as his guardian that was for us we the way we did
it was we made sure that we paid his guardian out of his salary because we were
trying to make this as much as zero sum game as possible we did that in the
time that he had an apartment in new york he paid for.
Because we were trying to avoid that imbalance, especially with having other kids.
(30:04):
Yes. Know that, you know, no, he's paying for this.
He's out of the money that's coming into this. He's not just going to get to
spend all the money like, you know, it's not his allowance.
So we got a guardian who is still a member of our extended family to this day.
His name is Gino Murphy, and he is one of the kindest human beings I've ever known in my life.
(30:27):
And he went out with him for 18 months. Jill and I made the stated goal that
we were not going to go more than two weeks without seeing him.
So, fortunately, we were able to negotiate in the contract that they would pay
for one flight every month. And that was part of the negotiation.
By this time, he no longer was working with just a manager, but he had been
(30:50):
adopted by CESD as an agent. And so the agent helped negotiate that.
And so we were able to do that back and forth.
And so for that 18 months, one of the two of us, I'd say probably most of the
time it was me, would go out for three or four days every two weeks.
We would take the cost of one of the flights and the production would pay for
(31:13):
the other cost. Nice. Yeah. Can I just interject for everyone?
CESD is one of the top bi-coastal agencies in the country and they're very,
very much at the high level of this industry.
So that is pretty amazing that he was that young and signed with a bi-coastal
agent because that is the goal that most people have when they get in,
(31:36):
you know, to be with a top agency.
So that's, you know, that's their job to negotiate those kind of things and
try to make things easier for the for the client.
Yeah. And they've been wonderful to work with. So, yeah, he did Billy Elliot for three years.
Thanks for watching the Making It Happen A Career in the Performing Arts podcast.
(31:56):
Tune in next at 8 p.m. Eastern for part two of my Inland Cook.
If you'd like to connect with Glenn or his son, Ben or Emma,
follow them on socials or visit Glenn's page at glenncook.substack.com stage dad.
His series is designed to help parents understand what it takes to support a
(32:16):
child who wants to pursue performing as a career.
Need more information? Visit lbctalent.com and follow me on socials at lisasolak
underscore 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 below and hit the
bell for notifications.
(32:37):
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