April 29, 2025 • 18 mins
It’s World Wish Day, and we’re celebrating with some serious Disney magic! Host Christine Nagy catches up with Aladdin stars Adi Roy, Michael James Scott, and Dennis Stowe to talk about life backstage, their incredible journeys to Broadway, and what makes playing these iconic roles so special. From hilarious stories to heartfelt moments, you’ll get a real look behind the curtain.
In honor of World Wish Day, iHeartRadio has partnered with Disney's Aladdin on Broadway to grant a truly enchanting experience. This collaboration celebrates the power of wishes and the magic of live theater. Win Tickets to Aladdin on Broadway! iHeartRadio is giving away exclusive tickets to see Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. For more information, go to iHeartRadioBroadway.com
In honor of World Wish Day, iHeartRadio has partnered with Disney's Aladdin on Broadway to grant a truly enchanting experience. This collaboration celebrates the power of wishes and the magic of live theater. Win Tickets to Aladdin on Broadway! iHeartRadio is giving away exclusive tickets to see Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. For more information, go to iHeartRadioBroadway.com
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
iHeartRadio Broadway presents Inside Broadway, the podcast about everything theater.
It's where you hear what happens from the ticket window
to the stage door, with the stars and creative forces
that make it all come alive. Here's your host, Light
FM's Christine Neggy.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Inside Broadway and today we're signing the spotlight
on one of Broadway's most magical productions, Disney's Aladdin, which
just celebrated their eleventh anniversary on Broadway at the legendary
New Amsterdam Theater. Today's a really special day because we're
celebrating World Wish Day. A little more with that in
just a moment. First, let's welcome three incredible cast members
(00:43):
from Aladdin. We have Addi Roy who plays Aladdin. We
have Michael James, Scott, Jeanie and Dennis Stowe who is Ja'far.
And it's so nice to see all of you. Thank
you so much for being here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
This is like a pleasure in person. I follow all
of you you on Instagram and I just want to
say you're all like very entertaining that you post are
so much fun and your transitions when you go from
street street life to costume life is always a good time.
So Dennis, can we start with you? When you took
(01:17):
over the role of Jafar how long ago, three years
ago from a legendary iconic Jonathan.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Freeman, Yes, the original voice of Jafar in the nineteen
ninety two movie and Len.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, and he was wonderful and I know he passed
the mantle. So to speak to you, Sta, yeah, yeah,
I did a beautiful show of that on stage for you, yes,
which I thought was really touching. How has it been
for you to play the bad guy in a show
full of all these fun, loving good guys.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
I really enjoy it because I'm actually not a bad guy.
So yeah, but you know, taking the advice from Jonathan Freeman,
you know, you have to make the character sort of
he calls it deliciously evil, and so you know, it's
fun to make people not know why they actually are,
(02:09):
you know, drawn to, you know, a villain.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
There are a lot of people who love villains, yes, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
In these Disney shows, and so it's fun to to
embody that and and and to the challenge of having
people almost like you and like that they don't like.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You, you know, at the same time, and so is
it true? Can you tell us Michael and Audie is
is he really a nice guy in real life? And
trust him?
Speaker 5 (02:42):
He's the best.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
He's of course he's that's but that also is like
you said, it's also what makes it so fun to watch,
because I think the best villains are the are like
the good guys really, you know what I mean, Like
they just because you get to you get to go
there and and he goes there.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
It's also so funny to be enemies on stage and
then after the show ends, we all get into the
elevator together and we're all just hanging out. Your buddy,
we're buddies backstage, and so it's it's funny to just,
you know, have that relationship off stage and then on
stage it's all butting heads, but it's it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Otdie, tell us about your journey to Broadway. You've been
with Aladdin for a while since junior high school on
the road, right, Like, are uptight?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, No, we're really tight. It's it's become a kind
of full circle journey for me. I originally played Aladdin
and Aladdin Junior in my middle school and at the
time I didn't know like all the ins and outs
of Aladdin of Broadway. It was kind of my first
intro into theater, into you know the life of Broadway,
and I fell in love. I fell in love, and
(03:43):
almost like ten years later, here I am on Broadway
playing the role again. And I got to do it
on the national tour of Aladdin as well, and it's
a it's been a wonderful journey so far.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So there a big difference between the show on the
road and being in a Broadway Well.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I thought you're about to ask about middle school.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
But I'm going to make there's a big difference.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
There was a difference.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean, you're you're not traveling, which is one great
and I'm from the East Coast, so it's it's wonderful
to be back on the East Coast and and in
one spot. And also you know here Broadway is the
Great White Way. It's it's like such a revered place
to be and you feel that reverence from the audience
members and and on the road it's just kind of
(04:31):
like people come in flocks to see Aladdin, they come
to see Disney and and it's just a different vibe.
I feel both are great and the audience is on
the road are great, the audiences here are amazing, and uh,
it's it's just fun to put this story on every
every day.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Can we just say that Addie was in junior high
school when Aladdin opened on broad.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So we said that was eleven years ago, so that
makes us I'm not going to do the math not there.
Let's just pretend listeners, And Michael, you have such wonderful,
beautiful energy always. I've had the pleasure of interviewing you before,
so say thank you. You just bring a lot of
(05:15):
a lot of joy, like the entire cast does. How
does it stay fresh for you? You've been with the
show for how long?
Speaker 6 (05:22):
Well, from the very beginning with Dennis as well, when
we first opened on Broadway, and then I took a
little break, and then my Genie journey has taken me
around the world. So I don't know, I mean, it's
I don't even really think about about it as much
in terms of bringing joy. I love to live my
(05:42):
life and joy like it's a very important part of
my life to stay in the light, if you will. Uh,
And so being able to play a character who literally
is love, light and laughter is a pretty beautiful gift,
and it is a gift that I do not take lightly,
(06:06):
especially in the world today. And because of that, and
because of the connection of our show and why I
feel like the connection it has had with so many
audience members around the world, and why our show is
such a success, it is not. It is so important
that we live in that joy. So for me, it's
(06:30):
just a part of my life. It's just a part
of my life. And I'm so grateful that I get
to make it a part of my life.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Do you feel for all of you that that's a
big part of it is gratitude And you step inside
that theater and you step foot on that stage and
everything else melts away and it's just all about Aladdin
in the show.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Absolutely, it's a lovely escape, right, It's a two and
a half hour escape of joy. And we always, you know,
we have a prayer before the show, and we always,
you know, we pray that people leave, you know, lifted,
you know, leave better than they came. And I think
(07:10):
it's a gift to be able to share that with people.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Yeah, it's such a also to you know.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
I some when I think about, like my career, I
crack up because I'm like Bennis and I both We've
talked about this, but like we both have had careers
on Broadway before Aladdin, right, and like now I feel
like Aladdin is such a like big part of my life.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
And it was just like you know, the the ba before.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Aladdin and then now like the after Aladdin like situation
of it all and what the current Aladdin and it is,
so it is just a it's so different and so
on so many levels in terms of there is there
is a real like Broadly brings magic. Right, We've gotten
(07:58):
to do a lot of broad and it's a beautiful blessing.
There is nothing like Disney magic. There's nothing like it,
and you cannot describe it. You cannot really like put
a word on like what it actually is. But there
is Disney magic. There is something about it. It is
completely different from anything else. And it's real. It is
(08:21):
absolutely real. And I'm you know, for the longest time,
I was like, I don't know, it's real.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, so having said that, why don't we make somebody's
wish come true? Today is extra special because we are
celebrating World Wish Day and together with iHeartRadio Broadway, we
would like to grant somebody's wish a pair of tickets
to see a Lane in the musical on Broadway.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Per So this is.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Your chance to win tickets. Just go to iHeartRadio Broadway
dot com for your chance to win. And once again
we thank you, Audie Roy, Michael James Scott, Dennis Stove.
Thank you so much for being here, for all you
do for the Broadway community. Thank you. Thanks for having
just one other thing. Ken you stick around for a
little while because we like to do behind the scenes
(09:09):
and find out like what happens backstage and in your
dressing rooms, and.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You don't go away. Let's spend a little extra time
with our guests. Christine Nagy takes you behind the scenes
on Inside Broadway.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I'm here with our friends from Broadways Aladdin celebrating World
Wish Day. So this is the part of the podcast
where we get to go behind the scenes and ask
really super personal, embarrassing questions. That's fair exactly what we do.
We have three incredible cast members from Aladdin with us
Audi Roy who plays Aladdin, Michael James Scott, Jeanie and
Dennis Stowe. Ja'afar. Now, if you were listening to the
(09:54):
first part of the podcast. We did learn that you
do have a pre stage rich Well where you like
to do a prayer circle before you go one stage together.
Can you tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, I mean it's a you know, it's a small
group of us, some some people breeze in and breeze
out of it as well. It's just a chance for
us to sort of get together and sort of focus
and and really say out loud our gratitude for for
the show and for what the show gives to the audiences.
(10:27):
And uh, it really is, as we were saying before
that when we we've made it, you know, a real ritual,
like a real part of our pre show at when
they call basically a five minutes we all go down
and we we gather and uh, and when we miss it,
it seems like we're missing something at the show because
it's it's so ingrained in our pre show.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And if you yeah, if you mess up, that's that's
what you didn't see the prayer.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Exactly, and if you And the nice thing too is
like you can hear the audience like behind you, like chattering,
and like that pre audience chatter. You hear it very loudly,
like so we're and we are where we do our
prayer circle. We are like by the back wall of
the theater, so you can you can hear the excitement
(11:15):
before every show, and that is that's also a beautiful
sound because it's underneath this sort of just gratitude, uh circle,
because we you know, we yes, we pray, but we
pray for everyone, like we're we're sending gratitude and love
and light to to not just our us in that circle,
(11:39):
but for all of us, like the audience, and just
as Dennis said that they just take in joy and
experience joy and and leave a little bit lifted, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
So it's a beautiful sound. I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It sounds like the most wonderful moment. It really does.
So what about who's been one of your biggest inspirations
as far as in the world of theater is concerned.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Ooh gosh. Well, so I had an incredible opportunity. So
I was basically Oddy's age when he first started the
It was what about nineteen eight, twenty twenty something like
that for the tour. So I was about the same
age when I went to Paris to stand by for
(12:27):
the legendary Ben Veren in Fossy and which is kind
of insane to think about, and so that he had
always been I am an old school like, I'm so
inspired by the old school song and dance of it
all the Freather Astaire, the Ginger Rogers, the Sammy Davis,
(12:48):
the you know, Gregory Hines, the like, all of that,
those amazing, amazing people. Ben Veren and I got to
stand by for Ben Veren and it was, it was,
it was. It was halfway through my senior year of college,
so I did my second half of my senior year
that got the credit from doing the show. So I
(13:09):
was doing like papers like in the airport in Europe,
which is kind of crazy. But Ben basically it took
me in as a as you know, he saw a
lot of energy, a lot of spitball fire energy, and
he saw surprise, surprise, and he was like, we got
to do something with that energy. He's like, WHOA, let's
(13:30):
And what was so amazing is that he literally like
would have me come to the theater like three hours
before the show. We would meditate on the stage together,
we would go through material. It was like it couldn't
have been the biggest masterclass.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
I could have ever wished for my life.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
He has been an inspiration to me to sort of
start my career and tell me that for me, he
said to not make theater my life, to make it
a part of my life, and that something has always
stuck with me for a very long time. And I'm
very grateful for someone like that who took me in
(14:08):
and showed me what was going on.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That's incredible. Yeah, yeah, for you, Dennis.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I also, you know, Michael and I both started our
careers really as dancers.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
The way when I first met him was at the
Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Both of our Broadway shows were performing
there and I was in Wonderful Town and he was
doing a show called All Shook Up, and it was
his first foray onto Broadway, and I remember he just
stood out so so much, you know, and I had
(14:41):
one of my best friends was in the show, and
my best friend was like, look out for that one,
look out for that one. And here we are like
twenty years later, right, So yeah, I mean, Gregory Hines
was a big influence for me because it was somebody
that looked like me that was doing this, and so
I really I wanted to be him. He did everything
(15:03):
you know, he sang and danced and tap danced, and
I also was a tap dancer as well, so it
was you know, I just it really just speaks to representation, right,
being able to see yourself on stage, which I think
is the beautiful thing about Aladdin is because you know,
anybody can come to Aladdin and see themselves and see
(15:23):
the world on stage.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
But also I will say, you know, Jonathan Freeman was
sort of like this surprise inspiration for me because he
is really represents Broadway history. I mean, his stories are incredible.
He would just tell all kinds of stories and this
man you know Broadway and you know, commercials, He did
(15:47):
an amazing amount of commercials back in the day that
you would probably recognize if you you know, if you
thought about it, and you know, voiceovers and things like that,
and he was just such an incredible influence. And to
be able to watch him craft this character was, you know,
really informs how I do what I I try to
(16:09):
carry his legacy on on the stage as well. So
I'm so grateful to him for for this moment, and
I'm really enjoying myself so much.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I'm glad You're so wonderful and Audi for you.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I mean, I it's pretty new into my my journey
on Broadway.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Very great. Sorry, I love where.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I but I think growing up I I looked to
a lot of Disney shows actually as inspiration, and namely
I I looked at Newsy's and Jeremy Jordan and newszy Is.
It was kind of the soundtrack of my childhood and
kind of anything that Jeremy Jordan did, I followed and
I loved, loved out there from Hunchback of Notre Dame,
(16:52):
the whole score is amazing, and I think those two
things kind of defined my my childhood and my my adolescence.
And I grew up loving Disney on Broadway, and so
to get to be here doing it, bringing Disney on
Broadway to life every night, it feels like a dream
come true.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
It is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I'm so glad that your dreams have come true, and
you're helping to make our dreams come true because once
again we are celebrating World Wish Day, and we're doing
that with the three incredible cast members from Aladdin the
Musical on Broadway. Audie Broy, Michael James Scott, Dennis Stowe.
Thank you, thank you so much for being here and again.
We want to make your wish come true by coming
(17:30):
to see Aladdin the Musical on Broadway. Visit iHeartRadio Broadway
dot com enter for a chance to win that wish
come true because we love granting. Thank you, Thank you guys.
That's it for this episode of Inside Broadway. Thanks for
hanging out with us. I'm Christine Aggy. If you love
what you heard, please don't forget to give us a follow.
(17:51):
Tell your theater loving friends about us and I'll catch
you next time. More stories, more fun, and of course,
more Broadway.
iHeartRadio Broadway presents Inside Broadway, the podcast about everything theater.
It's where you hear what happens from the ticket window
to the stage door, with the stars and creative forces
that make it all come alive. Here's your host, Light
FM's Christine Neggy.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Inside Broadway and today we're signing the spotlight
on one of Broadway's most magical productions, Disney's Aladdin, which
just celebrated their eleventh anniversary on Broadway at the legendary
New Amsterdam Theater. Today's a really special day because we're
celebrating World Wish Day. A little more with that in
just a moment. First, let's welcome three incredible cast members
(00:43):
from Aladdin. We have Addi Roy who plays Aladdin. We
have Michael James, Scott, Jeanie and Dennis Stowe who is Ja'far.
And it's so nice to see all of you. Thank
you so much for being here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
This is like a pleasure in person. I follow all
of you you on Instagram and I just want to
say you're all like very entertaining that you post are
so much fun and your transitions when you go from
street street life to costume life is always a good time.
So Dennis, can we start with you? When you took
(01:17):
over the role of Jafar how long ago, three years
ago from a legendary iconic Jonathan.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Freeman, Yes, the original voice of Jafar in the nineteen
ninety two movie and Len.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, and he was wonderful and I know he passed
the mantle. So to speak to you, Sta, yeah, yeah,
I did a beautiful show of that on stage for you, yes,
which I thought was really touching. How has it been
for you to play the bad guy in a show
full of all these fun, loving good guys.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
I really enjoy it because I'm actually not a bad guy.
So yeah, but you know, taking the advice from Jonathan Freeman,
you know, you have to make the character sort of
he calls it deliciously evil, and so you know, it's
fun to make people not know why they actually are,
(02:09):
you know, drawn to, you know, a villain.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
There are a lot of people who love villains, yes, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
In these Disney shows, and so it's fun to to
embody that and and and to the challenge of having
people almost like you and like that they don't like.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You, you know, at the same time, and so is
it true? Can you tell us Michael and Audie is
is he really a nice guy in real life? And
trust him?
Speaker 5 (02:42):
He's the best.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
He's of course he's that's but that also is like
you said, it's also what makes it so fun to watch,
because I think the best villains are the are like
the good guys really, you know what I mean, Like
they just because you get to you get to go
there and and he goes there.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
It's also so funny to be enemies on stage and
then after the show ends, we all get into the
elevator together and we're all just hanging out. Your buddy,
we're buddies backstage, and so it's it's funny to just,
you know, have that relationship off stage and then on
stage it's all butting heads, but it's it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Otdie, tell us about your journey to Broadway. You've been
with Aladdin for a while since junior high school on
the road, right, Like, are uptight?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, No, we're really tight. It's it's become a kind
of full circle journey for me. I originally played Aladdin
and Aladdin Junior in my middle school and at the
time I didn't know like all the ins and outs
of Aladdin of Broadway. It was kind of my first
intro into theater, into you know the life of Broadway,
and I fell in love. I fell in love, and
(03:43):
almost like ten years later, here I am on Broadway
playing the role again. And I got to do it
on the national tour of Aladdin as well, and it's
a it's been a wonderful journey so far.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So there a big difference between the show on the
road and being in a Broadway Well.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I thought you're about to ask about middle school.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
But I'm going to make there's a big difference.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
There was a difference.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean, you're you're not traveling, which is one great
and I'm from the East Coast, so it's it's wonderful
to be back on the East Coast and and in
one spot. And also you know here Broadway is the
Great White Way. It's it's like such a revered place
to be and you feel that reverence from the audience
members and and on the road it's just kind of
(04:31):
like people come in flocks to see Aladdin, they come
to see Disney and and it's just a different vibe.
I feel both are great and the audience is on
the road are great, the audiences here are amazing, and uh,
it's it's just fun to put this story on every
every day.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Can we just say that Addie was in junior high
school when Aladdin opened on broad.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So we said that was eleven years ago, so that
makes us I'm not going to do the math not there.
Let's just pretend listeners, And Michael, you have such wonderful,
beautiful energy always. I've had the pleasure of interviewing you before,
so say thank you. You just bring a lot of
(05:15):
a lot of joy, like the entire cast does. How
does it stay fresh for you? You've been with the
show for how long?
Speaker 6 (05:22):
Well, from the very beginning with Dennis as well, when
we first opened on Broadway, and then I took a
little break, and then my Genie journey has taken me
around the world. So I don't know, I mean, it's
I don't even really think about about it as much
in terms of bringing joy. I love to live my
(05:42):
life and joy like it's a very important part of
my life to stay in the light, if you will. Uh,
And so being able to play a character who literally
is love, light and laughter is a pretty beautiful gift,
and it is a gift that I do not take lightly,
(06:06):
especially in the world today. And because of that, and
because of the connection of our show and why I
feel like the connection it has had with so many
audience members around the world, and why our show is
such a success, it is not. It is so important
that we live in that joy. So for me, it's
(06:30):
just a part of my life. It's just a part
of my life. And I'm so grateful that I get
to make it a part of my life.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Do you feel for all of you that that's a
big part of it is gratitude And you step inside
that theater and you step foot on that stage and
everything else melts away and it's just all about Aladdin
in the show.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Absolutely, it's a lovely escape, right, It's a two and
a half hour escape of joy. And we always, you know,
we have a prayer before the show, and we always,
you know, we pray that people leave, you know, lifted,
you know, leave better than they came. And I think
(07:10):
it's a gift to be able to share that with people.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Yeah, it's such a also to you know.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
I some when I think about, like my career, I
crack up because I'm like Bennis and I both We've
talked about this, but like we both have had careers
on Broadway before Aladdin, right, and like now I feel
like Aladdin is such a like big part of my life.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
And it was just like you know, the the ba before.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Aladdin and then now like the after Aladdin like situation
of it all and what the current Aladdin and it is,
so it is just a it's so different and so
on so many levels in terms of there is there
is a real like Broadly brings magic. Right, We've gotten
(07:58):
to do a lot of broad and it's a beautiful blessing.
There is nothing like Disney magic. There's nothing like it,
and you cannot describe it. You cannot really like put
a word on like what it actually is. But there
is Disney magic. There is something about it. It is
completely different from anything else. And it's real. It is
(08:21):
absolutely real. And I'm you know, for the longest time,
I was like, I don't know, it's real.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, so having said that, why don't we make somebody's
wish come true? Today is extra special because we are
celebrating World Wish Day and together with iHeartRadio Broadway, we
would like to grant somebody's wish a pair of tickets
to see a Lane in the musical on Broadway.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Per So this is.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Your chance to win tickets. Just go to iHeartRadio Broadway
dot com for your chance to win. And once again
we thank you, Audie Roy, Michael James Scott, Dennis Stove.
Thank you so much for being here, for all you
do for the Broadway community. Thank you. Thanks for having
just one other thing. Ken you stick around for a
little while because we like to do behind the scenes
(09:09):
and find out like what happens backstage and in your
dressing rooms, and.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You don't go away. Let's spend a little extra time
with our guests. Christine Nagy takes you behind the scenes
on Inside Broadway.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I'm here with our friends from Broadways Aladdin celebrating World
Wish Day. So this is the part of the podcast
where we get to go behind the scenes and ask
really super personal, embarrassing questions. That's fair exactly what we do.
We have three incredible cast members from Aladdin with us
Audi Roy who plays Aladdin, Michael James Scott, Jeanie and
Dennis Stowe. Ja'afar. Now, if you were listening to the
(09:54):
first part of the podcast. We did learn that you
do have a pre stage rich Well where you like
to do a prayer circle before you go one stage together.
Can you tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah, I mean it's a you know, it's a small
group of us, some some people breeze in and breeze
out of it as well. It's just a chance for
us to sort of get together and sort of focus
and and really say out loud our gratitude for for
the show and for what the show gives to the audiences.
(10:27):
And uh, it really is, as we were saying before
that when we we've made it, you know, a real ritual,
like a real part of our pre show at when
they call basically a five minutes we all go down
and we we gather and uh, and when we miss it,
it seems like we're missing something at the show because
it's it's so ingrained in our pre show.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And if you yeah, if you mess up, that's that's
what you didn't see the prayer.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Exactly, and if you And the nice thing too is
like you can hear the audience like behind you, like chattering,
and like that pre audience chatter. You hear it very loudly,
like so we're and we are where we do our
prayer circle. We are like by the back wall of
the theater, so you can you can hear the excitement
(11:15):
before every show, and that is that's also a beautiful
sound because it's underneath this sort of just gratitude, uh circle,
because we you know, we yes, we pray, but we
pray for everyone, like we're we're sending gratitude and love
and light to to not just our us in that circle,
(11:39):
but for all of us, like the audience, and just
as Dennis said that they just take in joy and
experience joy and and leave a little bit lifted, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
So it's a beautiful sound. I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It sounds like the most wonderful moment. It really does.
So what about who's been one of your biggest inspirations
as far as in the world of theater is concerned.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Ooh gosh. Well, so I had an incredible opportunity. So
I was basically Oddy's age when he first started the
It was what about nineteen eight, twenty twenty something like
that for the tour. So I was about the same
age when I went to Paris to stand by for
(12:27):
the legendary Ben Veren in Fossy and which is kind
of insane to think about, and so that he had
always been I am an old school like, I'm so
inspired by the old school song and dance of it
all the Freather Astaire, the Ginger Rogers, the Sammy Davis,
(12:48):
the you know, Gregory Hines, the like, all of that,
those amazing, amazing people. Ben Veren and I got to
stand by for Ben Veren and it was, it was,
it was. It was halfway through my senior year of college,
so I did my second half of my senior year
that got the credit from doing the show. So I
(13:09):
was doing like papers like in the airport in Europe,
which is kind of crazy. But Ben basically it took
me in as a as you know, he saw a
lot of energy, a lot of spitball fire energy, and
he saw surprise, surprise, and he was like, we got
to do something with that energy. He's like, WHOA, let's
(13:30):
And what was so amazing is that he literally like
would have me come to the theater like three hours
before the show. We would meditate on the stage together,
we would go through material. It was like it couldn't
have been the biggest masterclass.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
I could have ever wished for my life.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
He has been an inspiration to me to sort of
start my career and tell me that for me, he
said to not make theater my life, to make it
a part of my life, and that something has always
stuck with me for a very long time. And I'm
very grateful for someone like that who took me in
(14:08):
and showed me what was going on.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That's incredible. Yeah, yeah, for you, Dennis.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I also, you know, Michael and I both started our
careers really as dancers.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
The way when I first met him was at the
Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Both of our Broadway shows were performing
there and I was in Wonderful Town and he was
doing a show called All Shook Up, and it was
his first foray onto Broadway, and I remember he just
stood out so so much, you know, and I had
(14:41):
one of my best friends was in the show, and
my best friend was like, look out for that one,
look out for that one. And here we are like
twenty years later, right, So yeah, I mean, Gregory Hines
was a big influence for me because it was somebody
that looked like me that was doing this, and so
I really I wanted to be him. He did everything
(15:03):
you know, he sang and danced and tap danced, and
I also was a tap dancer as well, so it
was you know, I just it really just speaks to representation, right,
being able to see yourself on stage, which I think
is the beautiful thing about Aladdin is because you know,
anybody can come to Aladdin and see themselves and see
(15:23):
the world on stage.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
But also I will say, you know, Jonathan Freeman was
sort of like this surprise inspiration for me because he
is really represents Broadway history. I mean, his stories are incredible.
He would just tell all kinds of stories and this
man you know Broadway and you know, commercials, He did
(15:47):
an amazing amount of commercials back in the day that
you would probably recognize if you you know, if you
thought about it, and you know, voiceovers and things like that,
and he was just such an incredible influence. And to
be able to watch him craft this character was, you know,
really informs how I do what I I try to
(16:09):
carry his legacy on on the stage as well. So
I'm so grateful to him for for this moment, and
I'm really enjoying myself so much.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I'm glad You're so wonderful and Audi for you.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I mean, I it's pretty new into my my journey
on Broadway.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Very great. Sorry, I love where.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I but I think growing up I I looked to
a lot of Disney shows actually as inspiration, and namely
I I looked at Newsy's and Jeremy Jordan and newszy Is.
It was kind of the soundtrack of my childhood and
kind of anything that Jeremy Jordan did, I followed and
I loved, loved out there from Hunchback of Notre Dame,
(16:52):
the whole score is amazing, and I think those two
things kind of defined my my childhood and my my adolescence.
And I grew up loving Disney on Broadway, and so
to get to be here doing it, bringing Disney on
Broadway to life every night, it feels like a dream
come true.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
It is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I'm so glad that your dreams have come true, and
you're helping to make our dreams come true because once
again we are celebrating World Wish Day, and we're doing
that with the three incredible cast members from Aladdin the
Musical on Broadway. Audie Broy, Michael James Scott, Dennis Stowe.
Thank you, thank you so much for being here and again.
We want to make your wish come true by coming
(17:30):
to see Aladdin the Musical on Broadway. Visit iHeartRadio Broadway
dot com enter for a chance to win that wish
come true because we love granting. Thank you, Thank you guys.
That's it for this episode of Inside Broadway. Thanks for
hanging out with us. I'm Christine Aggy. If you love
what you heard, please don't forget to give us a follow.
(17:51):
Tell your theater loving friends about us and I'll catch
you next time. More stories, more fun, and of course,
more Broadway.
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