[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Hughes is making his return to that's a gay ass podcast we found out you were on this podcast how long ago Timothy Hughes
[SPEAKER_00]: basically a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Happy anniversary.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're calling it our year anniversary.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is our anniversary and there's going to be a lot of tension throughout this reunion because we've got a lot to catch up on.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're also wearing a little plunging button down and no, no, don't, don't cover it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you just revealed that you're drinking a five p.m. coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Hughes.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you manage to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's like the Broadway schedule of routine that's built in to me, that's like, oh, a between show or like you finish your afternoon, you get to work out in and then you're like, and then I'm going to go do my real job at night at full energy.
[SPEAKER_00]: cut to afternoon coffee cut to afternoon five p.m. coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't drink coffee because I've got a Jewish tummy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would look around the New York City subway see people sipping their coffee and think, how do you do that without a toilet being within 10 feet?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't have that problem, and I'm a good sweeper.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that combination allows for a five-fian coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think you sleep so well because a friend of mine has autism, and I think that's the key for him, because he's not always spiraling with his thoughts.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just like feeling what he feels in the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have autism?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if it allows for it to sleep, sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like, then I'll own that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, how is that that you can lay down at night and not spiral about everything that's happened during the day?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, I mean I think first one is like the actual like science of being a large human being that I had like a slower resting heart rate I'm to begin with and maybe that's also from being like a large human being that I've also like but I'm in decent shape
[SPEAKER_01]: like an athletic heart, so that it slows down easily.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes a lot longer, it's much harder to get my heart rate up.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I never go to those orange theory things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm working out really hard, but these kids are destroying me with their heart rate monitor over here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm running at like a six.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm at like 11 on the treadmill trying to beat them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not always.
[SPEAKER_01]: My fiance loves a bear's boot camp and sometimes I'd get very in competitive and get into double ditches on the treadmill.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: But she's a great age.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in shape.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also feel like you're kind of cleaving us into that tall people are always what, close to death, which is why they can what, sleep very well.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're also reminding me that we're already a couple minutes and I'm getting us into this episode without an intro so why don't I just tell the listeners if they don't know who you are and they should.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Hughes did this podcast a year ago just to talk about his Broadway herster you've done a million Broadway shows also a lot of amazing gay iconic films and TV shows you're part of and just like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most recently you are in the premiere episode of the
[SPEAKER_00]: is in the Broadway revival of Chicago.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she is having a tough time in her put in rehearsal.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about filming the comeback.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about booking the comeback.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before we do so, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're such a great person that talked to you because you are engaged to a gorgeous gay Jew as a US.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it and into that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have great takes about Broadway.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the last time you did this podcast, there was a clip of yours that,
[SPEAKER_00]: did very well talking about leaving shows at intermission and I have a lot of listener questions for you that we're going to be talking about over on substock for the extended version of this after we finish at the main pod so let's do before the combat stuff Tim Hughes you just finished a run with a little known actress named Michelle Williams which was Anna Christie at St. Anne's Warehouse
[SPEAKER_00]: However, you're also just living in New York during a time when there are so many shows opening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have any sort of Broadway shows that you have either seen recently that you've been really gagged over upcoming shows that you're cannot wait to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you stand as a Broadway fan right now?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very exciting season.
[SPEAKER_01]: really interesting like full spectrum for for musicals.
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't seen any new musicals yet of this season.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have to see two strangers that like everybody is still raving about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Christianity is just like also so amazing and such a beautiful human being and performer like I'm sure I'm going to be obsessed with her performance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really want to support that.
[SPEAKER_01]: the director from on a Christy Tommy Kale is in previews with proof, which I saw the other night.
[SPEAKER_01]: And love is that one of the best.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Don Cheeto.
[SPEAKER_01]: The play is so well written.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we just don't see that very often.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't see like such a perfect, almost nearly perfect script.
[SPEAKER_01]: That often.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like highly recommended.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say um what I need to see I have tickets to see Rocky Hor So really really really excited about For anyone who knows Sam Pinkleton and direct sort of Rocky Hor who is the o-marry director who has done that's a gay ass mother talking
[SPEAKER_00]: podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's with so many crazy names, including the girl I went to college with who is in the other room when I lost my virginity, Stephanie Xu.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really want to make sure to get that in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, crazy cast.
[SPEAKER_00]: What about cats, the jellicle ball?
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you seen yet?
[SPEAKER_00]: I start off Broadway and I absolutely loved it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just saw it when I was there a few weeks ago and your thoughts?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the best production of cast I've ever seen is just so it's so amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's being produced.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so amazing that those performers are kicking their faces.
[SPEAKER_00]: H shows a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went with my cast loving husband to see him vibrate in his seat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it gifts?
[SPEAKER_00]: For me, I'm just, you know, as a podcast host, listen, I'm paid the little bucks to be honest.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my honest take is that it is incredible, it is important, it is so good, it is also still cats.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: Scam, a jay, the railway, I'm like, I still don't know what's going on, but I do understand within the context of this production, what they're doing, and I think it's fee-nominal, but it's also still cats, and that's what I would tell my friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still cats, but I think that that was like the takeaway from any production of cats, is everybody was like, ooh, well, what was that?
[SPEAKER_01]: But yet, like that was fun, and yet they were cats,
[SPEAKER_00]: big old question mark has it like a much stronger answer like it's rooted in a human yes kitty cat context uh... and that really works like it's so works over and over again i cried in the second act when grizzabella finally gets her big memory moment i and like the staging of it is so good and just like yet no i i mean i was
[SPEAKER_00]: So excited to see it, and I would also full transparency.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the day after I did my show in New York and so I was like kind of recovering from that, but just fucking loved it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing that the things I'm sad I hadn't seen, I haven't seen, I want to see Masquerade.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear that was amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I haven't seen that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Schmickadoon just started previews and it looks absolutely devoon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also just want to give a little bit of a tease.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm interviewing Giman Moon, who is in the heated rivalry,
[SPEAKER_00]: off Broadway parody musical that there aren't people who are angry in those comments.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Hughes, do you have a hot take about parody musicals being commercially produced or about like any any hot take of it what's being produced on Broadway or in New York right now?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was definitely like a fast track came out of nowhere production.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I have my doubts, but I also love James from Johnson and
[SPEAKER_01]: Think it's in really good hands and trust that like if he's lending his abilities to it It'll do it will be great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and satisfying But I didn't and I love me some heated rivalry like I was really anything that like reaches that
[SPEAKER_01]: large of a scale of popularity, I have my hesitations about, and I was 1,000% one over.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to support all of every incarnation of that story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's a community related rivalry fans, the crazy fandom who are pissed, like that they feel like it's disrespectful to the sort of material.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm like, I think parity is actually what they say.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a highest form of flattery.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think like,
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you expect a gay hockey show that reaches the masses?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is it not gonna get an off-broadway parody musical?
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, welcome to gay people.
[SPEAKER_01]: But, but are we beginning from like, I mean, what is the genre called of books?
[SPEAKER_01]: Smut?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or something?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if that's like legally what we call it, but it's definitely giving.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's giving like it's giving gay romance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Smut.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how can we like tarnish the reputation of smut further?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what are they really holding on to here?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think like it is lending itself to all of these different branches off of this book, one of them happened to be the series, but like, if we go back to the smut, like you can do whatever you want with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, and that's been Matt's been reading the books and he's like, jawed, dropped while reading, because it really is, horror, knee.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I love sex positivity as a slut myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to celebrate sex, but I do think it's funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think in general if we zoom out to fandoms in general right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: there is such an elevated, like, I mean, you've even told me sort of in the DMs, like people being, let's just say, weird, you know, at a stage door or like, I just feel like we're living in a time when there's such a proximity to creatives, whether it's social media or stage touring on Broadway, that I think fandoms have sort of like been injected with steroids and people are
[SPEAKER_00]: Taking things so personally when art is art, baby, and maybe we can just let things live.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not for us instead of trying to dox people or like I don't know Cancel them or like like there's some or house shit going on or this like there's like a quote unquote a fair happening with this bravo are you a bravo girl at all?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a trader.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a trader's girl.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a girl.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the only thing you need to know is that like, you know, there was a big divorce on summer house and then one of the people, the girl, the woman in the divorce is now allegedly dating somebody else from the show who was like best friends with the guy who also, uh, the guy that she is now sleeping with.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also dated her best friend and people instead of being like, oh my god, this is a reality show and this is a crazy plot points.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, they should never.
[SPEAKER_00]: get booked for a brand deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: They shouldn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like no, that's their job to be messy on camera.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, I just think fandoms are going nuts.
[UNKNOWN]: So
[SPEAKER_01]: I agree, I think it feels like this renewed cycle of online craziness, like a first I think it was probably when we were in middle school when there were chat rooms and there was like anonymity, it took comments for the first time, and then I think in like a post-COVID world where everybody was just isolated for so long, it like
[SPEAKER_01]: reenboldened people to say whatever they wanted to say online.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's just like there's no because there was no real human action interaction for them to like deal with the comments that they're throwing out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah I feel like that's just we're just experiencing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me say that fandoms have always been crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like like you know the clips of when the Beatles came to America and like like I understand that like there are there's always have been crazy fans.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember when American Idol was first coming out and there was like
[SPEAKER_00]: such a crazy amount of discussion around like you know whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that before we move on though to like the comeback of it all, I did ask you since you came on the podcast a year ago and I found a who's fault is that you're gay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have any gay obsessions as he did rivalry or answer?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's like speaking to you as a gay guy right me out?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I would say that I'm obsessed with heated rivalry but I really did like it really fully won me over.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to think what would be
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we really did have a good conversation about heat arrivals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like we can actually use this as a segway.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, also, I think as a segway, too, at the irony is like, my gay obsession was, has always been the comeback.
[SPEAKER_01]: Has always been these, like, for these, these wild women, you know, like, really problematic leading comedic women.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's get into it then, because the comeback, when you posted that you were a part of it, it was really, they posted, they were starting to post teasers around season three.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: For anybody who doesn't know, the comeback was this like, cult hit, we would say, that had two seasons, and then the second season was years and years ago, I should have written this down.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the first season was about 20 years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and
[SPEAKER_01]: they did not, the head of HBO did not believe in it and did not really give it enough time to marinate and find an audience.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was canceled after its first season.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in the archives, it just found this grassroots momentum of like just starting to grow on people in the unique way
[SPEAKER_01]: and it found continued support over those years that resulted in then bringing it back 10 years later for season two with a new head of HBO who was like, I think we didn't give this enough time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's try again.
[SPEAKER_01]: And season two, I mean, they're both brilliant, but I think season two is like phenomenally,
[SPEAKER_01]: done.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's just like so incredible, like really worth the payoff in easier storyline to digest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like season one is pretty painful at times.
[SPEAKER_01]: Season two has such a like full circle satisfying arc to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And despite that, they'd like open to some like shockingly low numbers
[SPEAKER_01]: So they canceled it again for season two and then a similar thing had happened and it like game momentum and continued to have this like this over a long period of time gaining support That allowed them to come up with an idea for season three supposedly the third and final
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know a Valerie Cherish herself can deal with getting canceled again, I just it's so meta to think about how the show and again for people who don't know a lot most gay people have watched it if you have not it really is brilliant but it's like it really is we talk about character actresses on this show and in a way Valerie Cherish would be maybe considered
[SPEAKER_00]: a character actress that we would obsess over for her happiness, but really at the end of the day, it's sort of a devastating tale about a woman trying to say relevant in Hollywood and I find it sometimes hard to watch because it's so, you know, you feel so empathetic towards her plight and that's somebody who now lives in LA and is like working my way up through the entertainment industry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm also like
[SPEAKER_00]: Gringing at how real some of these things are, but it's a fucking incredible show and the third season opens with Valerie Cherish We find out that she's been cast as Roxie Hart in Chicago and she doesn't really want to do it and we find Tim Hughes
[SPEAKER_00]: at the put in rehearsal where Valerie Cherish played by Lisa Cudro is sitting on your big girthy lap and essentially what she quits on the spot is up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I know spoilers, but also it's been out now for a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Question number one, because I have so many gauge journalists questions for you, it was definitely shot in LA, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely, Sean and I love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, but the cast a bunch of New York actors.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so we'll dive right in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we went back and forth between United Artist, Theater, and the Orphi...
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Orphi, yes, Theater.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember if it's both theaters or downtown LA, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had gotten the chance to work as you mentioned previously on an episode of and just like that, which are the creators, both Michael Petr King and John Malfi are the executive producers of sex in the city, and just like that, and also the comeback, and they're also
[SPEAKER_01]: huge theater goers.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they see everything in New York and they've seen me in a bunch of things, which is through that relationship I ended up being able to be like a small part of and just like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I was on set for filming, I only wanted to talk about the comeback.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I really only wanted to talk to them about the brilliance of that show, which I think is, in my mind, I think, but for both of them, it is kind of their sweet treat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they're like, they're a little passion project.
[SPEAKER_00]: When someone comes into them to talk about that, they feel seen, they feel like this person gets it, and Tim Hughes is a Broadway queen who gets it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, no, I mean, ish, they said that is going to be a hard time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so wait, so did you have to audition or were they like, we know him just put him on it?
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew there'd be a part of it somehow, but I did put things on tape.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, and so you're like, ask if you put it on tape, but also you have a relationship with these people, where were you when you found out it was a green light and you were knowing exactly what you were going to be doing with Valerie Cherish rehearsing Chicago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't know if you caught this detail, but I also choreographed it all out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was, I started like being a part of it, it was, um, I knew I'd be a part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and, uh, there was a, a lot of,
[SPEAKER_01]: communications around and getting the likeness of Chicago and getting the rights to Chicago, but not, you know, only certain things were allowed, like you could get the rights to Chicago, but like you can't get the set design, or you could, but it's like the more things you replicate, the more expensive it gets.
[SPEAKER_01]: So early on, I was asked to then also create
[SPEAKER_01]: like fake faulty core auger core auger for it which I was like fake faulty's my middle name I can do that and they're like but they can't look anything like the movie and anything like the Broadway production and I was like Okay, but also you want this to look like she's going into the Broadway show
[SPEAKER_01]: And because Michael Petrick King and John Nuffie love Broadway so much, they wanted it to feel real.
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted it to feel as authentic as possible in this wildcard comedy world.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've created.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I knew that I'd be choreographing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I did have a meeting with one of the producers to discuss that and my contribution to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there was an ask that I could help Allison Jones, the casting director out in LA.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I could try to bring in some familiar Broadway faces to submit for the project to be a part of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: and I was like great.
[SPEAKER_00]: You weren't going to have on this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: You were giving Corio King.
[SPEAKER_00]: You were giving casting direct trust for the Broadway.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, Shao.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just humbly pointed throwing out names to Allison Johnson and her team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shao, you did a great job on her phone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, can we talk about something a little bit interesting and controversial?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is
[SPEAKER_00]: Broadway world posted a photo from the first episode and you Tim Hughes commented, hey, at official Broadway world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for tagging me in the photo, but I see in the article, you failed to mention the 11 actors that portrayed the company of Chicago on the episode who are from the Broadway community.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you like to acknowledge and celebrate that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know where I should send those names.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, I love when you get angry, Tim.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, come on, I mean, official Broadway world, you're going to recognize this story and then you're going to go on to not mention the crossover of why this story is even relevant to your base.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like all of these people are from the Broadway world and get are now being celebrated in an episode of television that's depicting the Broadway world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's acknowledge it.
[SPEAKER_01]: From it's a Broadway world.
[SPEAKER_01]: These people are strong people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like more TV people should be like applauded for what NPK was doing by authentically looking for some Broadway faces and talents for this television show well guess what happened you commented that and soon after all those Broadway babies were tagged in that photo and I think hopefully put in the article as well
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just, I love that year, you're not afraid to stand up for what is right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, there's so much, uh, it fuckery around every industry period in the world, but especially when it comes to entertainment and specifically Broadway, I think that there's like, you know, people are paid so, uh, little compared to what actors are doing on like TV sets or film sets or commercial sets.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think the least that they could do is attack them in a goddamn article or photo.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I really applaud you for,
[SPEAKER_00]: for commenting that because it really I mean that's the positive side of social media is like there's a direct link to people who are a part of these shows and productions and sometimes we should be calling shit out and you Tim Hughes called it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the direct link was I looked at who with the author was and I sent them the mission directly on Instagram that was a lot of the people the lot of people that are in this are I mean amazing I'm not going to name them all but I just want to shout out just like a random just like a gay guy from St. Louis Missouri Carly Tamron I grew up with and she is one of the
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, she's amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and she's always been a killer dancer, and she went to you Mitch.
[SPEAKER_00]: So of course, I was thrilled for her devastated for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and then you've got Robbie Fairchild who I have some questions about him for the subject portion that we're going to get into because he's
[SPEAKER_00]: had a coming out journey that's been really interesting so I just I just can't say enough how excited it is for me to talk to you about the comeback and brought it's like everything I'm wanting one so just want to quick introduction is to thank you again for coming on this podcast him you're just a true manch and it's always a thrill to talk to you so oh my god yes well careful what you wish for because it's gonna be three in the morning
[SPEAKER_00]: I watched actually HBO has a podcast that Evan Ross Katz hosts and it's really cool that he talks to Lisa Cudro and Michael Patrick King about sort of the BTS and Lisa Cudro and the interview about this Chicago segment was talking about how put in rehearsals specifically can be so brutal it's like all the actors don't really want to be there the person who is maybe the celebrity who's doing it is clearly not able to do it as well as everybody that is
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you agree that that put in rehearsals when you're part of like a long-running show our brutal and they usually suck?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh one thousand percent.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially when you're doing a putting rehearsal for like the lead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the lead is like a big name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is
[SPEAKER_01]: the most uncomfortable thing to be a part of because it is like rehearsal is always messy to begin with.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's always like something you don't want everybody to see as you're figuring it out for yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are so many things that you're figuring out for yourself the first time you're on stage with your costumes, with your actual cast, with the lighting, with the sound, with
[SPEAKER_01]: is a very difficult day for anybody doing a put-in, like if you're the understudy, it's difficult, but if you're a big name, it's unbelievably difficult to succeed in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just as like,
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't even fathom the amount of pressure that has been felt as you step into a company that has been running that has been in existence much longer before you even entered this space in the lead role.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the dynamic shift of what's happening in a putting rehearsal is just like all over the place well and also ego involved too when you have a big name who is probably like traps by their own ego because they know that there's a certain
[SPEAKER_00]: visual there's a certain like expectation of oh let's just put out a stupid name let's just say okay Bradley Cooper is coming in for the light in the piazza as I'm sure he would love to do and all of a sudden people are watching him like do a shitty job because it's first time dealing with the costumes and the music in the backstage of it all it's like I'm sure he's feeling a certain sense of like wow these people are watching me Bradley Cooper do a terrible job and then of course the actors are like wow I have to be here
[SPEAKER_00]: to do a show I know like the back of my hand and to see him do a terrible job.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you probably have you watched big names really struggle through their first rehearsals and have you felt like, oh my god, they're not gonna get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think I ever thought, so we were there most recently, I mean, I was there for the put in multiple putings for Sutton Foster in Antivate for Sweeney, which was basically the end of the first year of our run, and Sutton was simultaneously doing on-course once upon
[SPEAKER_01]: then go do the run of on course and then come back and do another put in rehearsal and then actually open the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: So like the number of details that we're running through her brain, like I would just be astronomical.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't even imagine
[SPEAKER_01]: taking on the puzzle pieces of a song time show as you try to work your way through that material while you also had another show like in your back pocket that you were about to go do and then also like be adding all of these new elements to it for the first time with like your actual
[SPEAKER_01]: did they both do like incredibly well for what that situation was?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, like unbelievable, but as far as the capabilities of where they both could have like where they ended up in their performances, it was just like the the minimum ground laying effort to get it all like
[SPEAKER_01]: into your body, all at once, and then really laying the foundations so that they could build upon that during the run.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just happens differently when it's to put in and not, you know, when it was Josh and Anna Lee, we were in the mud with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we know, we all live the shouting from the ground.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, everybody was in the same scenario.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody was in the same situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like when we come in for the put in rehearsal, like we don't have to wear our costumes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the car life needs to be the most devastating as you see pictures of the actor.
[SPEAKER_00]: And their full hair make up wig, whatever costume.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then a bunch of people in lieu lemon smoking a cigarette.
[SPEAKER_00]: like it feels that far to me feels a little devastating.
[SPEAKER_00]: The example that you gave is a brilliant example because you're talking about two Broadway vats who knew the work that it takes to like get it in their bones and to actually be quote unquote audience ready.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I also have to imagine like we're at a time now where there's so much stun casting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean can you imagine like who's doing Mulan Rouge right now that just
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, I'm Megan the Stanley.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just picturing like Megan the stallions put in.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's like, you know, I know she did Dix the Musical, which shout out to Erin and Josh, who like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually was very impressed by her in that movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was hilarious and saying movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: But just picturing her like going to Broadway and doing a put in as like coming from such a different world.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also will say I did a musical with the Broadway legend who's known as Perez Hilton.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he is someone who and I say that jokingly he is of course like not a Broadway legend and seeing in like having wait what did you do with him the full house parody musical Tim
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not holding my applause for that, I mean, yeah, that went out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understood it him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He played Danny Tanner in the off-Broadway parody musical it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't understand Marks, this was years and years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I was very much like poisoning his drinks that I could go on his Danny Tanner.
[SPEAKER_00]: And did you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he ended up
[SPEAKER_00]: doing the show for a while and I never went on while he was actually doing it but then I got to take over for him once he left and got to be Danny Tanner in this pair.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was I mean, it was like a hilarious like really crass right up my alley, but super fun again years and years ago and yeah, you know, but speaking of like Megan the Sally and like it would
[SPEAKER_01]: when they were like, oh, she was rushed to the hospital.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, she's probably exhausted.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's a terrible problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: People are like, that's what H shows a week does to a body.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is what happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: She had a putting her head so it was her first week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, her first fucking week and you know, she's also a busy person who is also doing other shit too.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then has the pressure of whatever other project she's working on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's just Broadway is not for
[SPEAKER_00]: people who do the week it's not for the weekend it's for people who need to be athletic just like you're saying while you can sleep and I just because your heart has been worn out by the emotional and physical toil of a broadway care ear.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay, I shared all I shared all every day so I can sleep.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, just in speaking of sharing at all, you post them really great things to Instagram uh, with you and your hot fiancee.
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys are not married correct?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, not Mary yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we talked about this last time I always want to just give you a miles of talk and having a hand some Jewish fiance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you do pass over last week?
[SPEAKER_01]: We did, yes, actually this was his family.
[SPEAKER_01]: we had done it the year before and there was a two-year-old involved.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a kind of like the the fast run-through version.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this year we went with some friends to like a very traditional
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, whoa, that, you know, going backwards in the book.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, well, yeah, a lot of pages in this story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, trust me, you're not at a satir if you haven't flipped through the pages.
[SPEAKER_00]: Going, wait, how much more do we have until we eat?
[SPEAKER_00]: Seriously, you know, you're at a Passover satir.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, my favorite thing about, like, being a newcomer to the satir was, you know, as a, as a Broadway performer, as somebody who provides himself I'm being able to pick up a tune and sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like really searching for the melody.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like really searching for the one at the table who could like help me lead.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like who could help teach me some of these and anybody on pitch or was it a tone deaf crew?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like that, you know when you go to a non theater birthday party and happy birthday.
[SPEAKER_01]: What can we do in the happy birthday?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's like everybody knows that tune, but if you didn't know happy birthday, it would be physically impossible for you to pick that up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I've never said it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or the Hades.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and like you know, like Anne and Sally over here is like just on a different key and like then there's just like tone to like Uncle Jerry over here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's no way to pick it all up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was at a satir with a bunch of people who some were like gorgeous belt dresses Someone started one of the songs in a high key and I was like, man, we're all gonna struggle But then there was a guy next to me who I don't think was a song stress And he was singing like two octaves down to the point where I was like
[SPEAKER_00]: not laughing at him, but laughing at like the sheer notes he could hit and finally after there was a the song was over I turned him I was like you have an amazing lower register.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just couldn't I it was so it made like like You know when you can't sing in the the tune everyone out the key everyone's doing so you go the octave down
[SPEAKER_00]: was hitting notes, the key of Patrick Page, the key of Patrick Page, I mean it really was a marvel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you and your Jewish husband, Jewish husband, Jacques have wedding plans or are we keeping that under wraps?
[SPEAKER_01]: We've started the search for a venue now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have an idea of what we want and where we want it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now we're looking, but we are remaining flexible with the date.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think when the right location of this found, then we will be flexible in order to accommodate that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you fantasizing about a Broadway diva singing at your reception?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, did I tell the story before that there was a Broadway diva who's saying at the engagement?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you did, I've smoked enough weed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's forgotten.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who was it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a, it was Analy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was Emily Ashford.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think we talked about this because I would have remembered.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stop it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what she's saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: She's saying, well, the whole, the whole story is like when I, when I,
[SPEAKER_01]: Zach had planned this incredible engagement.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had met at the big benefit for the California Center.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he'd planned at the night before this last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I walked in, I thought I was walking into like a cocktail part, like party, and nobody was there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like the guy who was usually at those events taking photographs, and then one guy with the guitar, and I did a was like, where's the co-check?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I was like, um, and somebody started playing the guitar, and I was like, oh, they're doing, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: They're having like an entertainer here tonight, and then I and Zach was placed in the corner of the room for the right lighting for the photo.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he just is like standing there and I shot it across the room.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, am I early?
[SPEAKER_01]: Seriously.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I heard somebody start singing and then like I turned it around the corner was Analy Ashford singing and my first thought was, why didn't she tell me she was going to be here tonight?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I thought she was like there.
[SPEAKER_01]: For and still, still missing it completely, like for the benefit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And your marina is so slow, your brain is also having a tough time coming up with why all these elements are in one room.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then I put the pieces together immediately when I realized she was singing what, like, our song.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I had like, which is the Merrill Street Mama.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's called Till Forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lobby Seafra is like a set in 1970s, like British gay folk singer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know him?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but it's, you're giving us a great pitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's coming out with a new album for the first time in like 20 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's coming again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to look up the lobby.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's L-A-B-I as in lobby.
[SPEAKER_00]: S-I-F-F-R-E and the song is called till forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Till forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're all going to be, well, I can link it also.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to look up this song.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that you guys have such random taste, but it would
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, maybe it's a great song, that one or blessed to telephone.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just like really simple, folksy, kind of perfectly poetic and melodically surprising songs.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're great.
[SPEAKER_00]: You, Emily, is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So she's singing this song and you look over at your handsome man and you realize, oh my god, I'm being proposed to, yeah, I'm out of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: when he kisses you because he have to be on his tiptoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's in a, like, I mean, the role of a. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dan, so Dan says, well, that was such a beautiful peak into that engagement.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the fact that Anne Lee Ashford was there only such the literal stage for the gorgeous gay wedding that will occur whenever it occurs and another miles off to you both.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm so so thrilled.
[SPEAKER_00]: that you are going to pass over satars and being getting married to a gorgeous two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright Tim Hughes, before we go over to Substack for these invasive listener questions, I would love to, I guess, ask you, we'll just, just to
[SPEAKER_01]: No, because my fiance goes to bed and now this is one of the shows that we get to watch together, which is thrilling.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of the only shows that I've ever rewatched because I'm obsessed with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he got to rewatch season one and season two before I went to film and then we got to watch, we were at the premiere in LA, so we got to watch the first two together.
[SPEAKER_01]: So watch the third one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, it's like 10 30 on Sundays.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's late.
[SPEAKER_00]: We in since I'm an only that's like one of the benefits of like being able to like still good a bit early and like watch all the award shows at four or five p.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a privilege.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am going to ask you about the premiere during our extended app on sub-stack, so that I definitely want to hear about some of the other chorus boys of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I guess final question for this main episode is, if we could ask you, I asked you this last time, but I want to see if there's a different answer today.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the world was ending, and you could only save one character, act, truss.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who would you save?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a different answer from you said, what, you said last time?
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe I said Olivia Coleman last time.
[SPEAKER_00]: attracts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, it might be too much on brand, but I was going to give it to Lisa.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to give, you know, I want to see what she does next.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Lisa Mujro.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's like a full like wrap wrap up to her two most identifiable characters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Phoebe had a full long, wonderful, amazing run.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think she's one of the most,
[SPEAKER_01]: talented unique comedians that we have, character actresses.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think from the experience of working with her and seeing how she, like, she, like, falls into Valerie.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's, you know exactly when she's Valerie and you know exactly when she's Lisa Cujo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's fascinating and brilliant.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the way that she just, like, fully, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: immerses herself in in her characters like I want to save her to give her like another opportunity at creating one more just home run for us yes and we know she has it in her
[SPEAKER_00]: we know that, I mean, she's been a genius and will continue to be, I think that you're going to see an episode three specifically, and I know she does this in many other of the episodes, but there's like it insane depth.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the the mark of a true genius, I think, especially as a genius comedian, is this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the rumors of her going to do like another Romian Michelle, which will be interesting, but I'm like, I
[SPEAKER_01]: Which is also genius, but I bet there's a lot of like untapped.
[SPEAKER_01]: The side note, little anecdote.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the fun things is when we were filming it.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I first started working with Lisa, she assumed that I was coming from the Broadway production.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she was like, what's Mira doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Mira, Servina was playing Roxy on Broadway as when you were filming stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's Mira doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, she was like if she basically like if Miro can do it then I can do it Just like was was her mindset and I was like, I don't know what Miro's doing What got not in the room ever in Chicago?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no
[SPEAKER_01]: I literally they'd asked me if I had ever been in Chicago and I was like funny, funny enough, like I most recently went in to understudy Billy Flynn after all these years and like walked out of there being like, this is going my way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Crickets didn't get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stars, they're just like Tim.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for keeping it real and I mean I'm in some files supposedly, but I was like how how big is this file here?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's only a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the files.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, and all these young kids fresh out of college are somehow being put in front of me in the file.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know for that the Broadway industry loves to keep a girl humble um but we at GAS podcasts always celebrate when Timothy Hughes comes on so Tim thank you for being here and for being such a goddamn delight will you tell these listeners where to follow you if there's anything else you would like for them to know
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, you can follow me on Instagram at Timothy R. Hughes and stay tuned.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully there'll be some fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to support and enjoy in the next couple weeks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell, fucking yeah, I'm keeping those teased and beased.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, uh, everyone go to substock.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm asking some questions about more of the comeback, but also some, um, you know, fiance questions, dream castings for Roxy, uh, being flirted with by people too, too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's over on substock.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim, you're the best.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stay gay.