Download Tag: authenticity

Laura Heywood Interviews Nick Kohn (Avenue Q)

Nick Kohn spent fourteen years playing lovable comedian Brian in Avenue Q, both on Broadway and for the entire run at New World Stages. That’s more than five THOUSAND performances!  (Only eleven shows in the history of Broadway have played more than 5,000 shows. That includes RENT, which ran for twelve and a half years.O

Today we pull the curtain back a little bit — get a sense of this unique circumstance, celebrate his time in Avenue Q, and shine a light on what happens next. 

One thing I can say for sure is that he is poised to charm every person, industry or not, that he meets. Nick is one of the kindest, warmest, and most delightful people I’ve ever met — and I couldn’t be happier that he landed here with me today.

Laura Heywood Interviews Ann Sanders and Ivan Hernandez (Dear Evan Hansen)

Ann Sanders and Ivan Hernandez have stepped into the shoes of Cynthia and Larry Murphy in the 2017 Tony Award winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen. They play the grieving parents of Connor and Zoe Murphy, who welcome Evan Hansen into their home under the auspices of a friendship that never really existed. The relationships that form between Evan and the Murphys are very real, though, and the heartbreaking authenticity with which these actors convey these connections is enough to break your heart. (In the best way!) Ann is a Broadway veteran, having broken ground as the first Asian American performer to play Anna in The King and I and Belle in Disney’s Beauty & The Beast on Broadway. She’s also been seen on the big stage in If/Then, Avenue Q and Leap of Faith. Ivan Hernandez is mostly a West Coast guy these days, appearing frequently on television including Claws, Scandal, NCIS, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He’s also got an impressive New York theatre resume, including “Into the Woods” and “The Capeman” at the Delacorte, Yank! at the York, and Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway.

Laura Heywood Interviews Eva Noblezada (Hadestown)

Eva Noblezada stars as Eurydice in the 2019 Tony Award winning Best Musical, Hadestown,

It’s rare that an actress bursts onto the Broadway scene with as much power and relevance as my guest today. Making her debut at age 21 in Miss Saigon, she received a Tony Award nomination as best leading actress in a musical — an honor that would be repeated just two seasons later for her current project, Hadestown. 

Eva’s character, Eurydice, is open-hearted and self-reliant, vulnerable and tough, strong and wise and literally eternally hopeful. Knowing the actress a little bit off-stage, I’d ascribe the same attributes to the woman visiting Laura Heywood Interviews today.