Download Tag: broadway

Laura Heywood Interviews Nick Cordero (From the Archives)

Nick Cordero is a Tony nominated actor (Bullets Over Broadway, Waitress, A Bronx Tale). I sat down with him a few years ago at Build Series in New York City.

I chose this interview from the archives because I want you to know how great Nick is, and for you to keep him in your thoughts. Because my friend is Nick is very sick — he is fighting for his life, in critical condition, in the ICU as a result of Covid-19.

He has a 10-month old baby; his wife is understandably distraught; and they are asking everyone everywhere to pray — whatever that looks like — for Nick’s recovery.

I interviewed him when starring in the iconic role of Sonny in A Bronx Tale: The Musical, written by and inspired by the life of Chazz Palminteri.

With Nick so very much on my mind right now, and in the hearts of the whole Broadway community, I am reaching back to our interview as part of my own prayer process.

Please keep Nick and his family in the forefront of your minds, along with the families of everyone else suffering from this horrible pandemic. 

To all the first responders, heath care professionals, and essential workers: I thank you.

To everyone listening: Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Home.

To Nick and his wife Amanda and their baby Elvis: My heart is with you.

Laura Heywood Interviews Kyle Jarrow (Whisper House, Spongebob)

Kyle Jarrow was nominated for a Tony Award for his brilliant, fully original book of a musical for Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical. His current project is Whisper House, with songs by Duncan Sheik,  off-Broadway at 59E59 in New York City. Kyle also leads the indie-pop-rock band Sky Pony with his wife, Tony nominee Lauren Worsham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), writes for television and movies, and he’s a dad.

Laura Heywood Interviews Steven Sater (Spring Awakening, Alice By Heart)

Steven Sater is a Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning lyricist, librettist, writer, poet and much more. He is the man responsible for Spring Awakening, the show that inspired the passion that led to Laura Heywood’s online alter ego, @BroadwayGirlNYC. His new novel, Alice By Heart, is a gorgeous and poetic expansion of the world behind the musical of the same name. Hardly a re-relling of Alice in Wonderland, the story instead is about a different Alice, down a different kind of hole – a lost pubescent girl in the panic of 1940s London, seeking refuge in an abandoned Tube station for herself and her sick best friend. The other children there do seem to oddly resemble the characters from her favorite Lewis Carroll novel, and the more terrifying the war becomes above ground, the more solace she takes in retelling the story she knows by heart to Alfred, the best friend who is succumbing slowly to tuberculosis. As a boy, Steven Sater himself was very sick – confined in quarantine most of his young life – and books were his refuge, too. So as we read the intertwined stories of these two Alices and the plight of struggling youth – we are, in a way, learning Steven’s story, too.

Laura Heywood Interviews Ben Crawford (Phantom of the Opera)

Ben Crawford is currently and creepily embodying Broadway’s favorite malformed and maladjusted romantic hero: The Phantom of the Opera.

Is hero the right word? He’s certainly the leading man. But that Phantom, he’s a dark dude. And I can’t wait to dig into his complexities with the actor who brings him to life on Broadway eight shows a week.

Ben Crawford has been playing The Phantom for nearly two years, and he brings the same freshness every performance that he did when he first took on this “monster” of a role.

Believe it or not, The Phantom of the Opera just celebrated its 32nd anniversary on Broadway. Only 16 actors have been cast as the Phantom in that time, so this is an elite club. 

It is an “unparalleled delight” to welcome Ben Crawford to Laura Heywood Interviews!

Laura Heywood Interviews Tamar Greene & Fergie Philippe (Hamilton)

Tamar Greene and Fergie Philippe are two of the newest cast members in HAMILTON on Broadway! Tamar, with a deep baritone and linebacker physique, is playing the larger-than-life George Washington — and Fergie is James Madison, our country’s fourth president, as well as a youthful, hilarious Hercules Mulligan! Rather than dwell on the current administration — yikes — we are celebrating Presidents Day in true BroadwayGirl style… with the Presidents of Hamilton on Broadway. 

Laura Heywood Interviews Mykal Kilgore (“A Man Born Black”)

Mykal Kilgore has appeared on Broadway in Motown, The Book of Mormon, and Hair; on TV, in The Wiz and Jesus Christ Superstar; and in the gorgeous City Center production of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for A New World, which you can find on all music streaming services. After growing up in Florida and then moving to Nashville, he was discovered by Billy Porter, who shepherded him to New York City. Mykal’s new album, A Man Born Black, out now, is a little bit R&B, a dash of reggae and country, and ALL soul.

Laura Heywood Interviews Daryl Roth, live at NAMT 2019

Daryl Roth is one of the most prolific, influential producers in the history of New York theatre. Her mission is to champion thought-provoking, inspiring work onstage, and she is honored to hold the singular distinction of producing 7 Pulitzer Prize-winning plays: Anna in the Tropics; August: Osage County (2008 Tony Award); Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award); How I Learned to Drive; Proof (2001 Tony Award); Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women; and Wit. Recorded live at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 2019 Fall Conference, this interview focuses on the past, present and future of musical theatre from a producer’s point of view. Roth has produced over 90 productions on and off Broadway, many with political or activist content.

Laura Heywood Interviews Tony Vincent (PCG Theatrical, American Idiot, RENT)

Tony Vincent is a Rock/Broadway hybrid creature, having charted six songs before making his Broadway debut in RENT. He went on to appear in the film and Broadway revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, We Will Rock You in London, American Idiot both pre- and on-Broadway, and Rocktopia. He was also a fan favorite on NBC’s The Voice, and headlines “The Music of David Bowie” international symphony tour. He has just launched PCG Theatrical, a customized, full-service artist development program specifically designed for aspiring musical theatre performers, featuring personalized curricula rather than a one-size-fits-all program. Find out more about Tony at www.TonyVincent.com!

Laura Heywood Interviews Vivek Tiwary (producer, Jagged Little Pill)

Vivek Tiwary is a lead producer of Jagged Little Pill, the new musical inspired by and featuring songs from the iconic Alanis Morissette album. JLP is a powerhouse rock show that is also an intimate family portrait, with a brand new story by the Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and directed by Tony-winner Diane Paulus, featuring a cast that is both fresh and seasoned, a true ensemble without a weak link among them.

How did this team find each other, and how did this particular album — which changed so many of our lives in and since the 1990s — make its way to a Broadway stage? Vivek Tiwary knows all the details, because has been there since the beginning. 

Laura Heywood Interviews Wes Taylor and Alex Wyse (Indoor Boys)

Broadway actors Wesley Taylor (Spongebob Squarepants, The Addams Family, Rock of Ages) and Alex Wyse (Waitress, Spring Awakening, Lysistrata Jones) have teamed up on the short-form fictional series “Indoor Boys,” an award-winning web-based sitcom that follows two homebody roommates as they try to figure out the boundaries of their no-boundaries friendship. Three seasons are available (and highly bingeable!) at www.indoorboys.tv.