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The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales - Ep110 - John Lloyd Young: Jersey Boys, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities

Ep110 - John Lloyd Young: Jersey Boys, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities

09/29/20 • 54 min

The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales

John Lloyd Young is a multi-award winning performer, who originated the role of Frankie Valli in Broadway’s Jersey Boys. He is the only American actor to date to have received a Lead Actor in a Musical Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Theatre World Award for a Broadway debut. John also starred in Jersey Boys on London’s West End, and was hand-picked by director Clint Eastwood to reprise his role in the Warner Bros. film adaptation. As a concert artist he has played to sold-out crowds at the Hollywood Bowl and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Café Carlyle, and with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. John served as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by Barack Obama, and as a member of the Committee, Young represented the United States on the first U.S. Cultural Mission to the Republic of Cuba. John’s five-star-rated solo album of classic R&B, My Turn..., debuted as a best-seller on Amazon. And next up, he can be seen online when his concert “John Lloyd Young’s Broadway” streams live from The Space in Las Vegas on October 3rd.

Throughout our conversation, John comes back to the importance of and the reverence he has always had for what he believes to be the most important element of a Broadway show - the audience. What he has learned to be true is if you invest in your audience, they’ll stay and be with you even in hard times. John shares how he found other creative outlets in the “dicey years” after Jersey Boys ended, and hopes that when the smoke from the pandemic clears, and audiences and performers alike are allowed back inside theatres, “hopefully we’ll be a little more humble and appreciate the privilege” of being able to be creative for a living.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Working on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities under Barack Obama
  • The importance of investing in your audience as a performer
  • What he’d like his return to Broadway to look like
  • The choices you have when you get pigeon-holed as a particular role
  • The moment when he knew Jersey Boys would be a hit
  • The lessons he hopes creatives will take away from this pandemic
  • His visual arts career

Connect with JLY:

Connect with The Theatre Podcast:

A very special thanks to our patrons who help make this podcast possible!

Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Paul Seales, David Seales

If you would like to see your name in this show notes or get a shout out on the pod itself, visit ttp.fm/patreon to become a member and show your support!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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John Lloyd Young is a multi-award winning performer, who originated the role of Frankie Valli in Broadway’s Jersey Boys. He is the only American actor to date to have received a Lead Actor in a Musical Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Theatre World Award for a Broadway debut. John also starred in Jersey Boys on London’s West End, and was hand-picked by director Clint Eastwood to reprise his role in the Warner Bros. film adaptation. As a concert artist he has played to sold-out crowds at the Hollywood Bowl and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Café Carlyle, and with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. John served as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by Barack Obama, and as a member of the Committee, Young represented the United States on the first U.S. Cultural Mission to the Republic of Cuba. John’s five-star-rated solo album of classic R&B, My Turn..., debuted as a best-seller on Amazon. And next up, he can be seen online when his concert “John Lloyd Young’s Broadway” streams live from The Space in Las Vegas on October 3rd.

Throughout our conversation, John comes back to the importance of and the reverence he has always had for what he believes to be the most important element of a Broadway show - the audience. What he has learned to be true is if you invest in your audience, they’ll stay and be with you even in hard times. John shares how he found other creative outlets in the “dicey years” after Jersey Boys ended, and hopes that when the smoke from the pandemic clears, and audiences and performers alike are allowed back inside theatres, “hopefully we’ll be a little more humble and appreciate the privilege” of being able to be creative for a living.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Working on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities under Barack Obama
  • The importance of investing in your audience as a performer
  • What he’d like his return to Broadway to look like
  • The choices you have when you get pigeon-holed as a particular role
  • The moment when he knew Jersey Boys would be a hit
  • The lessons he hopes creatives will take away from this pandemic
  • His visual arts career

Connect with JLY:

Connect with The Theatre Podcast:

A very special thanks to our patrons who help make this podcast possible!

Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Paul Seales, David Seales

If you would like to see your name in this show notes or get a shout out on the pod itself, visit ttp.fm/patreon to become a member and show your support!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

undefined - Ep109 - Mo Brady: The Ensemblist podcast host, The Addams Family, SMASH

Ep109 - Mo Brady: The Ensemblist podcast host, The Addams Family, SMASH

Mo Brady is a jack of all trades - a broadway actor turned social media specialist turned podcaster. After working for many years as a performer in Seattle, Washington, Mo made his Broadway debut in The Addams Family musical in 2010. He later landed work as a recurring character on the second season of the NBC TV hit show Smash. These days, Mo works as the Communications Project Manager for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, and continues to host a wildly popular podcast, which he also co-created, called The Ensemblist. Amassing a following over the years, The Ensemblist has become an “online advocate for the talented artists working in theatre ensembles.” Now boasting not only a podcast, but a website and a social presence as well, they are “creating conversations about what it means to be a successful artist in the theatre.”

Mo spent a few years working as a full time performer in Seattle, including in shows at The 5th Ave Theatre. In 2010, he made the jump to New York City, and six weeks after his arrival, he had landed his first Broadway show - The Addams Family musical. After a year on Broadway, Mo shares how his offer to volunteer for Broadway Cares turned into a full time job, and how he at one time was balancing working this full time job with filming episodes of Smash in Long Island City at the same time. When Mo later realized he didn’t really love being an actor in NYC the way he had in Seattle, and that he wasn’t feeling as fulfilled, he decided to let his agents go and focus on his Broadway Cares job. In doing so, he was also able to revisit his initial idea for The Ensemblist, which had struck him while in The Addams Family. He loved the people he had performed with, and wanted to share their stories - the stories of the ensemble. These days you can catch Mo twice a week on The Ensemblist podcast, proudly championing Broadway’s underdogs, by visiting BPN.fm/theensemblist.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Finding community in the theater
  • His hands on experience at Whitman College
  • Working as a performer in the Seattle theater scene
  • Being a part of The Addams Family musical
  • Why and how he decided to let performing go (for now)
  • The inspiration behind The Ensemblist, and how it has grown since the beginning
  • Being a dad, and what the surrogacy process was like

Connect with Mo:

Connect with The Theatre Podcast:

A very special thanks to our patrons who help make this podcast possible!

Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Paul Seales, David Seales

If you would like to see your name in this show notes or get a shout out on the pod itself, visit ttp.fm/patreon to become a member and show your support!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

undefined - Ep111 - Amber Ardolino: Moulin Rouge!, Hamilton, Head over Heels, Rock of Ages

Ep111 - Amber Ardolino: Moulin Rouge!, Hamilton, Head over Heels, Rock of Ages

Amber Ardolino is a dancer, singer and actress who made her Broadway debut in Hamilton, and was also in the original Chicago company. She is currently part of the Broadway cast of Moulin Rouge!. Amber has previously been seen as Mopsa in Head Over Heels on Broadway, Sherrie in Rock of Ages in Las Vegas, as well as on national tours of Flashdance, West Side Story, Legally Blonde, and both the Philip and Eliza tours of Hamilton. She recently sang a duet with former Head Over Heels co-star Bonnie Milligan on the new concept album Within Earshot, a new musical with music and lyrics by Jackson Teeley, and a book by Sarah Galante. The album is now available on all streaming platforms. When Broadway returns, Amber will reprise her roles in Moulin Rouge! as a swing, and the understudy for Satine, Arabia, and Baby Doll.

Amber covers 10 tracks in Moulin Rouge! including Satine, Arabia, Baby Doll, La Chocolate, and the Can-Can girls. During our conversation, Amber delves into what life is like as a swing, revealing that she started covering La Chocolate after someone was injured on stage, and that when she actually made her initial Moulin Rouge! debut, she went out in a costume she had tried on once, wearing no make-up, and her hair thrown up into a wig. If it sounds chaotic, it’s because it can be. But Amber says that’s kind of the most exciting part and what she enjoys most about swinging, “you could go on at any moment.” She also gets candid with us about what life has been like as a performer during the pandemic, sharing there was a moment when for the first time ever, she doubted being in musical theater. But after opening up about her experience with anxiety and depression, she shares that the most important thing this pandemic has taught her is how important it is to take care of yourself.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Building stamina as a swing
  • Being on stage with Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo
  • Her decision to pursue musical theater
  • Creating content on instagram, and why she loves TikTok
  • Being authentic on social media
  • Spending 3 years performing with Hamilton
  • The Within Earshot concept album
  • Her experience navigating depression and anxiety

Connect with Amber:

Connect with The Theatre Podcast:

A very special thanks to our patrons who help make this podcast possible!

Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Paul Seales, David Seales

If you would like to see your name in this show notes or get a shout out on the pod itself, visit ttp.fm/patreon to become a member and show your support!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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