WEBVTT - EYL: #290 Alicia Keys On Creating Broadway's Newest Sensation, Her Hit Play "Hell's Kitchen" 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600 An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.480 in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.840 accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.840 filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.680 some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:20.159 Donald J. 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:21.200 Trump's leadership. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.079 I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.200 Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.080 lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.920 aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:41.160 next you will be fined nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:42.160 and deported. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:43.800 You will never return. 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.120 But if you register using our CBP home app and 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.559 leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:51.280 what's right. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:52.720 Leave now. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:57.840 Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.560 Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security Earners. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:01.160 What's going on? 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:05.920 Listen, eylu is relaunching, revamping, retune. That's why we're creating 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.440 a new educational experience that's more expansive, shouty telling. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.640 We got Yes twenty twenty three, we got a lot 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:14.520 in still a lot playing for you guys. 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.680 So you know that EYLU already includes. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.639 Monthly financial planning calls with Me, book club calls with Troy, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.840 real estate calls with MG the Mortgage Guy, access to 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.080 the Home Buying Blueprint Volume one and Volume two. 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:27.880 Part of the. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.760 Revamp will include twenty seven local chapters from across the 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.959 United States, live interactive teaching hands on not just pre 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.840 recorded videos, plus fifteen brand new curriculums. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:42.440 The biggest just got bigger. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:47.680 Head over to eyl University dot com. That's EYL. You 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:53.320 n I V E R s I T Y dot com. 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.240 See you there, all right, guys, Welcome, Welcome back, special 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:02.000 episode Very New York of Us, our home Brooklyn chop 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.120 House and shout out to Don, Shout out to. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:04.920 Don Poor and Marsha. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.640 I have requested that we have a menu, like you know, 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:09.640 they put an item. 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:12.720 You've done some legendary moments here. 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:13.360 This is true. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.160 This is the line the fortieth was here was legendary. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.000 They kept some of the designs. So I've noticed, I've 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.760 noticed that makes it even more legendary. Sure, absolutely so 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.600 today we have a very legendary moment. We're speaking to 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.639 the incomparable Alicia Keys. Hey, thank you for joining us. 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.000 I'm glad to be here in the chop House with y'all. 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.240 For sure, What should I order if I was to 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:35.680 come here? 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.200 Like the salmon? 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.359 He pronounces the L I noticed, I notice that I 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.559 would see the seventh. Uh. The crab sat is incredible, 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.840 The crab rice is incredible. And there's a plethora of 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:50.400 one times if you're into one time's. 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.480 I heard that they will put some one time down. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:54.080 Did you hear that? 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:54.560 Please? 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:55.800 Before she leaves? 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.360 Right, I think they might have said, no, it's okay. 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:04.359 Some want some say salmon, some say salmons so good. 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.120 But it sounds good and I'm glad to be with y'all. 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:09.480 This is this is a moment. This is dope. This 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.200 is dope. So first and foremost, thank you, and I 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.760 want to talk. Well, we have to start with Hell's kitchen, right. 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:22.399 Congratulations first, big congratulations. Yes, so you your career, You've 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.760 done so many great things as far as in the 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.760 world of art music, but now to venture out into 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.040 you know, doing plays on the biggest stage possible and Broadway, 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.680 it's something that is not a small feat especially for 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.680 somebody from our culture. It's extremely important to break down 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.600 barriers into to bring this world of uh, you know, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.880 Broadway plays to hip hop culture. I think it's extremely important. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.280 And we got a chance to go to the play 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.920 and it's actually my first time ever going to a 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:54.920 Broadway play ever. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:55.320 In my life. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.480 Come on, this is the one you need to go 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.480 if you don't go to one. It's thee this is 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:00.880 the one. 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:01.760 It's a fact. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.320 And I think it was really tastefully done and really 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.760 dope how it depicted like your life. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.160 Story through music. 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.400 And as I'm watching it, I'm thinking of like other 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.720 artists that I would like to see their life stories 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:16.279 being played out as a musical. 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.080 Right, So I'm gonna cut you off because it's important 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.840 that it's clear that this isn't my life story, This 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.640 isn't autobiographical, but this is a New York All the 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.720 New York energy and New York experiences that I've had 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.479 growing up in New York is definitely infused into this story. 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:38.040 So there are pieces that come from my experiences, but 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:38.720 it's not like. 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:41.560 Life story loosely based. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:42.920 We could say, I think. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:47.280 Loosely based statements that's want everybody to know the most 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.400 beautiful thing is ours, our story, like it's everybody's story. 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.800 You can you can relate, but please can. 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:54.120 Put the end. 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.400 But the music ties it all in, which makes it 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.080 really really dope, because it's like I'm just kind of 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.040 talking to the audience that having seen it yet. Yes, 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.920 all of your classic records are placed in the storyline, 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:08.719 so it all kind of comes together and it all 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:09.279 makes sense. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:10.880 I love that part too. 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.120 That part is really exciting, and because it's about a 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.800 seventeen year old girl named Ali who's really looking for 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.200 her freedom, her independence. She's you know, we all remember 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.200 being seventeen and how that felt. And she's being raised 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.120 by a single mother in New York and the nineties. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.359 So nineties New York way different from well, I don't know, 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.640 it's kind of starting to reflect in some ways, so 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.440 you know, but you know, nineties New York was its 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.000 own specific energy and so it was it was dark, 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.800 it was hard, so for her to be finding her 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.520 way through it and being raised up by this community 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.279 that's around her, but also to find this kind of 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.960 mentor in this in this woman who teaches her the 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:56.240 piano's I love seeing I just love that you can 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.640 see so many sides of ourselves on that stage and 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.720 so much diversity on the stage. So for those like 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.159 you who said they never been to a Broadway play before, 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.719 I could see why. And I think this is such 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:13.000 a beautiful invitation that everybody belongs you know, everybody belongs here. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.760 I think the beautiful invitation part is exactly like how 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:17.720 we'd encompass it. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.200 Right. We've seen different genres. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.200 We've seen Jersey Boys and we've seen Neil Simon and 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.200 I'm like, all right, that's cool. Then we got Motown 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.960 and MJ was incredible, but there was never one from 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.320 our generation, right from our songs that we grew up 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.239 listening to as teens, and it was like, oh. 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.680 This is it right? So it was it was crazy. 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:37.400 As it was going on. 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:39.520 I'm looking around, I'm like this is great, and I 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.360 look and I spot you. I'm like, that's there, She's 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.600 really here. But I'm watching your interactions as you're watching it, 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.760 and it's like Danell and it you grew into it, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.760 and so I started thinking, I'm like, yo, what was 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.440 that like you said, Lucy Base, So what was it like? 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:55.760 Crafting around? 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.840 We should put this piece in let's give New Yorker 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.200 feel here, what was create a process like for you? 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:02.680 Because this is this is different, right. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.840 This isn't an album, right, this isn't art, but it 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.719 is art it right in a sense, but different art. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.920 Form the art form when it's a new art form. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.120 I think that's what's cool. I mean, I think what's 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.400 really special about this is as a kid. You know, 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.280 my mother grew up in Toledo, Ohio, moved to New 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.960 York to come to NYU to study acting. So she 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:28.560 was really always in love with theater and Off Broadway 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:30.960 and the National Black Theater and all of these things 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:32.880 that would be a part of my consciousness growing up 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.120 as a kid. And so I got a taste a 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.120 flavor of what if how you can express in that 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.680 way in this more theatrical way that has a beautiful 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.200 storyline and an art that you can fall in love 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.400 with the characters and all these kind of things. And 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:50.520 I think that theater or that that acting theatrical side 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:52.960 had definitely found its way into my music for shorter 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.600 videos because I think a lot of the videos that 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.240 if I think of it, if I got you with 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.800 Me and Meth and that whole conversation about like, when 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.800 you fall in love with a guy who might be 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.800 you know this, this is his lifestyle, and you end 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.680 up having you end up suffering in a way because 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:13.080 you love this person, and so that drama, that kind 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.600 of theatrical storyline has always been really important to me, 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.760 even with falling, Like falling was a big storyline, So 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.440 I think that it's always been infused in there. But 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.680 people would always ask me, would you do a musical, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.080 and I was kind of like, oh no, maybe, but 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:30.760 you know, I would want it to be special or 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.000 wanted to be different, and I think that's what makes 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.920 this really unique. So the process of the process of 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:40.080 creating Hell's Kitchen came from feeling like there's so many 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.600 stories that I know from our world that I'm not 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.199 seeing out there in the world. And this is obviously 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.640 I've been developing this for thirteen years, by the way, 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:50.720 so it's been a minute. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:56.040 And ten years ago. Thirteen years ago. Television, film, for sure. 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:02.240 Theater there's recently definitely been more focus on diversity all 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.600 across the board of entertainment, I think, especially from a theater, film, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.280 television perspective. So that was what was in my head, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.040 and so that was what I wanted to put together. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.719 I grew up in this building called Manhattan Plaza. It 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.080 was a subsidized rent for artists, so my mother could 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.120 afford it because it was seventy five thousand a month 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.840 at the time. We would have never been able to 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.480 live on forty third Street in tenth Avenue same five 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.440 thousand a month because it fluctuated depending on the artist's income. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.200 If you had like a lot of jobs, you paid 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.600 a little more if you didn't have many, And so 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:36.640 that was really special and it was the only building 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.320 of its kind, and I knew that was such a 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.120 unique story. So that's kind of was the foundation of 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.280 what we started to build Hell's Kitchen around. 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.000 And then we put Ali who's the lead, seventeen. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.520 Year old lead Joy Moon Jersey's the single mother who's 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.319 really trying to raise her daughter in a hard neighborhood. 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.679 Shashana Bean who's a monster. Davis is the father, who's 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.040 Brandon Victor Dixon, and they, you know, they're they're having 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.880 how to get through their relationship and in a way 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.600 that is it's it's you know, it's not a normal 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:08.800 quote unquote relationship. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:10.040 But whose are. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:11.840 That was a pleasant surprise. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.640 We saw him in Power and then we were like, wait, 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:16.480 that's the dude from Power right. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.360 He could sing, he was crazy. He's so good. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.160 Well, let me let me ask you because you bring 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:27.160 up an interesting point. You're a native New Yorker. Affordable 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.600 housing is something that's very big topic these days, and 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:35.240 the rent skyrocketed, has skyrocket over the last decade. I 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.240 think the average Manhattan rent is like close to four 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:39.920 thousand dollars right now for one bedroom. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:40.800 It's too much. 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:42.880 And a lot of those programs that you described that 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:44.800 even that you grew up and have been taken away. 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:50.360 So what's your thoughts on, you know, affordability in the 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:51.440 city of New York. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.280 Well, you know, it's very hard to find. I mean, 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.040 in so many ways, we're just being priced out of everywhere. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.920 It's very difficult for anybody to find a quality of life, lifestyle. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.640 It's hard I think about, you know, I hear this 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.520 from so many people, and so many young people just 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.120 starting their careers and wanting to figure out, like I 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:13.800 love this city. I want to stay in this city, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.400 but I got to live like six hours away to 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.840 be able to do anything. So it's unfortunate. It's definitely unfortunate, 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.319 and I feel like this is such a great example 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.240 of what can come of affordable housing. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.320 Well that's what I wanted, because I think you are 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.880 actually an advocate almost for it, because you said you 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.079 it was a building for artists, right. 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.400 Yeah, really was specifically for artists, and I think my 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.320 mother explained that also that they had to have thirty 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:47.720 percent of people from that particular neighborhood or that currently 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.240 lived in the neighborhood as well, which is also important 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.320 because then people come from all over, but those in 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.720 the neighborhood don't get the same opportunity. So that's something 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.040 to think of. We see that in Harlem, we see 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.040 that in Brooklyn. You know, so much of that that regentification. 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.040 So it's important because it's like, let's say, for instance, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:04.920 you were not able to live in that building, right 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:06.840 and you had to grow up in Connecticut or some 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.360 other place. Right now, you never might not have become 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.400 who you became, and now you're actually contributing to the 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.680 economy of the city now, right, So now it's a 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:21.040 full circle moment. You actually are somebody that had benefited 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.000 from that affordable housing situation because a lot of times 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.480 people don't have sympathy. They like, if you can't afford 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.600 to live it and don't move here. But it's like, 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.280 if we take away, if we take away the artists, 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.040 if we take away the creatives, if we take away 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.520 people that might not have the finances to pay four 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.720 thousand dollars a month, then we actually are hurting the 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.880 whole ecosystem, right. And I think, like I said, you're 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.040 actually a perfect example of that because you're a native 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.280 child who actually not only became chemely successful, but now 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.520 you have a play on Broadway and now millions of 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:51.440 dollars being generated. 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:52.520 That's a fact. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.520 That's such a huge point in being able to being 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.559 able to have that experience, being able to grow up 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:06.199 close two different creative cultural places, experiencing different styles of 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:07.920 art forms. 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:08.880 You know, having that. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.520 Access it does it changes it. It changes your experience, 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.200 It changes your relationship with it. It changes what you can 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.439 imagine for yourself as you could dream for yourself. I mean, 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:23.319 you know, growing up on Tenth Avenue, it was always 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.079 it was so bleak, and it was so drastically different 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:31.439 from just walking out two avenues over three avenues over 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.160 that seventh or eighth which had that those Broadway lights 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.040 and the life and the you know, and so I 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:41.360 think that that's definitely a big thing that I note 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.440 a lot like the experience, the access, the opportunity came 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:50.200 from the access to seeing different possibilities. And so I agree, 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.880 I agree, we can't we can't box people out of 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.319 the learning of the education of the of the access. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:13:59.880 Another thing Hell's Kitchen has done is we created a 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:04.000 fellowship program to bring the young people who normally wouldn't 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.520 be in the space of set design or costume design 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:08.360 or hair design. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.160 This is my husband and he's gonna call him, so 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:10.840 I picked. 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:11.760 That's our guy. We interviewed on. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:19.960 Man, Hi, I'm doing this interview some. 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.480 Guys you might know right now. You might know these guys. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:23.880 Some my brother, are you going? 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:31.760 So were having a little earn your leisure moment, you know, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.080 he said, like those guys. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.240 So I was talking about the fellowship that Hell's Kitchen 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.880 created for people who wouldn't normally be in the space 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.280 of learning about studying under the great who do set 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.280 design or hair design, or costume design or lighting design, 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.680 sound design, you know, and all of these pieces are 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.520 the director fellow, the choreography fellow from Camille Brown, Michael 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.800 grif who's one of the best directors you know ever 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.520 in Broadway space, So people get to learn under the 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.680 greats Chris Dia as the book writer. So it's really 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.920 part of what we're talking about is access. We're talking 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.680 about welcoming people into spaces where we belong and giving 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.239 the opportunity to learn and so that we can diversify 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.760 what we're seeing and so we can contribute back to 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.240 the culture of the city. And I think that's exactly right, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.720 and that's the only way it happens when you have 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:26.600 access like that. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:28.960 All those pieces that you spoke about are so unknown 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.440 to us, right, we don't really know the creative process 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.480 of how to get a show on Broadway. So I mean, 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.080 that's the highest stage, like we hear it, But there 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.080 is a creative process, and there's a journey. You said, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.000 thirteen years you've been working on this, so before you 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.200 even get there, you have to know all those pieces. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.320 But you also have to start off Broadway. Yes, So 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:48.920 like what is that. 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.280 Like from a creative standpoint, do you have to scale down? 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.640 Because when we saw it, I'm like, visually, this is incredible. 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:59.720 Set is incredible, the lighting is immaculated. The choreography is great, amazing. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.960 We're gonna start there right. 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.440 No, when you start, you start in a room. You 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:09.080 start in a small blank room and you have folding chairs, 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:14.560 and you have desks like regular desks that you put 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.040 the kids at a Thanksgiving and put the put the 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.880 put the tablecloth on. It's like it is folding chair 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.120 and folding tables. And you work on the script. You 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.080 work on the story, you work on we workshop it 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.720 and you put the songs in and you feel how 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.760 does that all work? And what I love about that 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.400 process is is if you can do it in a 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.640 blank room with nothing and you can feel it, then 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.040 you are going you know, you're up to something. It's 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.600 the same like a song to me, like you can 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.120 if you can perform that song just on the piano 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.440 and people are like yo, that means it's going to 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.400 be something because you could put whatever around it. You 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.320 can put the biggest lights, the best projection, all of that. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.000 That's just going to end hands it. But it doesn't 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.480 create the story, and it doesn't you know, create that 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:05.080 that foundation. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:06.200 So that's where it starts. 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.760 And then so we did years of workshopping, you know, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.880 years of six, seven, eight, nine years. 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.280 Of workshopping is what I'm talking about. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.040 You go in a room, you kind of try as 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.439 you know, you make idea, try out this scene. We 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.320 wrote this scene, Chris wrote it. Here's the music with 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.480 you know, Michael's gonna kind of loosely direct. Does this 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.400 feel right? We listen to it. Now we're missing something. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.919 This doesn't that this song doesn't work. When we whatever 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:31.960 the case, you workshop it, chop it up, change it, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.080 fix it, adjusted back revisions for vision, re visions. And 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.800 then after you get to a place where you feel like, okay, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.080 I have two strong acts and I can put this 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.280 thing in front of people, then you start to create 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:48.240 the process where you meet your partners in the Usually 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.679 you have a sponsoring theater. If you want to do 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:53.879 it in the way that we'll be respected by the 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.199 Broadway community, which you do, obviously, we'll just we're not 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:58.919 just coming in here, like you know. 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:00.520 The community has to be behind you. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.280 They have to know that you took these processes, that 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.359 we're building this in a meaningful way. And so the 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.720 sponsoring theater for us became the public theater, which is 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.840 one of the most you know, well known, most respected 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.960 theaters that you presented off Broadway. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.080 So the public did Hamilton, they did. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.520 A chorus line, and they did so many I mean 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:27.960 so many, it's too many to They do Shakespeare in 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.960 the Park like they're super you know. They they own 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.040 Joe's Pub, which is one of the first places that 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.520 I ever performed ever in my life as an artist. 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.560 So you kind of do see the full circle moment 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.119 come around. And so with the public, we workshopped it 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:44.800 more and then we were able to put it up 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.080 off Broadway. That was a big moment because when you 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.800 put it up off broader, you learn a lot and 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:50.520 you figure out what works. 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.680 So the public theater, are they the ones the sponsor theater? Matter? 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.000 Excuse me, is are they financing it? 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.480 Are they saying like, you can use the space and 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.840 we'll figure out the back end, like they'll sponsor it, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.439 and then from there Broadway says we're ready for you. 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:06.680 Now there's a difference. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.240 They become partners in the production for sure, So they do. 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.000 There's a portion of it that they because they do 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.280 all of the off Broadway stuff, there will be the 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.240 way that they handle it based on all of the 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.720 unions and all of the specifications and their nonprofit and 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.920 all of those pieces. So so, but they do become 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:27.880 a partner to the piece with you, which is great 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.920 because they give you creative ideas. It's a creative partnership 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.760 as well, because these are brilliant minds who have done 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.200