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Speaker 1: A podcast playground. On this episode of the Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk series, we go to the theater in Boston, well

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Speaker 1: sort of. We're sinking up with An Sheen, the senior

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Speaker 1: director of public Relations and Community Relations at Broadway in

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Speaker 1: Boston and is a longtime Bostonian with a passion for

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Speaker 1: all that goes on in Boston, including the arts and

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Speaker 1: the theater. And I can't wait to be taking a

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Speaker 1: walk with Anne. Taking a walk with Busnion. Now, Anne

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Speaker 1: and I start the episode by taking a walk in

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Speaker 1: the theater district. Colo Ann Shean, Good morning, buzz, Glad

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Speaker 1: to be here with you today on an almost sixty

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Speaker 1: degree day. It's so cool. I love great walking cities.

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Speaker 1: Where do you like to walk when you're in Boston

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Speaker 1: or in the Vicinity? You know, I feel I've spent

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Speaker 1: so much time on Washington Street growing up in the city,

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Speaker 1: at gri up in Dorchester, and on the weekends we

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Speaker 1: would my mother and I would come in every weekend

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Speaker 1: and we would get off at Washington Street station Pit

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Speaker 1: Jordan Marsh for a muffin, walk all around, up and down,

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Speaker 1: do a little shopping. And as the years went on,

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Speaker 1: I kept finding myself in this neighborhood I went to.

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Speaker 1: I used to get the bus to Brighton every day

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Speaker 1: to go to my high school, Mount Saint Joseph Academy

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Speaker 1: in Brighton. And as you know, life continues, I decided

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Speaker 1: to go to Suffolk University and spent four years running

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Speaker 1: all around this part of town, you know, up and

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Speaker 1: down the commons, up through Beaking Hill, you know, for

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Speaker 1: four really great years. And during that time, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was working for the Red Sox. I was a

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Speaker 1: young woman. The starting my career. I worked on the

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Speaker 1: ground crew and the ticket office. So I would hop

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Speaker 1: on the train at Park Street over to Fenway Park

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Speaker 1: and spent nine years over there in various capacities, and

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Speaker 1: just the start of my career really was you know,

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Speaker 1: Family Park and the Red Talks were kind of the

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Speaker 1: catalysts of all of that. So I've spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of time around here. You were on the ground crew

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Speaker 1: I was, I worked for. It was amazing. My girlfriend

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Speaker 1: was working there, her brother, my girlfriend Lynn, her brother

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Speaker 1: Eddie was you know, kind of one of the head

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Speaker 1: ground crew guys over there, and she used to clean

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Speaker 1: the offices and she and I had known each other

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Speaker 1: since we were like three or four five something like that.

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Speaker 1: You know, as a lot of us city people do.

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Speaker 1: We all grew up together and we never leave each

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Speaker 1: other in our neighborhoods and friends for life. And so

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Speaker 1: she basically, you know, I said to her, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to I'd love to get a job over there, and

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Speaker 1: she got me a job. And at the time, her

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Speaker 1: brother used to work on the ground crew, but he

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Speaker 1: also used to drive missus Jockey, who was the owner

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Speaker 1: at the time, to and from games, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was just it was just a great, great time

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Speaker 1: in my life. And as we're walking, I'm sorry, I

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Speaker 1: don't mean to interrupt me, and we see a Boston

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Speaker 1: Red Dog's Hot Dog cars that's right around here. It

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Speaker 1: was sort of serendefinis, that's right. And I'm a pescatarian,

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Speaker 1: so those days are over for me. I was thinking,

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Speaker 1: are those fresh? Yeah, Well, that's always the question. My

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Speaker 1: husband has a funny story if he ever goes to

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Speaker 1: a fair, he says, you have to go to the

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Speaker 1: fair on the first two days because they don't change

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Speaker 1: the grease. Right now, I have a feeling there's another

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Speaker 1: person also who was a mutual friend who was on

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Speaker 1: the the taking a Walk series that I think you

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Speaker 1: probably know John Tobin from Laugh Boston. I've known John

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Speaker 1: for years, many many years. I think about when I

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Speaker 1: get into this business and I met him, and he's

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Speaker 1: just done so well well. And you know, we've had

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Speaker 1: a working relationship with John through the years. You know,

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Speaker 1: as you know, he presents comedy and we worked with

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Speaker 1: him many years ago, but we continue to have a

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Speaker 1: long standing relationship with John. He's just you know, he's

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Speaker 1: a dynamo. I don't know how he does it. But

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Speaker 1: what's with the spirit of people who grew up in Boston.

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Speaker 1: It's a difficult place at times, yes, to live, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean I didn't grow up here. I grew up

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Speaker 1: in Stanford, Connecticut. So Boston can be difficult certainly with

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Speaker 1: the weather, traffic, blah blah blah. But what is it

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Speaker 1: about the fabric of people from Boston? Explain this to me,

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Speaker 1: or as Ricky Ricardo used to say, explain it to me.

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Speaker 1: Explain to me. I just think that you know, when

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Speaker 1: we're in growing up in neighborhoods, you know, you're growing

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Speaker 1: up together, there's just so much you know, hanging out,

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Speaker 1: running around, you you're you know, going to grade school together,

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Speaker 1: going to high school together. You know, there's just long

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Speaker 1: standing relationships or family friends, lifelong family friends. My mother

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Speaker 1: knows your mother, you know, you know, and even when

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Speaker 1: you do part, you're always still connected in some way.

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Speaker 1: And I just think that there, you know, I love

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Speaker 1: the spirit of Bostonians. I have lifelong friends that I

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Speaker 1: have known for years and years, and I just feel like,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you grew up in a neighborhood, you know,

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Speaker 1: you go to church together, you have Sunday dinners, you

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Speaker 1: go to the neighbor's house for Christmas Eve or whatever,

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Speaker 1: and I just think it's just extremely extremely special. I

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Speaker 1: took a walk with Greg Hill from Weei RADI your

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Speaker 1: Personality formerly w AAF and you know, as you know,

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Speaker 1: Greg has the Greg Hill Foundation that he has where

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Speaker 1: he does did great work. And Greg said something that

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Speaker 1: I think you'll agree with, which she said he believes

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Speaker 1: the generosity of people from Boston exceeds anywhere that he

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Speaker 1: can Ever. You know, imagine would you agree with that?

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Speaker 1: I would. I couldn't agree with it more. I mean,

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Speaker 1: when there is when people are in need, it's amazing,

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Speaker 1: not just you know a couple of people, how an

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Speaker 1: entire community will rise to support that person, do everything

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Speaker 1: and anything that can. I mean, I've known for just

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Speaker 1: my own personal experiences. You know, I had a sister

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Speaker 1: who was very ill. You know, the support that we

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Speaker 1: got from the neighborhood and around the city was was unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: You you just couldn't believe everybody who came out. I mean,

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Speaker 1: my sister had caretakings twenty of her twenty women that

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Speaker 1: were helping us care for us my sister at the

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Speaker 1: time when she was very ill with cancer. And you know,

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Speaker 1: it's just these are things that you just never forget

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Speaker 1: and people, all people rise up, they really rise to

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Speaker 1: the occasion. Here. I really feel like, you know, there's

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Speaker 1: no excuses, there's no excuses. It's you know, it's not

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Speaker 1: if you're going to show up, it's when you're going

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Speaker 1: to show up, you know. So yeah, I absolutely agree

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Speaker 1: with Greg. Do so many people in this town doing

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Speaker 1: such good work and are so generous. It's it's unreal.

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Speaker 1: What do you say to the outsiders that make fun

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Speaker 1: of the Boston accents, Well, it depends on the day

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Speaker 1: of the week, Like everything, you know, some days people

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Speaker 1: love the accent and other days they do not. But

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Speaker 1: it is who we are. Yeah, that's right, and we

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Speaker 1: will never apologize. And I was laughing. I'd said I

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Speaker 1: grew up in Stanford, Connecticut. Excuse me, sorry, But I

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Speaker 1: was also laughing because many times people will say to me, well,

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Speaker 1: I know you didn't grow up there, but you have

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Speaker 1: that accent. You do it, you know, not bad, not bad,

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Speaker 1: not bad. I remember years ago when I was younger,

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Speaker 1: I you know, I was a little self conscious of

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Speaker 1: it because everybody had a lot to say about it

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Speaker 1: or they couldn't understand what I was saying. And I

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Speaker 1: have a dear friend who's from Long Island, and when

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Speaker 1: we get together, oh boy, between the Boston accent and

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Speaker 1: the Long Island accent, it is it's something. I love it.

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Speaker 1: So how did you end up at Broadway in Boston?

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Speaker 1: You know, it's something that you know when they say

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Speaker 1: you just sometimes you just land, you do. You know?

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Speaker 1: I started to say that, you know, you went to college.

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Speaker 1: I worked in sports for a long time, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I was a young woman and then the baseball strike

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Speaker 1: of I think it was ninety four, and so a

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Speaker 1: lot of people lost their jobs and it was so

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Speaker 1: devastating because I was I was a very young woman,

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Speaker 1: and I was hoping to continue my career there and

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Speaker 1: all of that, and you know, life just hands you

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Speaker 1: certain cards that you have to deal with. So I

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Speaker 1: moved on, and you know, from there, I ended up

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Speaker 1: working at a family homeless shelter and He's Boston, which

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Speaker 1: was the best experience of my life, and I to

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Speaker 1: this day still reflect on it all, you know, all

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Speaker 1: the time. It was just such an incredible experience and

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Speaker 1: I met so many incredible people, and I spent about

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Speaker 1: a year and a half there, and then, you know,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to get back into the entertainment business, and

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Speaker 1: so there was a job opening at Boston Ballet and

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Speaker 1: I applied and it was audience development, and sure enough

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Speaker 1: I interviewed with this woman who would become my mentor,

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Speaker 1: an extraordinary, extraordinary woman. Her name was Reagan Byrne, and

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Speaker 1: she left the Ballet and she basically came over here

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Speaker 1: to develop the Broadway in Boston brand. So when she

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Speaker 1: was doing this, she you know, like anything, when you start,

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Speaker 1: it's always very small in terms of staff. So she

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Speaker 1: was hiring just a few folks to come over and

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Speaker 1: join the team, and she said, do you want to

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Speaker 1: come over and do a little Broadway and I said, yes,

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Speaker 1: I do, and so we developed the brand. You know,

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Speaker 1: the gentleman who hired us at the time, he had

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Speaker 1: the lease on the Colonial in the Wilberg and he

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Speaker 1: owned the Chel's Playhouse. His name is John Platt. He's

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Speaker 1: one of the producers, a wicked, multiple time Tony Award

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Speaker 1: winning producer, someone was still very much in touch with

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Speaker 1: and someone I care about very deeply. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we started our career hair. I went from you know,

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Speaker 1: the hallow grounds of Femway Park to this beautiful world.

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Speaker 1: It took some adjusting. I'm not gonna lie. It took

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Speaker 1: me a while to stop calling into mission halftime. So

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Speaker 1: once we get past that, though, you know, it took

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Speaker 1: us several years to develop the brand, and it was

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Speaker 1: it was the best time, I mean, to be on

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Speaker 1: the ground floor or something that is going to impact

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Speaker 1: your city so big. And you know, we just continue

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Speaker 1: to grow and grow and grow. We grew up subscription program,

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Speaker 1: we grew our group sales program, we grew a sponsorship program,

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Speaker 1: we grew our relationships with the media, you know, and basically,

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Speaker 1: you know, all of that had been outsourced and we

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Speaker 1: felt like we just didn't have that relationship with one

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Speaker 1: the city because these are touring productions. So you know,

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Speaker 1: in terms of Broadway and Boston shows, they're touring productions.

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Speaker 1: They've come in for a couple of weeks, could be

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Speaker 1: two weeks, could be nine weeks, depending on whatever. But

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Speaker 1: we felt like we really needed to deepen and solidify

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Speaker 1: our relationships with our audiences, the media, our partners at

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Speaker 1: the radio stations, all of that. And that's what we did,

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Speaker 1: and it took some years. And I will say Broadway

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Speaker 1: in Boston was the first Broadway in across the country,

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Speaker 1: and you could find them pretty much everywhere, you know,

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Speaker 1: under the Broadway, across the Umbrella that's our parent company,

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Speaker 1: probably across America rather umbrella. So it's been it's been

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Speaker 1: quite a journey, you know, it's been really quite a journey.

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Speaker 1: And for a kid from Dorchester, you know, whose first

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Speaker 1: show was Annie at the Schubert Theater, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: it was unexpected, a pleasant, pleasant surprise. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: a privilege. It's a privilege when we think about the

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Speaker 1: world that we live in and we think about, you know,

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Speaker 1: very difficult times that we've been through and that we're

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Speaker 1: going through and how important is the arts and the

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Speaker 1: theater to Bostonians and everywhere else that you know, places

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Speaker 1: like in a Broadway in Boston. All yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 1: first of all, the city of Boston is such a vibrant,

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Speaker 1: extraordinary arts community. I mean, whether it's Broadway, our name is,

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Speaker 1: next door, the Majestic, Colonial, the Wang, There's so much

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Speaker 1: happening downtown and it's all so critical to the health

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Speaker 1: and growth and development of the city. It's important. Arts

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Speaker 1: of arts are basically people. It's both people and you know,

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Speaker 1: it's you know, in terms of theater with so special

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Speaker 1: about theaters. It's a communal experience. And you know, what

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Speaker 1: we learned over the past two years is how passionate

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Speaker 1: audiences are, how much they love theater, and you know,

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Speaker 1: they've just been such a source in terms of our

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Speaker 1: source of I don't know what the exact war is,

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Speaker 1: but they've just been such a wonderful support for all

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Speaker 1: of us in the industries. It was a tough time

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Speaker 1: during the pandemic where fortunately we reopened in the fall

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Speaker 1: and this house was sold out twenty six hundred seats,

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Speaker 1: you know, two weeks and everybody came, they came, they

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Speaker 1: were girl to be back. Yeah, I mean the audience

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Speaker 1: is here just love theater. And you know, every year

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Speaker 1: about twenty one million or so according to as Boston,

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Speaker 1: twenty one million people come down you know, and cultural

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Speaker 1: show you know, in the green of Boston area, which

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Speaker 1: is I want to say more times more than all

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Speaker 1: the sports teams together. So when we talk about impact

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Speaker 1: and you know, personally, economically, socially, the arts are critical,

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Speaker 1: the arts are critical. You know so well. People like

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Speaker 1: you were the you know, part of the way that

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Speaker 1: make the wheels turn. Yeah, right, and you're on the

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Speaker 1: ground all the time with it. You were such an

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Speaker 1: important part of communicating that message out there, working with

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Speaker 1: media partners, collaborating with your team and spreading the good

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Speaker 1: word not only of Broadway in Boston, but also just

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Speaker 1: at Boston in general. Absolutely. I mean we're standing outside

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Speaker 1: the Boston Opera House, which reopened its doors July sixteenth,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four, with a thirty two week engagement.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you remember this. It turned this entire neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: It was you know, it was an amazing, amazing experience

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Speaker 1: and to have a kind of a front row seat

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Speaker 1: in small part in that you know, that lives in

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Speaker 1: your heart, you know what I mean. And I think

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Speaker 1: that's something when we talk about Bostonians. I'll speak for myself,

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Speaker 1: but I think I think it applies. We're an emotional group.

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Speaker 1: I think I think it was so passionate. You know,

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Speaker 1: look at us with sports, I mean, in theater and

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Speaker 1: all of it. I think we're extremely passionate. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we're just so proud to be the Bostilians. And so

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Speaker 1: I think all of this why because our city is

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Speaker 1: just filled with riches and starting with the people, Starting

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Speaker 1: with the people, and then we go to are the

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Speaker 1: arts and this sports and education and health, and I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're blessed. Yeah, we really are. It's a

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Speaker 1: special place. And I'm just very grateful that with taking

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Speaker 1: a walk, I've gotten to reconnect with old friends would

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Speaker 1: be new friends like you and she is. So I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate the time. Oh I just thank you for

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Speaker 1: getting me away from my desk and for taking a walk.

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk with Buzznight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.