WEBVTT - Marc Kudisch Plays Questionable Men 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.080 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:12.240 Mark Kuddish is a Broadway stable romantic lead, comic, relief 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.079 or villain. If you've been to a musical in recent years, 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.640 there's a decent chance Kuddish was in it. He played 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:24.280 the proprietor in Assassin's Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:29.960 and the sexist boss in Dolly Parton's Five. You're so 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:35.240 efficient and alert and the way you look well ship, 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:39.919 that don't hurt now. Please don't think I'm just a flute. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:51.120 It's just some nuts about here you. Kuddish got one 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.560 of his three Tony nominations for that one. When we 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.080 recorded this conversation, he was just a couple of weeks 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.800 into a starring role in Girl from the North Country. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.640 It's one of the most critically acclaimed performances of his career. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.880 He plays the washed up big shot Mr Burke, trying 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.880 to hold on to his pride and his wife during 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.800 the Great Depression. But of course, with the rest of Broadway, 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.680 the curtain has come down on Girl from the North Country. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:26.160 While we wait out the coronavirus. On screen, Kudish has 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.600 carved out a niche for himself working for the greatest 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.800 Ohtour directors in TV, including David Fincher in Mine Hunter 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.360 and Barry Sonnenfeld in The Tick. His current TV role 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.360 is Dr Gus, the intense love to hate him corporate 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.040 coach in Billions. And if you don't cut down everyone 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.360 and everything that gets in your way, then they will 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.720 return and they will cut you to shreds, and then 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:59.800 they will cover those shreds in buk Hockey. Well, it's 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.520 a life he had trouble imagining. Back in nine when 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.880 he was a senior at Florida Atlantic University about to graduate, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.720 had launched his acting career. Kudish had one friend who 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.240 had already headed it to New York City and was 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.839 working at a casting agency. So she called me down 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.040 in Florida. They were casting a new role on the 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.360 soap opera All My Children. I happened to be in 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.000 the office of the theater department. She got me on 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:29.720 the phone and she said, there's a role. I think 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.960 you'd be pleased. Don't tell me you did the soap. 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.720 I didn't get the role. I've done All my Kids. Yeah, 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:42.040 but ahead, yeah, listen, man, the great jobs. So I 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.760 flew to New York on my own dime. I slept 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.160 on their couch. I was there for twenty four hours. 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.320 I went to the audition. She had told everyone, if 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.640 you like him, he's only here for twenty four hours. 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.399 He's got a job down in South Florida. Um, which 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.400 actually I did. I was at the Florida Shakespeare Festival 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.520 at the time. At the same time time. While I 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.840 was there, Pat took me this will tell you exactly 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.480 what it was two times square, because there was a 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.959 big benefit at the time to raise money from Mike 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:17.960 Ducoccus for president, and Bernadette and Mandy we're like hosting 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.400 the event. And I was standing right next to the stage, 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.440 and God bless him, there was Mandy and all of 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.360 his powers, singing, brother, can you spare a dime? He 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.040 was just up there. One I had built a railroad, 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.760 made it run, and it's like there's like there's like 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.440 ten in your pocket. These well, I mean I've worked 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.720 with Mandy's so I've spent lots of time. You know. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.440 There are a couple of people like Eartha. I I 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.120 God bless Eartha. I adore her. I miss her, dearly 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.760 Eartha kid, I do a really mean, earth, kid, We're 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.800 going to get there. So you're there in the shadows 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.480 of Mandy, in the shadows of many Burnadette. And it 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.520 was like that was it for me. I'm like, I'm 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.040 moving to New York as fast as I freaking can 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.000 because I have to be here. I got my equity 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.400 card from the Caldwell Theater Company in boke ratone because 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:03.880 I didn't want to move to New York unless I 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.640 had my equity card, you know, that was important to me. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.000 And then the minute I got my card, I was 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.200 in a U haul. Twenty four hours later, I moved 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.400 to New York City, where I moved to seventy one 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.800 between Broadway and Columbus basement apartment with a buddy of mine, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.080 Cafe Luxembourg. Baby, your right there right across the street. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.400 Six hundred bucks a month for that apartment for two guys, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.800 back lat Man. Even when I moved to the city, Like, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:28.160 you didn't go above eighties six street right like like 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.880 it was like, and you didn't go and you didn't 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.000 go into Times Square. You do not go into Times Square, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.080 not even during the day. Did you go in the park. No, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.200 you didn't cut through the park at night. All the 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.599 benches were broken, all the lights were broken. It was 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.440 a fascinating place back then. I remember, like you know, 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.440 and and I remember at night, you would walk with 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.440 your head down. You would walk with your head down, 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.880 and you'd walk in the street and you'd watch the 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.279 shadows behind you. That's why you walk with your head down, 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.320 so you could see the shadows of anybody. And you 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.640 just got into that practice of it. I mean, I 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.480 remember there was a night that I moved to Talent, 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.520 my friend Stuart Clark and Rachel by Jones. We we 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.600 all moved up here together, and um, and I remember 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.120 like she got here earlier than we did, and like 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.160 two weeks she got here, she got a Broadway show 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:19.680 and we were both like, oh jeez, and like, is 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:21.680 that how it works for everybody? Or is that just 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.359 for a select few? And the minute I got to town, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.920 the first thing I did was I walked five blocks north, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.880 five blocks south. Okay, that's a ten block radius. Right. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.800 Then the next day I got up and I walked 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.760 another five blocks north and another five blocks after that south. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.440 Eventually I got to the theater district from seventy first 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.839 Street right and on my third day here. I walked 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.240 into a restaurant and I applied for a wait job 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.840 and I got it, and so I started waiting tables immediately, 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:51.160 and it was fascinating. And that's how I met people, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.480 you know, and I met my buddy Rick Clemens, who 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.080 was a bouncer. But I mean, it was such a 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.039 wild experience to go into a show in New York 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.320 and off Broadway and off Broadway now you know. I 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.200 just got into the city a couple of months later. 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.120 And where which is where I always wanted to be, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.200 Like you worked a Circle Rep. Yes, that was my 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.599 dreaming nine, moving to New York City working for Circle Rep. 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:13.480 That's the kind of work that I wanted to do. 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.000 Because I didn't sing. I didn't sing at all. That 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.279 wasn't what I did. Didn't I didn't sing? It is that? 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.440 Is it really true? I did not have This is 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.880 such a powerful inspiration. You would say, you don't sing. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.039 I want to know, but I'll tell you. I wanted 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.640 to get into music theater. I remember I had auditioned 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.800 early for Kiss of the Spider Woman and I was 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:36.919 at the final call for that and I was auditioning 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.360 for one of the roles. And how Prince comes up 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:40.640 on the stage. And this is back in the day 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.200 when you actually audition on the Broadway stage, not in 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:49.599 some small room. Up on the stage. Peter Hall and 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.440 and and and how comes up on the stage and 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.039 he's like, Mark, you know, I love you as an actor, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.280 but I really need a singer for this. I mean 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:57.080 I had people telling me Mark, you don't sing, You 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.599 just don't sing. I had casting directors say, why do 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.839 you want to audition for musicals? Mark, You're an actor. 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:03.520 People know he was an actor. They like you as 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.719 an actor, but I like music theater, and I was 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:08.520 an arrogant son of a bitch. I mean, I just 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.440 thought like, well, damn, these people cannot act and I 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.600 can act, So all I have to do is learn 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.800 to sing a little, dance a little please. And you 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.000 also learn in the industry that, like, even as an actor, 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.600 you're up against other celebrity people that are up for 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.240 the same role as you. You better expand your horizons 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:30.600 if you want to work. Right, So I get Gaston 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.000 and as I'm in the show and I'm working, I 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.120 have this wonderful dresser. Eric was his name. He's an 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:43.040 ex bass operatic singer and one night, he's literally tying 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.760 me into that damn leather outfit that guest don has 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.920 to wear because like that's how you get in the costume. 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.160 They tie you into that sucker. And he's lacing me 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:52.920 into that thing. And he says, you have such a 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.720 beautiful voice, Mark, and I said, thanks, dude, I appreciate that. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.120 And he said, it's too bad you only use of it. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.920 This is right before show. Now, obviously, I part, did 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.320 you say something? No, seriously, Like, I looked at him, 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.280 and what you want to say is if you you bitch, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.920 like literally, dude, But what came out of my mouth 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.440 was then what do I do? Because I knew he 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.680 wasn't wrong? And then he just handed me Alan alan 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.160 Seal's card um and I went and I met with 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.560 my teacher, Alan Seal, and I walked in and I'm like, 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.800 I've had lessons with other people. I'm not sure if 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.200 I'm a tenor or I'm a baritone. And he's like, well, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.040 let's not worry about that, let's just hear you. And 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.760 I worked with him for an hour. By the end 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:43.160 of that lesson, sound was coming out of me that 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:47.600 I didn't know I could do, and literally. I was like, so, yeah, 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.520 Alan still alive, and Alan is teaching and he's in 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.120 Upper New York, I think. And he got out of 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.920 teaching voice. Um. Most of his students were doing opera 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.320 in Europe and he was taking on one or two 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.959 music theater people. And I mean literally, I'm not kidding you. 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.760 I I walked out of there going I will be back. Um. 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:10.760 I didn't know I could make sound like that. So 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:12.440 then I went to the theater and I started to 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:16.000 try to apply what I had been learning with him, 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:18.920 and everyone was coming up to me going like, what 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.320 what are you doing? What is this voice? My friend 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.800 Beth Fowler was like, when did Alfred Drake show up? 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.160 Because I did not sound like that, you know I did. 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:35.000 You sounded completely completely different at different persons being able 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.600 to pull out a gun, and you pull out this gun. 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.520 You can sing? Now? Are you? Said? There? Going? Man? 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.160 This feels good. Give me a task. That's the thing. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.480 I like, Give me a task and I will do it. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.920 Give me a deadline and I will do it. And 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.640 I just was like learning. And that's the thing. I 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.559 don't think you ever stopped learning in this industry or 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.560 in life. And you shouldn't. And I just was like 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.839 making sound that I had never felt before, and I 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.960 knew other people who could, and now I was beginning 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.720 to understand how they did. So it wasn't this thing 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.840 that was, you know, out of my grasp. And then 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.880 I remember stage management sat me down that weekend and said, 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.559 all right, so let's talk about the new voice. Literally, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.920 you were not hired with that voice. And I said, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.840 uh huh, and um, are you hurting yourself? Are you okay? 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.400 I'm I feel good? Do you give some device? Literally 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.160 they were like, they literally were like freaked out. Keep 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.440 doing what you're doing if you feel like you're not 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.520 hurting yourself. But I need to have people come back 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.240 and hear you because this is not how you were hired. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.520 This is not our show well or this is not 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.160 who changed a critical element like that exactly because it 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.199 was a big difference, and everyone came and saw it 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.800 and they were all like, you sound great, good for you. 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.920 It was it was so wonderful and you put it 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.040 out there. You put it out there, listen, and I mean, 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.640 because here's the thing, man like, And this is why 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.920 I say it because as actors, as classical actors, we 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.360 get very self conscious when we're asked to sing because 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:08.480 we just don't have the same kind of practice to it. 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.000 So I had started to work with other teachers, and 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.080 I just didn't feel like there was I wasn't It 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.440 didn't feel comfortable or I just felt like I wasn't 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.080 matching personalities. What's the first year you're singing? I mean 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.440 when I was in college, it was once the first 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.520 year you're singing in New York. In New York, it 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.120 was Bye Bye Birdie. That's where I like got my 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.560 break with music. Theater was by Bye Birdie. That Bye 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.600 Bye Birdie. It was a national tour with Tommy Toon 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.240 and a ranking directed by Gene Sacks. I mean we 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.560 were coming to Broadway. That was back in the day 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.360 when instead of you know, doing workshops and going to 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.520 regional theater, you did a major national tour. And the 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.800 way that producers would be able to enhance a Broadway 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.640 run is they'd go out on the road for nine 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.840 months and that they'd make their money there and then 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.000 they'd use that money to open on Broadway. How does 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.320 Sacks find you to put you in Birtie? So honestly, 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:01.240 um my agents are working for me. But the problem 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.800 is I can't be seen for any music theater because 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.360 I have no musical theater credits, so even with an agent, 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.520 no one will see me at all. So I'm going 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.720 to the open calls because I believed in the open 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:14.800 calls back then. I figured, screw it, you gotta look 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.319 at me now, even if it's an assistant. I went 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.200 into the open call of Birdie and I got called 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.200 back to the main casting director. I went in again, 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.000 and then he brought me, uh three months later into 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.120 a final call. And this is a true story. So 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.520 it's Stuart Thompson is the casting director. And as I'm 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.320 getting ready, and this is at the Broadhurst Theater where 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.319 everyone can be seen, and the holding pen for all 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.160 of the actors is in the balcony, so everyone is 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.040 able to watch everyone else's auditions. If that's not intimidating enough. 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:50.640 So I'm getting ready to go in there, and I'm 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:52.800 wearing my leather jacket, first thing I ever bought New 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:54.600 York City in eight eight, because that's what a New 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.080 Yorker wears. I got my black boots with the silver 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.960 studs and stuff on him. I mean, we're talking very here. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.640 And then as I'm about to go in, Stewart stops 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.480 me and he says, whatever you do, do not sing Sincere. 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.000 Now that's thus song of the character Conrad and Conrad Bertie. 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.640 And I just and I was like, wait a minute, 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.600 do you mean that's And he was like, don't sing it. 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.160 They've heard it, they've heard it all day long. They 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:20.120 don't want to hear it. Sing something else if you. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.120 And he says this to me right before my audition, 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.520 and he says, okay, go. So now I'm walking down 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.280 the aisle of the theater and I'm walking by the Weisslers, 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.680 who are the lead producers, and I'm walking by Tommy 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.280 and there's an Rankings sitting next to Tommy, and then 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.440 there's Gene Sachs sitting there. And I walk up onto 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.079 the stage and then I walk over to the accompanist. 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.400 His name's Brad Garcide, and I'll never forget his name 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:46.200 because Brad looks at me and he says, are you okay? 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:48.720 And I said, they told me not to sing Sincere. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:51.480 And he's like, well, what do you prepare? I said, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.080 Sincere that's all I have. That's literally all I have. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:56.320 And he said to me and I mean it, this 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.400 is He said, whose audition is this, and I said mine. 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.319 He's like, or sing your damn song? So I did. 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.120 Who was it that said, don't sing since here? Stewart 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:07.680 the casting director, don't sing it. They've been hearing it 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.400 all afternoon. Don't do it. So I got up on 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.200 the stage and it's very well known. The first chord 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.240 of Sincere is very clear. You know it's Sincere when 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:20.320 it starts. So he hits the piano and we hear 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.040 that first chord, and all the way at the back 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.280 of the house, I see Stewart throw up his hands 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.920 and walk right out of my audition before I've even 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.520 opened my mouth. But I figured, a, this is the 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:31.840 first and last time I'm going to be on a 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.040 Broadway stage. All I got this is the first and 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:35.800 last time I'm going to play this role. Or sing 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.560 Kiss and one Last Kiss. A lot of living to do. 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.680 But Sincere is his signature number. So I do it 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.400 because I'm like, I have nothing to lose here, because 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.360 clearly this isn't gonna work out. I mean, the casting 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.080 director just literally walked out on me. So I did it, 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:53.800 and I actually had a good time, and I let 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.120 myself loose with it, and by the time I got 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:57.840 to the end of the song, I was getting applause 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.640 from everybody else auditioning up in the balcony. And then 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.560 I tried to run away as fast as I could. 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.800 I was just so happy because I wasn't a singer right. 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.400 And then I heard Jeane yell at me, Mark, come 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.000 on back, so I can't use you want to read? Yes, 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:11.960 I do, because I'm an actor and that's what I 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.120 know how to do. Then I read the scenes and 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.560 that went well, and then I tried to get the 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.960 hell out there, and then he wanted to talk to 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.640 me for a while. So then I'm standing there amongst them, 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.760 these demigods, and he's like, where are you from? Fort Lauderdale? 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.680 Where is your father from? Brooklyn, Ah? Where Avenue M 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.840 I grew up on k okay Um. And it was 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.760 this wonderful audition, and he said thank you so much 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:40.880 for coming in. That was great. And then I was 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:42.880 walking up and I was on cloud nine. And then 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.600 right before I leave, Stuart Thompson stops me, looks me 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:48.680 in the eye and says, thank you for not listening 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:54.880 to me. I always remember that movie. My dad got 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.200 from the school. Uh what year did the movie come out? 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.360 I can't remember. I want to say sixties, the six 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.560 or something some some of you. So so I'm a kid, 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.360 I'm a little child. We're in the background of our house, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.520 and I think we watched it every night. My mother 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.200 would make popcorn and cupcakes and cool aid. I mean, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.920 I'm sitting there, you know, scizzling steaks just ready for 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.080 taste in. You know. I mean I knew every word. Yeah, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.520 We're all running around the house and driving my mother 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.800 and saying, I got a lot of living to do, 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:27.240 you know, Dad, we knew every note. We watched the 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.640 fucking movie eight times in a row before my father said, okay, enough, 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.400 we're gonna turn that off. And that's a bad movie. Man, 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.840 let's be honest. And I love that movie. I know 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.680 everybody loves the movie and it's horrible. Watch it again. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.680 What's with the turtle? The turtle that's running on the being. 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.960 I know they're brilliant actors, all of them. I love them, 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.880 But you know, what's the matter with kids? All those 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.840 I remember every word. Look, the music is genius, and 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.040 when it came out, no one had ever done anything 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.840 like that. Oh my god, Bobby right out who I 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.760 met when I was on tour. No, oh, yeah, Bobby 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.240 was great. But then Bobby wanted to sing along, like 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.879 like we went to uh we went to a bar afterwards, 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:12.119 and yeah, pretty much. It was it was funny. It 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.600 was fun Listen. You get to work with these people 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.080 because it was with Lee Adams and it was with 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.240 Charles you know that wrote the score. I mean, when 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.800 you get the opportunity to work with these people that 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.720 built this thing. When I did Bells are ringing on 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.119 Broadway with Faith Prince and you get to work with 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.399 aid Off and you get to work you know. I 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.320 mean like when when Betty camped in an Adolf Green 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.600 and these were like you know, you know that Oklahoma 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.920 was forty three, they were forty four. They were there 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.680 at the beginning. And you're actually working with these people 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.639 and you're making changes with these people. You say, is 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:49.600 this like like this doesn't make sense to me? Will 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:51.879 No one's ever asked us that in fifty six years. 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.800 There's something to be said for the fact that those 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.360 of us that are in the theater never want to stop. 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.120 That's why I love it, because it's something that is 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.680 always alive. It's not frozen in any kind of time. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.480 The minute you take a piece, bells are ringing or 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.919 Shakespeare or Arthur Miller, and you put it on the 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.320 stage again, it is alive again, and there are questions 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:17.320 to be had, and we never stop asking questions. That's 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.840 why I like the theater. Film and television is great, 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.080 don't get me wrong. But you can throw down a 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.040 line and ten years later someone can tell you the 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.159 line that you did in in in that film. You 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.440 don't you don't remember that you're Those lines are fillers 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.080 in my life. When I was in college and I 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:35.560 still had enough of I want to want to sound 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.879 vain here, but I had enough of a beauty quotation 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:39.760 back then when I was young, I'd be with my 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:46.360 girlfriend if i'd be leaving Anko one less kiss maybe 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.760 where those those songs are in your head, they never 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.960 get out of your head because it's every night, and 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:58.240 it's alive every night. Actor Marc Kudish, another Broadway grade 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.800 who got started doing edgy small house fair is Julie Tamore. 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:07.520 Her show The Lion King, with its masks and spectacular 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.880 head dresses, is the highest grossing show in Broadway history, 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.119 but the masked choreography had its roots and one of 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:20.119 Taymore's earliest experiences in the arts. I graduated high school 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.840 early and went to Paris at sixteen, and I lived 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.080 with this twenty one year old Deborah Tate, who was 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.240 a photographer and who was wild. We're living in Paris 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:36.200 and I mean old sixteen and I went to mind school. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.119 I went to call to mean Jacques Lecoq. Yes, let 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.320 Jacques Lecoq. This is where I started really understanding the 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:49.520 power of mask, the mask and even poppetry. She would 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:53.520 this this crazy lady named Madame Citroen, who looked like 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.800 a lemon. She was like a lemon. She was very brutal, 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.320 but she would take We would take objects, bru rooms 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.520 and candles and all kinds of objects and make them 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:08.280 come alive. You can get a link to my full 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:12.280 interview with Julie Taymore by texting t A Y m 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:17.159 O R two seven zero one zero one. Coming up, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:22.000 Mark Kudish on his most recent Broadway role, Sondheim and 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:39.160 Dungeons and Dragons. That's next. I'm Alec Baldwin and this 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.920 is here's the thing. I'm back with actor Marc Kudish 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.160 Girl from the North Country, his most recent performance on Broadway, 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.760 is a show that's hard to pin down to one genre. 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.560 It's categorized as a musical because there's music in it, 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.919 and that's music Bye and music by Bob Dylans. So 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:00.119 it's Bob Dylan's music, but it is Connor mcphers and 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.320 the Irish play right. It's his construct, it's his idea. 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.280 He was inspired by Dylan's music. But it's an original story. 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.800 It's not an easy thing to take pre existing music 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.159