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BONUS RADIO: RNL Fun Friday! A Dose of New York City Spirit · That KEVIN Show

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Speaker 1: From the birthplace of radio's greatest era. Now from New
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Speaker 1: York It's Radio Night Live with Kevin McCullough. Unlike anything
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Speaker 1: else on radio today, It's a front row seat for
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Speaker 1: great information with today's leading experts. Travel with a third
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Speaker 1: generation travel icon Linda Perrollo, The Fox News Medical All
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Speaker 1: Stars featuring doctor Mark Siegel, Doctor Martin McCarey, doctor Janet Nischwatt,
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Speaker 1: and the Og doctor Nicole Sapphire. Legal analysis from former
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Speaker 1: prosecutor and court journalism superstar Imran I'm Sorry, and Christine Nicholas,
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Speaker 1: the quintessential heartbeat, the New York Hospitality, all joining a
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Speaker 1: legendary broadcast pro Kevin McCullough on a mission unlike any other,
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Speaker 1: united to bring back New York Now Live from Studio
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Speaker 1: one to eleven heres.
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Speaker 2: Kevin McCullough.
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Speaker 3: All right, welcome man, It's Friday. It's fun Friday. We
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Speaker 3: have got a blast of a show. We're going to
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Speaker 3: talk to point fifty. We're going to talk Broadway. It's
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Speaker 3: going to be so much fun. Christine Nicholas, good to
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Speaker 3: see you, Thank you for being here. I don't see
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Speaker 3: an aperol sprits in your hand.
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Speaker 4: Yet.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, we will get to that. It's just been
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Speaker 5: a crazy busy week and I still have a little
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Speaker 5: bit more work to do after this. But I assure
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Speaker 5: you that Aperol Sprits is well.
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Speaker 3: It doesn't feel like it doesn't feel like Sprits time yet.
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Speaker 3: That's the weird thing about our you know, spring, it's
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Speaker 3: supposed to be warmer than it has been. My heat's
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Speaker 3: still been kicking on occasionally. What's that about? But I
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Speaker 3: tell you where it was hot last night? It was
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Speaker 3: hot last night at a lootle theater.
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Speaker 5: Where was it hot last year?
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Speaker 3: You gotta hear this, lady. I'm just too proud.
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Speaker 5: Oh please, and congratulations. I think I know where this
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Speaker 5: is going.
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Speaker 3: That is the sour Kangaroo. He may be saying, what's
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Speaker 3: the sour kangaroo doing on Radio Night Live? Well, sour
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Speaker 3: Kangaroo is a character in a musical called Susicle. Have
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Speaker 3: you and ab seen Susicle? Did you even know that
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Speaker 3: there was such a thing called Susical?
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Speaker 5: Was it?
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Speaker 3: When?
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Speaker 4: Was it on Broadway? Last? Oh?
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Speaker 5: It's been a bit. I think it's time to come back.
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Speaker 5: And maybe if you know anybody who could play the
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Speaker 5: sour Kangaroo, maybe we could put a good word in
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Speaker 5: with our friends on Broadway.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, you know, Zach. When we had our
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Speaker 3: fifth anniversary at your lovely non disclosed location, Zach Stuart
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Speaker 3: came over from Theaterremania and he asked me. He goes,
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Speaker 3: because the last time we'd been on we talked off
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Speaker 3: air about my daughter's burgeoning Broadway interest.
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Speaker 2: And he came over.
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Speaker 3: He said, what is she doing? What is she doing
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Speaker 3: these days? And I said, well, she just finished a
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Speaker 3: run with Annie that was really good and she played
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Speaker 3: Tessa and she had one musical solo in there, and
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Speaker 3: then on the heels of that, immediately came from this
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Speaker 3: other company became The Susical Opportunity, and I said, I
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Speaker 3: don't know anything about it. He goes, You're gonna it's
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Speaker 3: gonna it's gonna blow you away. The story is touching.
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Speaker 3: He says, I really like it, and then he asked
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Speaker 3: who she was playing, and we did not know yet,
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Speaker 3: but it ended up being Sour Kangaroo's kind of like
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Speaker 3: this anti hero, kind of this quasi villain in the story.
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Speaker 3: But it's such a big musical part and she has
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Speaker 3: like three songs. She doesn't tell her mom or I
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Speaker 3: anything about this and she just that's the first note
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Speaker 3: that she just steps up on stage and just wails on,
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Speaker 3: and you're like, whoa where did this kid come from?
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Speaker 3: It's like proud Papa. Buttons were just flying off my
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Speaker 3: shirt last night. By the time I got home, I
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Speaker 3: couldn't deal with it anymore.
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Speaker 5: Does she get nervous before she goes on? Because that
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Speaker 5: is a big part, that's a big role, you know what.
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Speaker 5: And she keeps gravitating towards all of these you know, musicals,
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Speaker 5: I'd be nervous wreck house.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: No, it's interesting because unlike my other two, and I'm
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Speaker 3: a musician, and i come from a family of musicians,
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Speaker 3: and I've always won and to have kids that were
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Speaker 3: as interested in music.
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Speaker 4: As I was.
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Speaker 3: And my boys just aren't there. They're just you know,
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Speaker 3: they took the required band and choir courses in school.
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Speaker 4: Whatever.
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Speaker 3: She is the one that will wake up at five
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Speaker 3: point thirty in the morning, pull out her tracks on
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Speaker 3: her iPad, put her headphones on, and you'll hear her
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Speaker 3: rehearsing in her room. And the whole time she's been
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Speaker 3: going to rehearsals. In this semester for both productions, didn't
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Speaker 3: say a word about anything, just like life was normal,
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Speaker 3: like just you know whatever. And then you show up
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Speaker 3: and having not been in these big roles in years previous,
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Speaker 3: you kind of thinking, well, you know, she gets a
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Speaker 3: little line here there, that'd be kind of cool, kind
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Speaker 3: of fun. And then like last night she literally like
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Speaker 3: just well, their company votes on performer of the night,
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Speaker 3: and she won Performer of the night by her own
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Speaker 3: company voting on her. So it was like, it's just
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Speaker 3: I don't know, and she's got three more performances this
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Speaker 3: weekend and she'll be exhausted by the time Sunday rod around.
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Speaker 3: But I'm so happy for and I just again proud Papa.
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Speaker 3: Sorry I'm bragging a little bit, but it's just it's come.
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Speaker 5: On, this is She's really earned it. We're very proud
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Speaker 5: of her, and you and AG are happy for you.
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Speaker 3: I've had a big influence on this because you gave
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Speaker 3: her tickets to go see Wicked for her birthday two
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Speaker 3: years ago, and that was her first Broadway show ever,
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Speaker 3: and ever since then, she's just like, you know, and
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Speaker 3: it's like, I don't know. It's not like she's aspiring
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Speaker 3: to it. It's kind of this is this is.
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Speaker 4: The weird part.
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Speaker 3: It's like she's a veteran and she just watches stuff
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Speaker 3: and she's, oh, I can do that boom, and she
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Speaker 3: just goes and like works on it and then comes
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Speaker 3: back with it, and you're like, who is this kid
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Speaker 3: and where they come from?
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Speaker 5: It's great. Well, we wish her more success and as
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Speaker 5: long as she's having fun doing it. Broadway can break
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Speaker 5: your heart, as you know, if you're trying to break
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Speaker 5: into that world, there's a lot of rejection.
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Speaker 3: She has some auditions that did not go the way
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Speaker 3: she had hoped they would go, but she seems to
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Speaker 3: be like taking that energy and moving it forward and
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Speaker 3: getting better and doing more speaking a Broadway. The Association
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Speaker 3: mate yesterday and for like the humpteenth year and a
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Speaker 3: month in a row, I wasn't able to make the meeting.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, we missed you. It was terrific and it was
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Speaker 5: an important meeting because we had a panel discussion led
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Speaker 5: by and YC Tourism about this summer. So there's been
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Speaker 5: a lot of talk.
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Speaker 3: Going on that may.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a little.
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Speaker 5: Something going on it's called FIFA World Cup. And then
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Speaker 5: also there's something going on which which is important for
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Speaker 5: the entire nation and that's the two hundred and fiftieth
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Speaker 5: of our independence. So we don't want that to get
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Speaker 5: overshadowed by you know, eight games of the World Cup
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Speaker 5: that will be taking place in New Jersey.
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Speaker 3: Well, one of my is we're not soccer fans, so
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Speaker 3: as far as I'm concerned, to fifty.
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Speaker 4: Is it for us?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, Well we're going to. We spoke a lot about
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Speaker 5: and you know, the panel discussed the ways that the
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Speaker 5: businesses in New York can really feel like part of
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Speaker 5: the game, part of the matches, because there's been a
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Speaker 5: lot of talk about maybe the World Cup not living
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Speaker 5: up to the expectations because hotel rooms have not been
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Speaker 5: you know, as big. There's been a lack of international
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Speaker 5: travel coming in, you know, and there's look, there's a
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Speaker 5: lot of headwinds, there's no doubt about it with tourism
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Speaker 5: right now. You know, whether it's because of the gas prices,
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Speaker 5: whether it's the visa issues, I mean, you just can't
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Speaker 5: deny so what. But what they let us know is
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Speaker 5: that there's going to be a very local piece of this,
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Speaker 5: which is going to include viewing opportunities in all five burrows.
7:41
Speaker 5: They clarified that if you own a business, and if
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Speaker 5: you're going to be showing it for your customers, you
7:48
Speaker 5: don't need a license for that as long as you're
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Speaker 5: not charging an additional fee. And I think a lot
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Speaker 5: of businesses were concerned that they would, you know, the
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Speaker 5: FIFA police would come and get them. But you know,
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Speaker 5: and if if it's under a thousand, you can even
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Speaker 5: do a big outdoor thing if it's under a thousand
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Speaker 5: people and you're not charging separately. So there's a lot
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Speaker 5: of opportunity for groups to host these viewing parties and
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Speaker 5: have a lot of fun and make the you know,
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Speaker 5: have the locals feel part of it. And then we
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Speaker 5: had Chris O'Brien, who, by the way, we will have
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Speaker 5: later on in the show tonight. Chris O'Brien is the
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Speaker 5: head of Sail fourth to fifty, which is the great
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Speaker 5: big operations sale that is coming to New York City.
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Speaker 5: I would have said Lower Manhattan, but I learned from
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Speaker 5: our Broadway Association event that it's not just Lower Manhattan.
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Speaker 5: It starts in Lower Manhattan, but it's July third and fourth,
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Speaker 5: and then the ships they sail from Lower Manhattan all
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Speaker 5: the way up to the George Washington Bridge and then
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Speaker 5: they turn around, you know, all on July fourth and
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Speaker 5: come back down and then they'll be birthed and people
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Speaker 5: can go on the fifth, sixth, and seventh, you know,
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Speaker 5: to board those big you know sailboats, you know, yeah, ships,
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Speaker 5: tall ships. It's going to be exciting. But you can
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Speaker 5: see it from everywhere, you know, along the West Side
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Speaker 5: Highway along the Jersey area, So it's a huge expansion
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Speaker 5: of space that people will be able to really get
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Speaker 5: a feel for what it was like two hundred and
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Speaker 5: fifty years ago when the British real model was coming
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Speaker 5: in full force.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess it's going to start around the Verizontal
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Speaker 3: Bridge and then go all the way up to the
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Speaker 3: George Washington and then they'll tug them and turn them
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Speaker 3: around and then take them down to their berths in
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Speaker 3: Lower Manhattan. But it sounds like an absolutely spectacular visual
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Speaker 3: to see. I think we're due a positive day that
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Speaker 3: we'll never forget in New York. We've had a bunch
9:43
Speaker 3: of days in New York where that we're horrible that
9:45
Speaker 3: we'll never forget where we were. But this is going
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Speaker 3: to be a positive one that we'll remember where we
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Speaker 3: are when it happens. And I hope everybody takes advantage
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Speaker 3: of that. Let's take a quick break. She's Christine, I'm Kevin,
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Speaker 3: and we will also have tips for you. Don't go anywhere.
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Speaker 1: And now I'm from New York. Back to Radio night Life.
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Speaker 1: You're Kevin McColl o.
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Speaker 3: Welcome back. It's Radio night Live. She's Christine, I'm Kevin.
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Speaker 3: We have so much fun. And one of the things
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Speaker 3: Christine from the very beginning, and we're celebrating our fifth
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Speaker 3: year of being on the air together and doing this
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Speaker 3: little cheerleading for the greatest city on the planet, is
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Speaker 3: talking about Broadway. We've always been like the Broadway Show
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Speaker 3: here in the talk radio universe. But tonight we get
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Speaker 3: to dig a little bit deeper. And I'm really excited
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Speaker 3: about our next guest. Would you do the honors please?
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Speaker 5: I will indeed do the honors. Thank you so much, Kevin,
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Speaker 5: because our guest, this is the first time that he's
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Speaker 5: joining us on radio.
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Speaker 3: NA jacket for him. He's got to come back.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, we got on your fifth time. We'll present a
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Speaker 5: jacket to you. But Brian Anthony Morland is the founder
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Speaker 5: of Be More Now Productions, but he is the producer,
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Speaker 5: the executive producer of Joe Turner's Coming Gone, which is
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Speaker 5: just a fabulous August Wilson which I happened to see
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Speaker 5: on Wednesday night. It is just fabulous. The audience was
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Speaker 5: so riveted. And I know when you go see Broadway shows,
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Speaker 5: they do tend to give the standing ovations, but this
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Speaker 5: one was really really well earned. And Ruben Santiago Hudson
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Speaker 5: for his portrayal of Byron Walker is nominated for a
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Speaker 5: Tony Award, and there are four other Tony nominations for
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Speaker 5: Best Costume Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design and Original Score. So,
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Speaker 5: Brian Anthony Morland, welcome to Radio Night Live.
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Speaker 4: Hi guys, thanks for having me. It's great to have you.
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Speaker 5: What inspired you? I know this is one of August
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Speaker 5: Wilson's ten cycle plays, the Pittsburgh cycle Plays. What inspired
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Speaker 5: you to do this one at this time?
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Speaker 4: And oh my gosh.
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Speaker 6: I always say to the place, choose me, and I
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Speaker 6: feel as though they come to me in a variety
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Speaker 6: of ways, whether that's through a friend or something I've.
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Speaker 4: Read or been personally inspired by.
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Speaker 6: But this particular one came I was born out of
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Speaker 6: a conversation with Denzel Washington. Denzel Washington has committed himself
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Speaker 6: to producing all ten of the American Century Cycle plays
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Speaker 6: into movies, and so so far he's done three of
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Speaker 6: the ten, the three being Maul Rainey's Blackbottom, which starred
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Speaker 6: Viola Davis, The Piano Lesson which starred John David Washington
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Speaker 6: and Samuel L. Jackson, and then also Fences, which was
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Speaker 6: with Denzel and Viola Davis. And so this particular one,
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Speaker 6: what's the next one he wanted to do, and he
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Speaker 6: was really keen on the process, the rehearsal process, allowing
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Speaker 6: people to live with those characters for a long time,
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Speaker 6: a lot longer than you would have in a film process.
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Speaker 6: And so he likes that work and that process. And
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Speaker 6: so he said, how do you feel about Joe Turner's
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Speaker 6: Coming Gone. I said, I'd be honored, and so I
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Speaker 6: went to work on it.
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Speaker 5: Wow. Yeah, And so tell our audience a bit about
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Speaker 5: the background of Joe Turner's Coming Gone. And you know,
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Speaker 5: you may think that Joe Turner was a character in
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Speaker 5: the play, but he's not. He plays an important role,
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Speaker 5: but tell us about that.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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Speaker 6: So August Wilson wrote ten plays called the American Century Cycle.
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Speaker 4: This is the second play in that cycle.
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Speaker 6: Each play is a different decade that depicts the great
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Speaker 6: migration of African American life. This particular play Joe Turner's
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Speaker 6: Coming Gone. Although, as Christine put out so brilliantly, we
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Speaker 6: never see Joe Turner, but Joe Turner is a prominent
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Speaker 6: figure in this particular show. Joe Turner is an ex
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Speaker 6: slave owner. Historically speaking, when slavery ended, there were still
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Speaker 6: places in America that were still enslaving people against the wall.
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Speaker 6: And so Joe Turner is a figure who abducts, who
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Speaker 6: abducts Loomis and puts him into his work camp for
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Speaker 6: seven years against his will. Loomis is then freed and
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Speaker 6: is on a journey to reconnect with his family.
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Speaker 4: He's looking for his wife, he's.
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Speaker 6: Found his child, and he comes to this Pittsburgh boarding
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Speaker 6: house set in nineteen eleven, and that's run by the
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Speaker 6: Holly family Bertha and Seth played by Taraji p Henson and.
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Speaker 4: Set at the Entertainer.
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Speaker 6: And in this boarding house, everyone tends to find themselves,
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Speaker 6: so to speak. They reconnect with themselves, with the people
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Speaker 6: that they're looking for or just the forward movement in
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Speaker 6: their life. So Joe Turner's Coming On is really a
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Speaker 6: story about love and redemption and forgiveness. The wonderful Ruben
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Speaker 6: Santiago Hudson, who plays bidam Walker, is Tony nominated for
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Speaker 6: his role.
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Speaker 4: Is his second time in another August Wilson piece.
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Speaker 6: But he plays a really pivotal called nam Walker, and
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Speaker 6: he is a conjuring man, if you will, and he
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Speaker 6: helps people find their song, reclaim their identity, reclaim their
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Speaker 6: self worth, their individual song.
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Speaker 4: As they move forward in life. That's a Joe Turner's
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Speaker 4: coming on is about.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, really beautifully acted, beautifully directed. I mean, you really
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Speaker 5: do feel like you're a part of it. I even noticed,
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Speaker 5: you know what was said in nineteen eleven, so they
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Speaker 5: talk about the outhouse, but then they had running water,
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Speaker 5: and usually in a Broadway set, I just have to
15:04
Speaker 5: point this out. There was actually running water in the sink,
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Speaker 5: you know, So I was like, wow, that was really clever.
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Speaker 5: But just aside the content as.
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Speaker 3: Well, that's a marvel. Talk to me a little bit,
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Speaker 3: Brian about the impact of August Wilson and the Century cycle,
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Speaker 3: Why these ten plays, What was he trying to set
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Speaker 3: out to do, Because I think there may be a
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Speaker 3: lot of people listening that are unfamiliar.
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Speaker 6: Oh August Wilson was a half white, half black man
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Speaker 6: born in Pittsburgh, and in Pittsburgh he was depicting the
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Speaker 6: things and the struggles and the journey that he felt
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Speaker 6: that were missing from the narrative of America, and so
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Speaker 6: he started to write these plays, not necessarily intending. Initially
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Speaker 6: there wasn't an initial oh, I'm going to write ten
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Speaker 6: plays about the great migration of Black people in America.
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Speaker 6: But he started to want to fill in different portions
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Speaker 6: of narratives that were happening in black life. So, for example,
16:05
Speaker 6: Fences is about a marriage, the destruction of a marriage,
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Speaker 6: and the reconnection and fighting to keep that marriage together.
16:13
Speaker 6: You have through the piano lesson, which discusses generational wealth.
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Speaker 6: Many black families don't have generation upon generations of heirlooms
16:21
Speaker 6: because because of slavery. But here is a family who
16:24
Speaker 6: has a piano that was once given as a gift
16:29
Speaker 6: to the workers of that particular land and then taken
16:33
Speaker 6: from them, and so carved on this piano is their
16:36
Speaker 6: family history. And one person of the family owns it,
16:40
Speaker 6: holds on to it for all the sentimental and the
16:42
Speaker 6: historical reasons. Then you have another person in the family
16:45
Speaker 6: who wants to sell it because they can get money
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Speaker 6: for it and buy land and keep feeding the family.
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Speaker 4: So every single play.
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Speaker 6: Has something deep and rich about black life in America,
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Speaker 6: and so all us really want to share that.
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Speaker 4: With the world.
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Speaker 5: And so Denzel Washington is committed to bringing this to
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Speaker 5: the screen.
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Speaker 6: He is he's committed to bringing this particularly one to
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Speaker 6: the screen. It will also be directed by the great
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Speaker 6: Debbie Allen, who directed the stage version. She will also
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Speaker 6: return and direct the movie version of it as well.
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Speaker 5: Yes, and the same actors will appear a great deal
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Speaker 5: of them.
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Speaker 6: Yes, it's kind of is hope that they stay in
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Speaker 6: repertory that particular way.
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Speaker 3: This is what you were talking about earlier when you
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Speaker 3: said he wants the talent to live in these characters
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Speaker 3: for a period of time. And there's probably nothing that
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Speaker 3: prepares you better to do a film than to do
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Speaker 3: the play, you know, especially.
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Speaker 6: Oh absolutely, long, oh absolutely, the time that you get
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Speaker 6: in a rehearsal process to dig in. I mean, they
17:46
Speaker 6: get four weeks in the room before you even get
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Speaker 6: an audience in front of you, and then you have
17:50
Speaker 6: seventeen to eighteen playing weeks to learn from the audience
17:55
Speaker 6: about that character, and then you go into the movie
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Speaker 6: where you spend another three months filming it, but it's
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Speaker 6: in chunks and so you have a real deep understanding
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Speaker 6: of the character by the time that camera begins to roll.
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Speaker 4: It's incredible.
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Speaker 3: Well, if people want more info, there's obviously an easy
18:15
Speaker 3: way to do this is just to get on the
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Speaker 3: website Joe Turnerbway dot com. Joe Turnerbway dot com. And
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Speaker 3: Brian's website is Bmorenow Productions dot com. All one word,
18:26
Speaker 3: be just the letter be more Now Productions dot Com.
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Speaker 3: When we come back, I would be very interested, sir
18:33
Speaker 3: to for you to pull the screen back a little
18:39
Speaker 3: bit and let us see what we don't see about
18:43
Speaker 3: something of this quality, the Tony nominated Broadway production, particularly
18:48
Speaker 3: the play. And I'm curious are there any drama desk
18:52
Speaker 3: discussions going on about this production as well? Maybe fill
18:55
Speaker 3: us in on that when we come back. It's Fun Friday.
18:58
Speaker 4: Don't go anywhere.
19:02
Speaker 2: From New York.
19:04
Speaker 1: It's Radio night Life with Kevin McCullough.
19:08
Speaker 3: Welcome back. It's Fun Friday. She's Christina, I'm Kevin, and
19:11
Speaker 3: we're talking with the producer of what I hope is
19:14
Speaker 3: going to be a very well respected and awarded play
19:18
Speaker 3: this year. Brian Anthony Morland joins us of Joe Turner's
19:22
Speaker 3: Come and Gone and Brian, before we went to the break,
19:25
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you. You've got you know, Debbie
19:28
Speaker 3: Allen is producing it, You're producing it, she's directing it.
19:31
Speaker 3: You've got Denzel involved, You've got really high profile, well
19:35
Speaker 3: known folks playing the leads. I mean, was there pressure
19:39
Speaker 3: to get Tony nominated performances out of these guys or
19:43
Speaker 3: do they just kind of like click and come together
19:45
Speaker 3: like because you are poised to have a good night
19:48
Speaker 3: on Tony Night.
19:49
Speaker 6: Well, listen, it's really wonderful to be acknowledged by your peers,
19:53
Speaker 6: by your community for the quality of work it's been
19:56
Speaker 6: pushed forward. I can tell you that everyone involved in
19:59
Speaker 6: the production was just going in the same direction, trying
20:01
Speaker 6: to really honor the words of August Wilson. Denzel always
20:04
Speaker 6: says that man gives, man gives the award, and God
20:08
Speaker 6: gives a reward.
20:10
Speaker 4: And so it's.
20:12
Speaker 6: Really just a really special thing to be acknowledged for
20:16
Speaker 6: all of the hard work and sweat and time and
20:18
Speaker 6: commitment that people are putting in at the Barrymore Theater.
20:20
Speaker 4: Every night.
20:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, and tell us a little bit where you can, Like,
20:26
Speaker 5: this is at the Ethel Barrymore.
20:29
Speaker 4: That's right, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.
20:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, which is the original
20:33
Speaker 6: home of Joe Turner's Coming Gone Back in nineteen eighty eight.
20:36
Speaker 5: All right, and don't let this come and go folks
20:38
Speaker 5: without saying it, because it's only here for a limited
20:42
Speaker 5: time until July twenty sixth. I believe any chance that
20:47
Speaker 5: that could be extended or will it go on you know.
20:50
Speaker 6: It won't go on the road, but there might be
20:52
Speaker 6: a chance for another extension. We will see how it
20:54
Speaker 6: all goes and see what people's time commitments looks like.
20:57
Speaker 6: I mean, Tarashie p Henson's I'm very very busy act
21:00
Speaker 6: such a entertainer. He's so busy at the moment. But
21:03
Speaker 6: we will see what happens. Fingers crossed.
21:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I am encouraging all my friends to go
21:09
Speaker 5: Cedric by chance. You know, he's such a funny entertainer
21:13
Speaker 5: and this was a pretty serious role for him. I
21:15
Speaker 5: mean he had to you know, he's the man of
21:17
Speaker 5: the house. It is a boarding house, and he has
21:21
Speaker 5: to basically tell Loomis who has an aura about him
21:25
Speaker 5: which is very serious and somewhat negative, and he can't
21:29
Speaker 5: really he said, he's no good and he has to
21:32
Speaker 5: basically kick him out of the boarding house. And it
21:37
Speaker 5: was fascinating to watch, and he said, I'm going to
21:40
Speaker 5: do it this way, and he basically did it. But
21:42
Speaker 5: then Loomis says, well, I gave you my two dollars.
21:45
Speaker 5: My two dollars is good until Saturday, and so I'm
21:49
Speaker 5: not going to tell you what happens. You're going to
21:50
Speaker 5: have to see it. But it really was a dynamic
21:54
Speaker 5: that I thought was really well done. So this is
21:58
Speaker 5: going until July twenty sixth. Could you give us a
22:02
Speaker 5: peek at what is going on with you, Brian Morland,
22:05
Speaker 5: on any other shows that you're working on her.
22:08
Speaker 6: I'm getting ready to announce a show in a couple
22:11
Speaker 6: of weeks, like two weeks, another show with a wonderful,
22:16
Speaker 6: wonderful actor, a beautiful, beautiful love story. It's a time
22:20
Speaker 6: traveling love story. So you'll have to stay tuned for
22:22
Speaker 6: that announcement.
22:23
Speaker 5: Okay, well, all right, well, we'll love to have you
22:25
Speaker 5: come back and talk about it. Of all the Broadway shows,
22:30
Speaker 5: you know, and you're not from New York, originally from California,
22:34
Speaker 5: you know, to be able to not only be part
22:37
Speaker 5: of Broadway, but really sort of lead Broadway. How does
22:40
Speaker 5: that feel do you? I mean congratulations, but resonating with you,
22:45
Speaker 5: like how important this is and what a big mark
22:47
Speaker 5: you're making on Broadway.
22:48
Speaker 6: I really don't think of it in that particular way.
22:50
Speaker 6: I really think about what are the ways that we
22:52
Speaker 6: can expand Broadway. I think about that through my community work.
22:56
Speaker 6: I think about that through sitting on the board of
22:58
Speaker 6: governors for the Broadway League. I think about really diversify
23:02
Speaker 6: our audiences, and not just in terms of colors, but
23:04
Speaker 6: in terms of economic backgrounds, in terms of where those
23:08
Speaker 6: audiences are coming from, whether they are local, whether they
23:10
Speaker 6: are out of state, whether they're out of country. You know,
23:13
Speaker 6: tourism as so you're speaking about earlier is very very
23:15
Speaker 6: important to me, and I think about those things. I
23:19
Speaker 6: think about producing work that is that has just a
23:22
Speaker 6: good story, you know, whether it's a Jewish story, a
23:25
Speaker 6: straight story, a gay story, a black story, a white story.
23:28
Speaker 4: I just love a good story.
23:30
Speaker 6: And so I think about that and if that impacts
23:34
Speaker 6: other things or it has a ripple effect of change.
23:38
Speaker 3: I'm thrilled for that, do you think, And I'm curious
23:42
Speaker 3: that you are. I mean, and I'm thankful that you
23:45
Speaker 3: kind of emphasize inclusive storytelling and you're kind of fighting
23:49
Speaker 3: for broader access to the arts. But let me let
23:53
Speaker 3: me just ask this, because we talk a lot about
23:55
Speaker 3: how kids can be exposed to the theater earlier in
23:58
Speaker 3: life and so forth. What do you think if you
24:00
Speaker 3: could change one thing, like tomorrow, you could wave a
24:04
Speaker 3: wand and make Broadway more accessible, what would that first
24:07
Speaker 3: thing be that that Brian would do.
24:09
Speaker 6: I would ask for I would ask for funding for
24:11
Speaker 6: every for every child of New York.
24:13
Speaker 4: State to be able to come and see a Broadway.
24:15
Speaker 3: Show in like over the course of one year's time.
24:18
Speaker 3: That would be incredible mm hmmm, because it can be incredible.
24:22
Speaker 4: It really can change the life whether that.
24:25
Speaker 6: Person goes into the arts, it's that's not necessarily the goal,
24:29
Speaker 6: but theater, theater, the power of theater can inspire them
24:32
Speaker 6: to become something, it can inspire them to do something,
24:35
Speaker 6: it can inspire them to change something.
24:37
Speaker 4: And then it was always have to be on the stage.
24:39
Speaker 3: We don't need, we don't necessarily need government to do that,
24:42
Speaker 3: like if we all took one child that we know
24:44
Speaker 3: over the course of the next year, and he said,
24:46
Speaker 3: I'm going to take all my kids and one of
24:48
Speaker 3: their friends each, Like there are ways that we can
24:50
Speaker 3: get more of that into their system. We're gonna have
24:53
Speaker 3: to concurtail the conversation here, Brian, but we come back
24:56
Speaker 3: and talk to us again sometime soon, because it's just
24:59
Speaker 3: been a delight to have you anytime.
25:00
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
25:02
Speaker 3: You got it, Brian, Anthony Morland. Go see Joe Turner's
25:04
Speaker 3: coming gone and you can go to Joe Turnerbway dot
25:07
Speaker 3: com for more info on all that. Got to take
25:09
Speaker 3: a quick break, be right back.
25:14
Speaker 4: What a little moonline can do.
25:16
Speaker 1: It's Radio Night Life.
25:18
Speaker 2: Here's Kevin mccollor.
25:19
Speaker 3: Welcome back. It's Radio night Live. It's the Fun Friday Edition.
25:23
Speaker 3: And Christine, you've been You've been taunting me with this,
25:26
Speaker 3: this temptation of talking about sale forth for weeks now
25:31
Speaker 3: and all the ships involved and everything else, and you
25:33
Speaker 3: know that I just get so excited about this kind
25:35
Speaker 3: of stuff. And now we can speak to it affirmatively.
25:39
Speaker 3: Introduce our next guest, happy too.
25:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, Kevin has grown up in a Navy family.
25:44
Speaker 5: So our guest tonight, Chris O'Brien. He is heading up
25:49
Speaker 5: the very important, very exciting production of the Tall Ships
25:55
Speaker 5: coming for July fourth to celebrate America's two hundred and
25:58
Speaker 5: fiftieth sale. Forth, Chris O'Brien, this has been quite an undertaking,
26:04
Speaker 5: and we've been talking about it for years. I, by
26:07
Speaker 5: the way, as a native New Yorker, was at the centennial,
26:12
Speaker 5: the bi centennial Tall Ships in nineteen seventy six. Luckily
26:16
Speaker 5: my father had an office right there on Water Street,
26:19
Speaker 5: so we were able to go up and watch it,
26:21
Speaker 5: and I just remembered it for a lifetime. And you know,
26:25
Speaker 5: I remember my dad and mom saying, Wow, can you
26:28
Speaker 5: imagine how big it's going to be when we celebrate
26:31
Speaker 5: the two fifty And I did the math, and they're like, yeah,
26:35
Speaker 5: we know we won't be here, but but you will be.
26:38
Speaker 5: So help us understand what you have planned for the
26:43
Speaker 5: two fifty.
26:44
Speaker 7: Yeah, pleasure and Christine Kevin, thank you so much for
26:47
Speaker 7: having me on. It's a pleasure to kind of share
26:49
Speaker 7: this story because it is it's just it's monumental, but
26:52
Speaker 7: it is so important for New York.
26:55
Speaker 2: It's so important for the nation.
26:57
Speaker 7: And you know, I look at it globally because there
27:00
Speaker 7: are so many partners from around the world that are
27:02
Speaker 7: that are coming here in an official way to mark
27:05
Speaker 7: America's two hundred and fiftieth you know, the together. So
27:09
Speaker 7: we're a partner. We've partnered with the US Navy, and
27:12
Speaker 7: the US Navy will be hosting the International Naval Review
27:16
Speaker 7: UH and we and sale forth too, fifties hosting the
27:20
Speaker 7: International tall Ship Parade. So we get the fund, we
27:22
Speaker 7: get the goodwill part, the international goodwill, the really fun
27:25
Speaker 7: celebratory part.
27:26
Speaker 2: Navy gets the official protocol part.
27:29
Speaker 7: And that's what that's what really puts these events, you know,
27:32
Speaker 7: on the map, as you know, as a main event
27:36
Speaker 7: for the United States of America to mark an incredible
27:39
Speaker 7: milestone for the nation and Christian as you like you're
27:42
Speaker 7: saying you remembered exactly where you were.
27:45
Speaker 2: In the bi centennial.
27:47
Speaker 7: I love those stories and I hear those stories and
27:50
Speaker 7: I get choked up sometimes because it's like this is today, Well,
27:54
Speaker 7: what's going to happen here in July fourth and while
27:56
Speaker 7: the ships are in port, it's it's our generation's moment,
28:00
Speaker 7: and you know, to have you know, to come together
28:05
Speaker 7: as as a community here in New York as the host,
28:08
Speaker 7: but also as a nation and really as the world
28:11
Speaker 7: to mark this, you know, mark these milestones, you know
28:14
Speaker 7: for America, you know, on our two hundred and fiftieth
28:16
Speaker 7: and we joke also, yes, thank.
28:19
Speaker 2: God, I'm not going to be here for the three hundredth.
28:22
Speaker 5: Stop. No, we we might be, you know, it's.
28:26
Speaker 2: You never know, you never know.
28:27
Speaker 5: It's like, how how great here're coming in for the
28:31
Speaker 5: International Parade of Ships, which is what you're really working on.
28:34
Speaker 5: And how did they get picked or did they just volunteer?
28:39
Speaker 5: Like how does it work?
28:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, so we have so there are a couple
28:44
Speaker 7: of different classes of ships, the tall ships. The class
28:49
Speaker 7: A tall ship it's the very large three hundred plus
28:52
Speaker 7: foot official vessel. So these tall ships are official naval
28:57
Speaker 7: vessels for you know, they the cadets on their countries.
29:01
Speaker 7: So we have twenty one of those ships coming. It's
29:04
Speaker 7: really unprecedented. The they have this mission of training their sailors,
29:11
Speaker 7: making good leaders for their navies. But they have another
29:14
Speaker 7: mission it's and that's their international goodwill mission. So they
29:17
Speaker 7: come to your port as an official representative of their nation.
29:21
Speaker 4: And so I Liken.
29:22
Speaker 7: This almost like almost like the Olympics in a way.
29:26
Speaker 7: You know, countries sending their best and brightest, you know,
29:29
Speaker 7: on the decks of these ships, which are kind of
29:31
Speaker 7: like the crown jewels of their countries, and so you know,
29:35
Speaker 7: to get so many gathered is incredible between sale forth
29:39
Speaker 7: too fifty you know at our twenty one and the
29:44
Speaker 7: and the Navy with the International Neighbor Review, we have.
29:48
Speaker 2: Forty six right now, forty six nations.
29:51
Speaker 7: That are going to be represented here officially as we
29:54
Speaker 7: mark our two hundred and fiftieth and it's really just
29:57
Speaker 7: this incredible testament to you know that the founding principles
30:01
Speaker 7: of this country.
30:02
Speaker 3: You've also got a lot of aircraft that are going
30:05
Speaker 3: to be flying over the Blue Angels will be part
30:08
Speaker 3: of that. Of course, fifteen thousand US and foreign sailors
30:13
Speaker 3: in port. I mean, forget about Fleet Week. This is
30:16
Speaker 3: like this is Fleetweek on steroids, and this is going
30:21
Speaker 3: to be incredible. What will be the most optimal way
30:24
Speaker 3: for people to interact with the parade and how to
30:29
Speaker 3: see it and so forth, there's got to be like
30:31
Speaker 3: better places to be than others.
30:33
Speaker 7: Well it actually I don't know if there's going to
30:35
Speaker 7: be a bad seat in the house, you know. And
30:37
Speaker 7: your point is, so the International Aerial Review, led by
30:40
Speaker 7: the Blue Angels, the numbers haven't settled, but we're counting
30:45
Speaker 7: one hundred and fifty aircraft.
30:47
Speaker 2: Are going to participate.
30:48
Speaker 3: Bad notes in that.
30:51
Speaker 2: And it goes up and down, but it keeps going up.
30:53
Speaker 7: Late the last few weeks, the numbers keep going up,
30:56
Speaker 7: and so that will that will take place over top
30:58
Speaker 7: of the parade of tall ships.
31:00
Speaker 2: It's just going to be this moment.
31:01
Speaker 7: But you know, the viewing of the main event, will
31:06
Speaker 7: say on July fourth, is really between the Arizona Bridge
31:10
Speaker 7: and the George Washington Bridge, so either side New Jersey.
31:14
Speaker 2: New York City, come.
31:16
Speaker 7: Down to the waterfront and you're not there won't be
31:20
Speaker 7: a bad place to see what's happening.
31:22
Speaker 2: And you can look up. You see the jets.
31:25
Speaker 7: You look, you'll see you'll see the you know, the
31:27
Speaker 7: tall ship parade, which will extend the whole at once.
31:32
Speaker 7: At its longest, the tall ship Parade will extend, you know,
31:36
Speaker 7: the ships will be inline parading north up the Upper Bay,
31:42
Speaker 7: up the Hudson River, so they'll be tall ships all
31:45
Speaker 7: the way between that fifteen mile stretch between the Verizona
31:48
Speaker 7: and the George Washington Parade itself will take about two
31:51
Speaker 7: and a half hours to run, So if you're stationary,
31:55
Speaker 7: the ships will get to just as a point of reference.
31:58
Speaker 2: They'll reach the Statue of Liberty.
32:00
Speaker 7: At about ten fifteen in the morning and then so
32:03
Speaker 7: from there you'd count two and a half hours for
32:05
Speaker 7: the length of the parade.
32:07
Speaker 2: But you know, there's there.
32:08
Speaker 7: There are going to be so many great you know,
32:10
Speaker 7: every place is going to be a great place to
32:12
Speaker 7: see it. But one area that is going to be
32:15
Speaker 7: particularly interesting is up at the George Washington Bridge, that
32:18
Speaker 7: whole area, because as the ships.
32:20
Speaker 2: Come up to the George Washington they're going to be turned.
32:22
Speaker 7: They'll be tugboat assists going to turn the ships, and
32:24
Speaker 7: then they'll come back down heading to their berths, and
32:28
Speaker 7: that that crossing point of these ships passing each other,
32:31
Speaker 7: and it's just going to be it's a spectacle, you know,
32:35
Speaker 7: beyond belief. And then the ships will tie up and
32:37
Speaker 7: then they'll be open for free public touring. Free public
32:41
Speaker 7: touring the fifth through the seventh of July.
32:45
Speaker 3: Incredible stuff. More info at Sail fourth the number four th,
32:50
Speaker 3: Sailforth dot org sailforth dot org. Chris O'Brien, thank you
32:55
Speaker 3: for spending time with us tonight.
32:57
Speaker 2: Kevin, thank you.
32:58
Speaker 7: And I'll also our handles aren't the sale fourth to fifty,
33:02
Speaker 7: that's all.
33:02
Speaker 2: The handles are the same. Follow us like us. We
33:04
Speaker 2: love it, and please feel free to reach out. We'll share.
33:08
Speaker 2: We're sharing information on the website too. That's great, sounds great.
33:12
Speaker 3: All right, coming right, fact, Christine's got tips for your weekend.
33:14
Speaker 3: Don't go anywhere.
33:20
Speaker 1: Once again from New York. Here's Radio night Life and
33:24
Speaker 1: Kevin McCullough.
33:26
Speaker 3: Welcome back, man. Did that hour go fast? We got
33:29
Speaker 3: a final few minutes with you. Christine's got a look
33:31
Speaker 3: at what's going on this weekend. No big thing like
33:34
Speaker 3: Mother's Day or anything like that, but there's still lots
33:37
Speaker 3: of stuff going on in May somber.
33:39
Speaker 5: What's happening, Well, to some it's like Mother's Day because
33:43
Speaker 5: it's the mother of all sports. Baseball. We've got the
33:46
Speaker 5: Subway Series going on here.
33:48
Speaker 3: Well I apologize, then, please forgive me.
33:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, the Subway Series this go round will be
33:54
Speaker 5: played at City Field. Of course, it's the Mets and
33:57
Speaker 5: the Yanks. And I was, you know, remembering back when
34:00
Speaker 5: I was in City Hall. This was before they had
34:04
Speaker 5: interleague play. There used to be a thing called the
34:06
Speaker 5: Mayor's Trophy, and then it was between the Mets and
34:09
Speaker 5: the Yankees, or the Dodgers and the Yankees before the Mets,
34:14
Speaker 5: and it was defunct and Rudy Mayor Rudy would say
34:18
Speaker 5: we should bring this back, so he created a Mayor's Trophy.
34:21
Speaker 5: But then MLB decided, well, this will sell out, you know,
34:25
Speaker 5: because it was after the strike. They weren't doing so great,
34:29
Speaker 5: you know, there were issues with getting people. So this
34:31
Speaker 5: interleague play started in ninety seven and it was a
34:35
Speaker 5: huge hit and it continues today. So of course I
34:38
Speaker 5: will be rooting for the Yanks. It'll be at City Field,
34:41
Speaker 5: so I will watch it on TV. I'll watch my
34:43
Speaker 5: Knicks on TV, a lot of New York sports. And
34:45
Speaker 5: then for those of us who look at dance as
34:49
Speaker 5: a sport, there is the twentieth Annual Dance Parade. I
34:51
Speaker 5: want to give a shout out to Jasmine Curtis from
34:54
Speaker 5: Nicholas and Lenz Communications, who has a troop that will
34:57
Speaker 5: be performing in this year's dance Parade. The twenty Nathannuel
35:00
Speaker 5: Dance Parade, it's a wonderful parade. Everybody's invited. It's free.
35:04
Speaker 5: It starts at seventeenth Street and goes up sixth Avenue,
35:07
Speaker 5: actually goes down to Avenue A. It's just exciting. Go
35:10
Speaker 5: to Dance Parade dot org and she will be there.
35:13
Speaker 5: I think with twelve of her performance that she helps
35:16
Speaker 5: teach really fantastic that she she does that on her
35:20
Speaker 5: spare time, and she doesn't have a whole lot of
35:22
Speaker 5: spare time with working at Nicholas and Lines. I do
35:25
Speaker 5: want to thank Brian Anthony Morland who joined us with
35:30
Speaker 5: you about his wonderful play, Joe Turner's coming on. It's
35:34
Speaker 5: playing on Broadway right now at the Barrymore Theater. Performance
35:37
Speaker 5: er only run only until July twenty sixth, so get
35:40
Speaker 5: your tickets. You can find out more about Joe Turner
35:44
Speaker 5: at Joe Turners Broadway dot com. And then also Chris
35:47
Speaker 5: O'Brien from sale forth to fifty. Thank you Chris. For
35:51
Speaker 5: more information about the tall Ships, the International Naval Review,
35:55
Speaker 5: the Fantastic Air Show go on sale fourth. That's with
35:59
Speaker 5: a number for Saleforce dot org and get all the
36:03
Speaker 5: information and please make your plans to come to New
36:06
Speaker 5: York City. We have ab if you want to join
36:11
Speaker 5: us in the studio and talk about next week's show.
36:13
Speaker 5: I believe Sarah Henry is going to be joining us
36:15
Speaker 5: from the Museum of the City of New York.
36:17
Speaker 8: Absolutely, Christine and Kevin, so we're going to be welcoming
36:21
Speaker 8: senior scholar and curator Amerita from the Museum of the
36:24
Speaker 8: City of New York to talk about the newest exhibit there,
36:27
Speaker 8: which is the Occupied City New York and the American Revolution.
36:31
Speaker 3: Christine's been talking about that for a few weeks. That's
36:33
Speaker 3: going to be a great show. And before we're done
36:36
Speaker 3: with this one, I want to make sure that we
36:39
Speaker 3: say and additional congratulations to Christine Nicholas Honorary twenty City
36:45
Speaker 3: Guide Women in Tourism Award for lifetime achievement. When we
36:49
Speaker 3: started this broadcast five years ago, I called her. I
36:52
Speaker 3: dubbed her the first Lady of New York Hospitality. She
36:57
Speaker 3: was too embarrassed to take the title. She's a self
36:59
Speaker 3: defla She's like, don't pay attention to me. I don't
37:01
Speaker 3: want this, and I'm like, no, no, no, that is
37:04
Speaker 3: what you are. You are the first Lady of New
37:06
Speaker 3: York City Hospitality. And this award just confirms that I
37:10
Speaker 3: was right all along. So take that, Take that, Christine.
37:14
Speaker 5: I got my I got my Crystal Award. So thank you,
37:17
Speaker 5: David Miller and Kevin.
37:19
Speaker 3: We're so proud of you. So congratulations of that. All right,
37:23
Speaker 3: all right, we got to call it a night. We'll
37:25
Speaker 3: see you next time.