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Meadow Brook Theatre's Season Preview With Travis Walter | The BSB Podcast · The BSB Podcast

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Welcome back, theater lovers, to another exciting episode of the BSB Podcast.
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For nearly sixty years, Meadowbrook Theater has been entertaining audiences
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of all ages with their incredible performances.
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And this upcoming season is truly shining like a diamond with some classic shows,
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returning holiday favorites, and a few new arrivals.
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And joining me today to break it all down is artistic director
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at Meadow Brook Theatre Travis Walter.
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Thank you so much for being here,
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Travis.
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my gosh, thank you so much for having me.
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You are going into sixty years or the sixtieth season.
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This is such an incredible benchmark to reach for a theater,
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especially of one of this caliber.
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How does it feel to bring the diamond anniversary to audiences
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as the artistic director?
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I I'm very, very excited about the Diamond Anniversary.
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I would love to say that it was all due to,
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you know, me being here for 60 years,
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but there are some great, wonderful people who made it all possible over the years.
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~ I've only been artistic director for 16 years.
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~ so I'm I am riding on the shoulders of a lot of great people
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~ who made this possible.
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but it's it's such a wonderful benchmark.
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The community's looking so forward to it.
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we've got such a ~ generational audience.
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We we still have people who have been here ~ since the first show,
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or we have people who, you know,
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their parents were here for the first show and they're ~ they passed
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the season tickets down to them and they've passed them down to their kids.
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and so it's it's ~ a really a wonderful thing for our community to just sort
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of bring us all together and and see,
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you know, where we've come in 60 years.
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I mean, first off, 16 years is incredible with the theater,
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but like getting to celebrate this,
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I mean, this is a huge this is a huge season.
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~ but speaking to the kind of that ~ the generations,
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this is something that I remember going to with my grandma.
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And then as I got a little bit older,
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I didn't go as much, but our my business partner,
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RJ, he's gone with his mom every single season.
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Like this
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Yeah.
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is something that like families turn out to,
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and like you continue bringing your kids in the next generation
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and you're bringing friends.
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I mean, so it really does kind of speak to just like the community that Meadow Brook
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is really building together for these shows.
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Yeah. And it's just it's one of those things where you're always,
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you know, everybody's always wondering,
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like, ~ well, the theater is dying.
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Everybody's old, or everybody's,
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you know, I how are you gonna get young people?
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How are you gonna get this? How are you gonna get that?
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And ~ people forget that the audience for theater has been old for a very long time.
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those are the people with expendable incomes.
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Those are the people who've had their kid and have time to go out.
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~ the problem is is that we're not doing a lot to introduce young people
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to the theater anymore. We don't do it in our schools.
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We don't do it, right? So ~ one thing ~ it it's up to like you say,
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like subscribers, your grandma,
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your you know, to to bring the young people into the theater,
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but also things like Christmas Carol,
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which have been around for forty four years,
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are sort of like a a gateway drug for theater for,
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Ha ha.
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you know.
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for for young kids. And then, you know,
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then they're their life gets they might come a couple times,
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their life gets busy. They go off to college.
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~ and then eventually they are like,
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hey, you know what I used to love doing?
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I used to love going to the theater.
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We should go check that out again.
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And then it becomes a good date night.
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And then it so we just have to think about ~ the way that the theater is,
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~ how we can evolve it. ~ and and make sure that we're introducing people
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of all ages to the theater all of the time.
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And what I love too of that what Meadow Brook does as well is that it does there's
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a show for everybody. You know,
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I was one of those people, I went to college,
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I got a little bit busy and I did I didn't go to any shows,
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like anywhere.
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Yeah.
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And when I started being friends with RJ,
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he was like, Hey, there's a show called Moriarty that's about Sherlock Holmes.
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I know you like to read, I know you like mysteries.
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Ha ha ha.
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Why don't you why don't we go?
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And
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then that's kind of what started us again and that's what started us kind
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of back into what we're doing here.
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That's great. So Moriarty
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So
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was a little gateway drug for you.
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I love that. That was such a fun show.
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Correct. ~
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I mean but I mean you have so every show is so fun at Meadowbrook.
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I feel like that's the that one of the things to take away is that like there's
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so much energy. And you know, going into with like a sixty season like this,
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which is again a monumental occasion,
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how do you start to kind of decide what shows you're gonna bring for such
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a like like a sixtieth season?
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That has to feel a
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Yeah.
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little bit like a there has to be some pressure there,
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right?
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It's a daunting, daunting task.
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of course, you know, it it it's one of those ones where you're never gonna choose
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the right thing, right? Like ~ everybody
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Okay.
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has an opinion, everybody has an idea.
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~ and and so like you say, where do you start?
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Well, we have a our board of directors,
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we have a reading committee, ~ and and we we start to think about,
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you know, where we've been, where we're going,
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~ what kind of things the audience like,
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but but on top of that.
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You know, we have things like we're doing Rolling Thunder,
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which is ~ a a rock journey through the stories of ~ veterans of of Vietnam.
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And one of the things we talked about when we were doing that is hey,
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Metabrick was founded in 1966.
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What was going on 60 years ago when in the world,
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you know, when we were like, hey,
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let's start a theater. What was what was going on in the world?
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And what was going on in the world was the Vietnam War.
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~ so what
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What better way to to ~ think about our history than to look back ~
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at something and say, hey, this is what was going on in the Vietnam War.
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What have we learned? What have we changed since then as a people ~ together?
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~ have we changed as a people since then?
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~ some people want us to look back to our very first season and do and
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do some of those shows. And if you look,
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our very first show was ~ the Caucasian Chalk Circle.
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~
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which
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Okay.
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is is a a you know four hour play it's a very with lots of people
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in it ~ and it's a it's a beautiful show but it requires a lot of work
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out of the audience and
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Sure.
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we're not in the same place right we consume media differently we're
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now listening to podcasts right so
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Right.
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so it's our attention spans are different what we're looking for is different
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~ and so and so like you say, like how do you do it?
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I guess there's no real right way,
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but we just started looking at gosh,
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we wanted to do a classic, ~ just so that we,
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you know, one from our history that was a classic,
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so you can't take it with you fills the fits the bill.
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It of course won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937,
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and it's so much fun. ~ and and so we'll have some subscribers who have seen
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it here before.
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~ but they loved it before and they'll hopefully love it again.
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They'll bring their their friends.
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~ and then we were trying some new things like polishing Shakespeare.
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Well, we had a lot of Shakespeare in that first season.
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~ and this new show is a brand new comedy,
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which actually is all written in iambic pentameter.
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~ but it's all about but
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wow.
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it's a surprise, but it's all about you know,
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a a dot-com billionaire wanting to hire playwrights to
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translate Shakespeare into English,
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which is absurd
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Okay.
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because it's already in English.
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But his point is we talk way too much.
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You know, why are we all talking?
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We we need to do it like the way people want to hear it.
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~ and it's actually based on something that happened,
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a true life story that happened to a major theater.
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~ and so
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Okay.
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we just wanted to talk about things that were going on in our world,
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where we've come, where we're going.
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~ and and so it's difficult. It's difficult to do,
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but I think we've
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I think we really have landed on something for everyone,
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like you said. ~ and I know it's I always say it and I know it's cliche,
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but it's but that's the goal, right?
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Something for everyone. Like ~ we haven't done a Western in a long time,
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and we're gonna start with the man who shot Liberty Valence,
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which is a Western written by a Brit.
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You know?
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Okay.
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I mean, I try something new, try something old.
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~ the theater will surprise you.
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It's gonna be a lot of fun. So I I'm very excited.
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You know, something that you said there that kind of resonates with what's going
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on here. You mentioned about in Polishing Shakespeare,
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how it's like taking something that somebody knows,
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but like you're changing it to update it.
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Like you're taking the idea of like you said,
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a lot of Shakespeare happened in that first season,
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but you're not giving people Shakespeare.
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You're giving them a different show that's reinventing it for the audience.
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Right, exactly. And hopefully they I s I had the fortune ~ the good fortune
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to see it off Broadway ~ two years,
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two summers ago. And ~ it was I laughed hysterically,
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I loved it, I I thought it was very clever.
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I met the playwright, I met the director,
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and I and ~ gosh, they they had ha so many ~ a slew of people wanting
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to produce the show, ~ and they chose us,
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which is really great.
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~ and and we're excited to we're excited to do the Michigan premiere of
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it and and and see how the audience ~ likes it,
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see if they can still understand ~ Shakespeare as,
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you know, in a more contemporary way.
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That's gonna be such a unique show.
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Mm.
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But you mentioned
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that you are starting the season off with the man who shot Liberty Vance.
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Valence. Sorry, not Vance, but Liberty Valence.
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Yes. Careful,
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And
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Bill.
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Yep. I you know, sometimes the words just come out.
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~ But
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Ha ha ha.
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something I've really noticed is that Meadow Brook likes to start off with like
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a really spooky or suspenseful show for kind of their opening season.
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it's kind of k kicking off with like that Halloween like season premiere.
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Do you feel like this kind of continue with that continues with that tradition?
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I do. ~ it is a mystery of sorts,
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right? It it's one that many people are familiar with because they either know
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the song or they know the movie,
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~ with Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne.
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But it it is a mystery. And like you say,
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we like to do mysteries in that October slot.
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Sometimes it's spooky mystery,
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sometimes it's you know an Agatha Christie mystery,
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but it's still a mystery none nonetheless.
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And we always really if if we can,
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it always feels like a good time to do a literary classic,
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like something.
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Sure.
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something that that harkens back to literature.
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People are ~ doing you know, they're they're leaving the beaches and going back
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to their book clubs.
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True.
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and it's and it's a great it's a great way to start off the season is with
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a some sort of literary themed ~ show.
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And one thing ~ gosh with this that I love too is that a lot of people don't know
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that the man they might know the movie,
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they might know the song.
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~ but they might not know that it was a literary classic,
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right? That it's a short story.
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~ it's also written by a woman,
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~ the short story.
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Okay.
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And here's this very famous story.
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~ and I just think it's I just think that's wonderful.
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Like, you know, a lot of those great writers back then and they didn't
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get they didn't get high praise.
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I mean, you gosh, you Shirley Jackson,
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you had, you know, these women who were writing ~ Patricia Highsmith
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who wrote Strangers on a Train.
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~ these women were doing incredible work.
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~ and they weren't really getting recognized for it.
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So, this sort of is just interesting.
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That's just an extra interesting fact about the show.
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That here's a here's a Western written by a woman,
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adapted by a Brit. It's gonna be it's I mean,
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There's so many layers.
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it's gonna be so exciting. and and the show itself was ~ published in like 2015
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or so, and it's taken us a while to to get around to to doing it,
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but I think the story.
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will really resonate with today's audience and things that are going
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on in the world. ~ and I think that ~ you know,
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they'll come because they they have a familiarity of it,
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but they'll stick around because the way that the story unfolds is very unique.
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Will say this that I have never seen the movie.
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I don't know the song. I knew the name of like I've heard the name before.
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~ but when I was doing my research for this,
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I was just reading like the synopsis of and was like,
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this is an this is enough to bring me in.
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Like the suspense, the good versus evil,
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the outlaws, like
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Yeah.
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it it's enough to be like, Yep,
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I have to see this show because it's gonna just be a lot of fun and it's
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a perfect kind of way to just kick off that season.
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Hey, it's and it's the two hundred and fiftieth year of America.
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What's more American than a good old Western?
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~
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True, true.
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And speaking of traditions though,
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I mean right you're going from that right into a Christmas carol,
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which is again you mentioned forty four years,
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is that correct?
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Four years, forty-four years for a show.
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and this is the good fortune of again one of the greats that I that I stand
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on the shoulders of is Terrence Kilburn,
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who was the longest running artistic director here ~ from nineteen seventy
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to nineteen ninety four. and he was
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the tiny Tim in the original US movie,
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the old black and white movie.
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That's so awesome.
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And his partner, Charles Nolte,
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who adapted this, was like, let's do Christmas Carol.
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And he didn't really want to do that.
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He didn't want to write off of his fame.
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He didn't want to, you know, all of this kind of stuff.
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And so they did it for one year,
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thinking it was gonna be a one-off.
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they didn't know it was the inaugural season of Christmas Carol.
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~ and then it's been here for forty-four years.
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~ and that, you know, to the just to the great benefit of of the people
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of Southeast Michigan, but also this theater.
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~ because it really is a a sort of a Christmas love letter to the to the community,
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you know. ~ and yes, things have changed about it over the years
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and casting changes and and things like that,
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but but it's still that story that we need to hear.
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It's still that that redemption arc that,
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gosh, we all hope that we can get.
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I mean, we hope we're living right,
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but we all hope that if we're not,
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we can get a redemption arc. ~ some of us feel we're about
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Yeah, production arc? For sure.
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due. and ~
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And just that reminder that you can change and that make you know,
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try to make every day a little better.
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~ and and so we're very, very excited ~ to have it for 44 years.
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The set has undergone it has had two complete or it's had two complete builds over
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the years. ~ and this current set is over twenty-five years old.
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So even though we store it and put it back together,
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it's starting to become like Swiss cheese where the bolts go and things.
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Ha ha ha.
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So we're gonna be
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people are gonna see us start a capital campaign to rebuild the set.
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~ the last
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Sure.
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the last time we got a quote, it was around four hundred thousand dollars to do it.
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It's
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my gosh.
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it's insane. And with inflation and things like that,
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it's it's a lot. So people will see that,
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but we aren't we aren't worried because you know,
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we know what this means to us.
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We know what it means to the families of Southeast Michigan,
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and we and we know we'll get it done.
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~ it won't be done this year, but we will we will raise the money and get it done.
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We started early enough so that we can make sure that it's it's ready
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to be implemented, ~ and that we take our time and make sure.
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Because the thing that we don't want is we want to rebuild the set.
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We don't want to change it. We want
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Sure.
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to make sure that people understand we're not changing that beautiful,
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gorgeous set that you love. We're trying to rebuild it so that it goes back together
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nicely. ~
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I was gonna say, this is one of the most impressive sets that I have ever seen.
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Like the the I remember three,
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I think it was three or four years ago,
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the first time I walked in there and had saw the Christmas Carol.
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It is just so impressive.
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And the way that it turns and the way that it's a full house on stage that is
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yeah. Yeah. It's it's a full
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house that turns and it's basically a giant pop-up book.
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You know, that's how I I I think about
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~ yeah, absolutely.
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it because the wings out the door things open and you know things pop
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up from the top or from underneath things like it it just feels like when
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I was little and I would play with pop-up books.
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That's what it feels like. You know,
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there was always something waiting on that next page,
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you know, to pull the tab or do like and that's sort of how this beautiful Peter
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Hicks design set ~
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it reacts, you know, it's it's used like it's a giant pop up book and I love it.
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There's one, I'm not gonna give it away for people who haven't seen it,
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but there's always one scene that always gets me every year and I know it's coming.
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Ha ha ha ha.
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And it always
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because it is it's like you said,
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it's like a pop-up and like you know,
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when you're using like you it's pyrotechnics and stuff like that.
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You're like you're using things to like bring this to life and it's just
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it is super, super impressive.
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And it's one of the like it's it's like a crowning achievement
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for like the Christmas season to see a Christmas Carol at Meadow Brook
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And I love the I love the families that come year after year and make
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it their family tradition. ~ and it's and each year,
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you know, if I'm standing up there in the lobby,
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I can see the families grow and it's like there are families,
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you know? So it's it's it's just nice to know that you're reaching people,
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that you're making an impact. And the show itself has such a good message
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~ that we can never tire of hearing.
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For sure.
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But you know, with a show like this too,
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you every year you're you're bringing this back and it's the same story we know,
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but it does have you I've noticed slight changes in like,
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you know, you like casting or like the way you're approaching different characters
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and stuff and stuff like that.
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How do you kind of approach like what you're going to like maybe slightly just like
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touch here for this season
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Yeah.
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to see if people notice?
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Yeah, you you sly bugger.
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You notice those things.
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Yeah.
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No, it's
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good. It's good. ~ we have you know,
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the the show itself has had many directors over the course of its 44 years.
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~ Charles Nolte being one of the long-running ones who adapted the script.
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~ but ~ Terry Carpenter for a very long time.
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~ I took over directing a couple years ago,
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and when I took over,
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I had been in the show for six years ~ previous to that.
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And ~ I had the great fortune of being directed by Charles Nulty himself
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at one of the points. And ~
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That's incredible.
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I wanted to go back in and and Charles had told me a bunch of stories because
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he was such a great guy. He is he is past now,
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but he is such a wonderful human being.
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~ and and he embodies like the spirit of Fred in Christmas Carol,
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like he just is wonderful human and
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he would tell me about the old versions of the show that they would
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do and and different aspects. it started like,
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you know, all those people in the in the future scene under the umbrellas,
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like that started as like a Greek chorus,
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you know, and this was my idea for this,
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and this is my and so what I did when I started was I was like,
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you know what? I think we can go back to a couple of those small ideas that Charles
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always loved, but we took out.
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~ and I was able to just
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slightly like hint back to some of those things.
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And that's where you get
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Sure.
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some of those small changes, right?
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A lot of times it's you get a new actor.
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We got Phil Powers as our new Scrooge.
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And I wanted to make sure that the show fit him,
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that he wasn't trying to be Scrooge's past.
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Those Scrooges were all amazing.
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Booth Coleman, Phil Locker, Joe Bailey.
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No, not Joe Bailey. Sorry. I love Joe Bailey.
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Shout out to the ringwald. ~
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Joe Reed and then ~ Peter Thompson and Tom Mahard were all fabulous Scrooges,
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but I wanted to make sure that Phil got to embody
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~ Scrooge himself. So we did a lot of work
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Sure.
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with that. ~ anyway,
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so yeah, you you you get different actors doing different line readings.
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You sometimes you'll be inspired and you'll hear a word repeat over and over
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in the show, and you're like, I never thought of that.
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I wonder why he chose that word to repeat.
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and so you try to do a little something with that.
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~ you try to make
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Sure.
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sure that little pieces, Terry Carpenter was really good at this,
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~ making sure that a a visual that you do in the past comes back in the present,
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which comes back
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Okay.
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in the future. so you look at all those great directors and you look
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at what the audience remembers and loves,
20:09
and you try to put it all together to
20:12
Continue to make it fresh without upsetting anyone.
20:17
Because it
20:18
Sure.
20:20
has to look like their Christmas carol.
20:22
we had
20:23
Yeah.
20:23
one woman who was really mad after the pandemic because she said that
20:29
we didn't run the snow at the end and we didn't bring the big Christmas tree out,
20:33
and it ruined her Christmas. And how dare we do that?
20:36
So I checked, and the tree was there.
20:39
But the snow machines did malfunction that day.
20:42
They were working by the next performance.
20:44
But I mean, they'll write you letters.
20:47
my gosh. They want you to know that this is a specific way it has to be done.
20:53
Yes, yes. So you're very careful to understand that this is people's baby,
20:57
this is what they really love,
20:59
and you don't wanna you don't wanna ruin it.
21:01
You wanna enhance it a little bit,
21:03
but you don't wanna ruin it for them.
21:05
You want them to feel very comfortable.
21:06
People come to the theater. ~ sometimes they come to be educated,
21:10
sometimes they come for entertainment,
21:11
some you know, they come for different reasons,
21:13
and this is one where they come for comfort.
21:15
~
21:17
Sure.
21:18
It's that season of nostalgia.
21:20
Yeah.
21:21
Speaking of ~ for entertainment,
21:23
your next show is Curtains, which kind of kicks off twenty twenty seven
21:27
and it's described as a musical,
21:28
a comedy, a whodunit. Those are a lot of things coming together.
21:32
How do you feel it kind of blends all those three,
21:34
~ for the for the show curtains?
21:36
Well, first of all, who hasn't dreamt of killing a leading lady?
21:40
That's all I'm saying.
21:41
Yeah.
21:43
no, this is recorded. No.
21:44
Facts. No ~
21:47
but it's it's one of those shows that is it's really beautiful in a way that,
21:52
you know, Candor and Ebb wrote it,
21:54
the same people who did Cabaret and Chicago,
21:56
and apparently they have a penchant for one word starting with C titles.
22:02
so we get curtains.
22:03
Ha ha ha.
22:04
~ but
22:06
Because it's written by them, it feels like a golden age musical.
22:11
Even though
22:11
Okay.
22:12
even though it's a whodunit and it's a musical comedy,
22:16
like it just has the nostalgia built into it.
22:20
And you know, the leading lady gets killed and they bring in this
22:23
~ detective who they think is going to help.
22:27
~ but unfortunately he loves musical theater and so he tries to start helping
22:32
the show.
22:34
as opposed to figuring out the murder.
22:34
Yeah.
22:36
~ and because
22:37
who hasn't wanted to be a show person?
22:39
You know what I mean? ~ and
22:40
For sure.
22:42
and so it it does a nice balance of of the tongue-in-cheek humor
22:48
and the mystery because it is a big mystery when you find out at the end
22:52
how all of this works. ~ and and it feels like a golden age musical.
22:56
So it's it's one of those things when you're doing this with your audience that
22:59
it's, you know,
23:02
Not everyone can do Oklahoma all of the time,
23:05
right? Like it's a beautiful show.
23:07
I love what it did for musical theater.
23:08
I adore it. I used to watch it over and over,
23:10
the the old movie over and over when I was little.
23:13
But like we just we can't do that.
23:15
Not every show is that. We can't do it over and over and over again.
23:18
~ so sometimes it's like try something newer that harkens back to those old shows,
23:23
~ and you will find that comfort,
23:26
you will find that joy. ~ and and maybe this will become a classic to you.
23:31
~ and one of the lovely things ~ is that it is also our collaboration with
23:35
the School of Music, Theater and Dance at Oakland University.
23:38
~ so that'll be another wonderful,
23:40
you know, we had Footloose, we had all shook up,
23:43
~ and this will be another one where we get to showcase some students,
23:47
which will be really lovely.
23:48
And these are always shows too when you have the the college being a part
23:51
of a you know the Oakland University that are huge.
23:54
They're huge shows. They're they're extravagant,
23:56
they're extravagant pieces of like just like appreciation for musical theater that
24:01
everyone just kind of I mean they want the other two,
24:04
they want to dance along with this.
24:04
I don't know if they're dancing along with this one with but you know what I mean.
24:07
But like with the mystery might take them over and be yeah,
24:10
I'm should I be dancing when there's a murdered f leading lady?
24:11
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be up and dancing.
24:12
But like
24:13
Yeah. But
24:15
but they will definitely be laughing,
24:16
and that is great.
24:17
Yes.
24:19
And you talk about kind of touching into that nostalgic piece of it too.
24:22
You know, I did notice that with like Footloose and I'll shook up as well because
24:25
or even the Rat Pack Lounge where it's like those ones that people know some
24:29
of the the feeling is there, even though it's a show they don't know.
24:31
You know what I mean?
24:32
Exactly. And and it's it's you know,
24:35
we get a lot of when we do a show that people love,
24:38
they always say, Hey, do another one just like that one,
24:42
right? Like like last season, you know,
24:44
everybody was doing Come From Away,
24:46
everyone's doing Come From Away this season.
24:48
And everybody's like, Now this is a good show.
24:51
You need to do more shows like Come From Away.
24:53
And I'm like, There are no other shows like Come From Away.
24:58
It is a very unique experience that we all have.
25:02
~ i in our hearts and a part of we remember being you know where we were
25:06
at 911 we remember like all of these different things there are no other shows there
25:12
are no other shows like that i mean
25:14
True.
25:15
so so you know people have to be open to saying okay well that's this
25:20
is adjacent to that you know like or like sheer madness you know they they always
25:25
say do another show just like sheer madness and I'm like there's there isn't another
25:28
show like sheer madness there are other audience participation shows
25:32
But you're not gonna have as much fun.
25:34
You know, like it'll it's just
25:35
Right.
25:35
a it's just an imitation of. So,
25:38
~ so how do you keep your audience still ~ excited and try to raise
25:44
the bar with each show you do after that so that they're still excited about those,
25:49
~ and still have a wonderful experience that they had,
25:53
you know, but stop asking for just that specific show over again because
25:58
Be because we can't do it again.
26:00
You know, we c not for another ten years,
26:02
you know.
26:03
You're telling me I'm not getting Vanity's the musical again for another ten years?
26:07
Not for another ten years.
26:10
Put it on the books now, everybody.
26:12
But you you know,
26:15
and then you're rolling into Polishing Shakespeare,
26:17
which you mentioned is a show that you saw.
26:19
You you absolutely love this. Is one that I think that a lot of people
26:22
are going to get a kick out of.
26:23
I love shows that just take something you know and reinvent it just a little bit.
26:27
And what's better than reinventing Shakespeare for a new TikTok era
26:31
of age of people, right?
26:32
Right. And I think, and there are,
26:34
you know, I was talking to an actor and she had read the play,
26:37
and she was saying, you know, it's funny.
26:40
She says, I was sitting down with my ~ family,
26:44
her her two kids in college and her husband and her,
26:48
and they were discussing the show because she had read it.
26:50
And she said, I side with the lady running the theater and the and
26:56
the and the ~ playwright, ~ but my
27:01
Kids side with the dot-com billionaire.
27:03
She's like, this
27:04
~
27:05
she's like, this gave us a lot to talk about.
27:08
and I think that that's I think that's really lovely and that it it should,
27:13
right? Theater should give us a lot to talk about.
27:16
If you if you sit and wonder, even film,
27:19
~ it or even a good book, right?
27:21
If you close the book, if you end the movie,
27:23
if you get up from Final Curtain,
27:25
and you're going home and you're like,
27:27
I wonder what happens to those characters next.
27:30
Then you know
27:30
Mm-hmm.
27:31
that that's a good show. That you've done something right.
27:35
That's a good book. It's a good,
27:36
right? And I we want you to wonder,
27:38
~ how can we take what was what we talk about in this into our regular lives
27:44
and use it daily? And who do we side with?
27:46
~ it's it's a very ~ for those who are well read,
27:52
it's it's a very intellectual show.
27:54
They they will love it. and for those who are just a
27:59
casual fan of theater, they should also love it,
28:01
which is the brilliance of the writing.
28:04
I feel like I want to bring my nephew here.
28:06
He's he's a senior in high school,
28:07
but we were recently talking and he's,
28:09
you know, reading things like Shakespeare,
28:10
and he's like, Man, some of this is just so boring,
28:13
like Shakespeare himself. I'm like,
28:15
that's one of the greatest playwrights in the entire world.
28:17
And you're s but like to him, this is probably he would agree and probably be like,
28:20
you know, we do need to update things for another generation.
28:23
And then there's some of us that I guess are getting old and are like,
28:26
no, you can't change Shakespeare.
28:27
Yeah, don't change it. Don't do it.
28:32
And
28:33
then so after after that one, which sounds like a great new comedy that is coming,
28:37
and I'm so glad that Meadow Brook Theater is getting to debut that here in Michigan.
28:40
~ we're going back to a musical comedy for ~ Death Takes a Holiday,
28:46
Yeah.
28:46
which this one makes me laugh when I think of the title because Death Takes
28:50
a Holiday just sounds like such a like what a what a way to think about that.
28:54
Like what happens when Death Takes a Holiday?
28:56
When Death takes a holiday. And you know what's
28:58
interesting about this? Well, first of all,
29:01
I've always loved the story. I've loved the idea.
29:04
It comes from a it's it's based on a nineteen twenties play.
29:06
~ so it's the idea has been around a very long time.
29:10
~ and then, you know, it was turned into a movie.
29:14
It was turned into ~ well, a movie of the same title,
29:18
and then later it was the basis for Meet Joe Black,
29:20
if you remember that film with ~ Anthony Hopkins and and Brad Pitt,
29:23
Thought so. I thought Yeah.
29:25
~ right?
29:26
So and and Maury Yestin, the the guy who wrote Titanic and and lots of other things,
29:32
the other version of Phantom, ~ I really feel that this is his best score.
29:36
It's it's this sweeping melodies are just absolutely gorgeous.
29:41
It all takes place in an Italian villa shortly after World War One.
29:47
~ and and the concept, right,
29:50
is that Death is just tired of taking people and he doesn't understand.
29:55
Why people are so scared of him all the time.
29:58
And he doesn't get it because he doesn't know what it means to live.
30:00
He doesn't know what a precious gift life is to those who are living.
30:04
So he decides to vacation, take a holiday with this family.
30:08
And he promises that while he is there,
30:10
no one on earth will die. ~ and the playwright actually had this idea.
30:16
And this is another one of these,
30:17
like, how does it fit in your ~ 60th anniversary season?
30:20
Well, this playwright had this idea.
30:24
Because they had just had World War because it was 1921,
30:30
maybe 20, I don't remember which exactly the year,
30:32
but in the twenties.
30:33
Nineteen twenty nine.
30:34
So they had just had World War One.
30:36
They had just had the Spanish flu epidemic,
30:40
the nineteen eighteen
30:41
Okay.
30:42
flu pandemic that killed tons of people.
30:45
We we might be familiar with the pandemic.
30:47
and
30:48
Unfortunately.
30:49
and the idea was wow, death has been working overtime.
30:54
Taking people.
30:54
Yeah.
30:55
What would it be like if he would if he didn't do that?
30:58
~ and that's where he got his idea.
31:00
And I'm like, how cool is that?
31:02
It's ~ sad and also cool and uncanny that it sort of mirrors where we are again now.
31:09
I mean, we're at war, we're we've just had a pandemic,
31:12
we've had, you know, I mean it's it's not to the same scale,
31:16
but it's it is interesting how some things don't change.
31:20
~ and it is kind of
31:23
A thing that we wonder about, like,
31:25
why does death take people? Why is that person left too early?
31:29
That person, you know, and and so it's it's an interesting concept.
31:34
It's a it's a beautiful story,
31:36
and I really think I I know a lot of people don't know it necessarily,
31:41
and I know a lot of people think that it's death becomes her,
31:44
which it is not but it's also a fabulous show.
31:47
Different show.
31:49
But I think if they give this one a try,
31:51
I think they will find something really beautiful about learning how to live again.
31:56
Which I think is important for anybody in any stage of their life,
31:58
you know. ~ this is especi especially timely for me,
32:02
having, you know, there are some things that just like you you learn
32:05
to appreciate life a little bit better,
32:06
you know, after things happen.
32:07
There you are.
32:08
And so, ~ I also like that they're like kind of humanizing death,
32:11
that it's not like he also is having a little bit too much of all of this,
32:14
you know, and he needs a little break
32:15
He is.
32:16
from it.
32:17
He is. And one of the things is like it's it's fun to watch
32:23
him discover things because he's almost like a small child because
32:26
he doesn't know what
32:27
Yes.
32:27
certain things are. So it's it's has a lot of humor ~ in that aspect as well.
32:34
which makes it a really fun, fun,
32:37
fun journey. And side note, if we have time for side note,
32:40
I have to
32:40
For sure.
32:40
say.
32:41
When I saw this, I saw this off Broadway a hundred years ago.
32:44
It wasn't a hundred, but it was a while ago.
32:46
and Julian Ovenden,
32:50
who is a fantastic opera singer,
32:52
just beautiful, gosh, what a voice.
32:54
~ he was in the show playing death,
32:57
and he ~ was having vocal trou trouble.
33:01
and he was in and out and in and out.
33:04
And then we got there, and you know,
33:06
you always look and see at the understudy board.
33:08
Not that you don't want to see an understudy,
33:09
but you're always like, I wonder.
33:11
I wonder if somebody's on. I
33:12
Right.
33:12
wonder, you know, and when I picked up our tickets,
33:15
he was on. And I thought, this is great.
33:17
So we're watching the show, and the opening starts,
33:21
and then Death starts to sing,
33:23
and he comes out. And I'm like,
33:25
I can't hear him. Like, I this is weird.
33:28
It's a small space and I can't really I was like,
33:30
~ no, is he having vocal problems again?
33:32
And all the lights went out. And they said,
33:36
ladies and gentlemen, for the rest of the performance.
33:39
The role of death, usually played by Julian Ovenden,
33:41
will be instead played by Kevin Early.
33:43
And ~ the ushers come running down with these little stuffers,
33:48
and they're like, pass them down,
33:50
pass them down, pass them down,
33:51
pass them down. And then the lights pop back up,
33:53
and Kevin Early was there, and we just kept the show moving.
33:55
And it was one of the most magical moments in theater ~ to watch them just
34:01
shift like just so fast.
34:04
Yeah.
34:05
And Kevin Early was
34:07
As always with understudies, he was amazing.
34:11
~ and so I just he'll never watch this,
34:15
but a shout out to him because he was fantastic and helped me fall in love with
34:19
the show.
34:20
We're gonna tag him now just so he can see it.
34:21
~
34:22
Ha ha ha. ~
34:24
but that is such a cool magical experience as well,
34:26
just being like the the how fast they could change things and
34:29
how quickly Live Theater is Live Theater,
34:31
you know?
34:32
Live theater's live theater. You just never know.
34:34
I mean, a lot of you know, I I mean,
34:35
I've seen people call line on Broadway,
34:37
you know, like I sometimes it happens.
34:40
People make mistakes, ~ things happen,
34:42
people get sick. ~ so it's it's always fun when you're in the audience
34:48
for something special. Like we had a performance of Come From Away where
34:51
the turns table broke and we had to finish the show in concert.
34:55
And it was Easter Sunday, and the audience loved it.
34:58
You know, it's you get to see something that's different.
35:02
~ that is very unique. It's it's not what you planned on,
35:05
but it's but somehow it's so much more.
35:09
I was I was gonna say I actually heard about that perform like that people actually
35:12
talked about that come from way from perfor performance specifically because
35:15
it was memorable.
35:16
Yeah. It was it was I
35:18
And like you
35:18
I put it to the cast. I said, here's what we're gonna do.
35:21
These people came. ~ you know,
35:23
I how do how do we feel about going out and doing a ~ in concert?
35:28
~ they asked a bunch of questions.
35:30
I tried to answer as many as I could,
35:32
and then I shut questions down because otherwise we were just gonna have
35:35
a whole bunch of questions and not do it.
35:37
and they all like a team,
35:40
I mean I've never seen
35:42
a a a more amazing team, like everybody,
35:45
just all together, the crew, ~ the cast,
35:47
everyone. And they came out and they,
35:49
I mean, they basically performed the whole show.
35:52
It was I mean, I could see it,
35:54
even though we didn't have the turntable,
35:56
you know, it was, it was, it was very
35:57
Yeah.
35:58
impressive. And I was so proud of each and every one of them.
36:01
And the audience, you know, had a a wonderful story.
36:05
We got calls. I had a person who called to make sure that there were no complaints.
36:09
She wanted to make sure there were no complaints because it was amazing.
36:14
It's hard to get
36:14
a call like that because most people will call to complain,
36:16
but they won't call t for a good thing.
36:17
Yes.
36:20
So yeah, it yeah, it was it was fun.
36:23
it was frightening. It was ~ but it was frightening,
36:29
it was scary, it was nerve wracking,
36:31
but it was so beautiful at the same time.
36:33
It makes me think about last season,
36:35
you know, unfortunately there were some things that happened with
36:38
a Christmas Carol with the, you know,
36:39
with the heat and you guys trooped on
36:41
Yes.
36:41
and we got to be we got to be there for that and stuff like that.
36:44
And I just the whole time was just like those poor actors,
36:46
they have to be freezing up there.
36:48
We're all bundled in our jackets and stuff,
36:49
and they're up there just acting like nothing's going on.
36:52
But like you guys just continue to push through and it's still made
36:55
for an incredible performance and everybody there again just ate it up.
36:58
Well, the secret about Christmas Carol and the university having that horrible
37:03
incident that happened to them,
37:04
which, you know, they couldn't predict that they had this horrible heating
37:07
Yeah.
37:07
situation. ~ and they were trying their best they could.
37:10
And the the secret to all of it is is that the Christmas curl people
37:15
are usually sweating like crazy.
37:18
So they were comfortable this year.
37:19
Okay.
37:20
The audience was cool.
37:24
The audience was cold, but the actors were like,
37:26
Wow, I've never felt so good in these costumes because they're so heavy.
37:31
~ you know, I mean they're thick wool
37:32
Sure, that makes sense.
37:35
great coats and things like that.
37:37
So they were they were loving that part of it.
37:39
They were yeah.
37:41
They're like every season we should just turn the heat off or the Christmas carrot.
37:44
~ nope.
37:45
Well, we we found a joke that
37:47
it was kind of like sort of like a an immersive production so that when Cratchit
37:52
really wanted to warm up his hands and and couldn't feel the heat,
37:55
the audience also couldn't feel the heat.
37:58
~ so we we were trying to pretend that it was a positive always trying
38:04
to put a positive spin on things,
38:06
Sure. For sure. ~
38:06
you know? Life life's too short for the other,
38:09
so we always try
38:10
to put the positive spin on it.
38:12
~ in and in that vein, you we did talk a little bit about Rolling Thunder,
38:16
but this is I'm so excited for this one.
38:17
This is one I'm actually gonna make sure that my mom goes.
38:20
I love
38:20
Yeah.
38:20
my mom
38:21
loves theater, but she doesn't always go out to shows,
38:23
you know. ~
38:24
Yeah.
38:24
but I'm just like, this is one where the music just seems like it's gonna
38:28
be incredible. It's it's it's correct me wrong,
38:30
it's kinda jukeboxy a little bit,
38:31
right?
38:31
It's
38:31
kind of jukeboxy. It's it it it it takes the music from from the
38:36
era of of Vietnam and it put all like magic carpet ride and ~ gosh
38:43
a hard rain's gonna fall and ~ got there's war,
38:46
what is it good for? I mean there's all these wonderful songs.
38:49
And what I love about this show,
38:51
again, w is the universality of it.
38:55
For instance, it was put together by some wonderful people ~ in Australia.
39:01
And it is amazing to me.
39:03
Wow.
39:04
It's amazing to me. And it has played there for a long time in Australia.
39:08
And then last summer it came here to New York.
39:10
And the thing that amazes me is how similar
39:16
the entry into Vietnam is for Australia as it is to the United States.
39:21
And the things that happened in Australia and the backlash and the all
39:26
of that stuff is very similar to what happened here.
39:28
They didn't really have to.
39:30
Update or change much of it ~ to tell our story.
39:35
Because ~
39:36
wow.
39:37
stories of young men going off to a war that some people don't feel they should
39:42
be going to is universal, right?
39:45
~ And what it does is it takes that music that is comfortable and
39:50
it makes people comfortable. We all know it.
39:51
~ And it takes letters, you know,
39:55
people writing letters to home,
39:56
and it takes ~ it shows.
39:58
People who were drafted, it shows people who signed up for the war.
40:03
It shows people whose parents won't talk to them because they're fighting over
40:08
there. It it it takes ~ the protests that were happening over here
40:08
fighting over there in ~ it it makes ~ text that we're
40:14
~
40:14
and it talks about all of those aspects in a comfortable way.
40:22
happening over here and it talked about all the those incorporators.
40:24
Okay. Well first off, Travis am I gonna cry.
40:26
That feels like this is gonna be a show that I'm gonna ball my eyes out.
40:29
Is that what we're anticipating here?
40:32
Will say
40:32
that if you have a heart, you will probably
40:36
Okay.
40:38
shed a tear. I will tell you when I saw it,
40:40
I was so moved by the amount of veterans that were in the audience.
40:44
And they were all crying, they were all cheering.
40:47
And sometimes we forget about our Vietnam veterans because they didn't come home
40:53
to a hero's welcome. And
40:56
Correct
40:57
and I've talked to several.
40:59
after we announced this show, who are so pleased that we're doing it.
41:02
~ and they've handed me their their Vietnam pins ~ and some of their
41:08
~ things that they've been given ~ from the United States government.
41:11
~ and it's very special to me that they are trusting us to tell part of their story.
41:18
~ it's a very
41:19
For sure.
41:20
it's a very moving thing because they're like they will tell me stories about when
41:26
they came home and people threw dog feces at them.
41:29
And you know, things things like this.
41:31
And it's just I can't imagine treating anyone like that.
41:36
But let but let
41:37
Sure, yes.
41:39
alone someone who went who went to fight.
41:41
~ I was not alive, you know, for for Vietnam.
41:45
So I wasn't I wasn't there with all the political turmoil and all of that stuff.
41:49
~ but I've certainly researched and I've certainly you know seen enough
41:53
documentaries on it and things like that ~ to know that.
41:58
that was a very grueling experience for anyone who was signed up or drafted,
42:02
you know, like and and for what it felt like for the families at home.
42:07
And maybe not seeing your loved ones again.
42:10
And it was just it was a so for us,
42:14
besides that this is something that was going on sixty years ago,
42:17
it felt like a a real tribute to these wonderful people.
42:21
And we should we should we should always ~ do a tribute
42:27
and tell people that we appreciate them before we lose them.
42:29
You know, I got to talk with some individuals who did a production of hair
42:34
~ at the Ringwald last year. ~
42:36
Yeah.
42:36
and they were talking about the ~ h like talking with each other and like some
42:41
of these individuals being like,
42:42
My dad came home and he was never the same,
42:44
but you never talked about it and you never all these things of
42:46
how it impacted everybody and what they went through as a family and like what
42:50
it w you went through as a country and like it brought so many people together
42:54
for that one. So I can only imagine what this is gonna do for
42:56
Like you said, that you have the generational thing going on here
42:59
at ~ Meadow Brook Theater that this is going to maybe be very healing for
43:02
a lot of families or a lot of people.
43:04
I hope so. I hope it's cathartic.
43:06
I hope it's ~ I hope it's a a a beautiful story that people can
43:12
I they don't people don't need to change their minds.
43:14
It's history, there are facts,
43:16
right? But I I I just hope
43:17
Right.
43:18
that it helps people see it in a way that shows them that we can talk about
43:23
it without being angry at everyone.
43:25
~ you know, that everybody has a point of
43:27
Correct.
43:28
view and we should be able to talk and discuss things that happen in our world.
43:34
~ and and learn from others you know what i mean like it's just it's just about
43:40
showing a little bit of compassion ~ and yeah and side note here's another side
43:47
note the rendering we have a a gentleman who does all of our renderings every year
43:53
his name is chet johnson he's the renderings for the show are always beautiful
43:57
he signed up for Vietnam and the picture of him
44:03
The rendering, the guy that's sitting there on the beach,
44:05
is him. He drew himself.
44:08
Gosh, that's awesome.
44:11
So that's a little Easter egg.
44:13
~ that's him sitting on the beach in Vietnam.
44:17
A level of authenticity that you don't you wouldn't see anywhere else.
44:20
Yeah, you know, and I just yeah,
44:23
it's it's going to be a beautiful show and I'm very,
44:26
very I'm looking forward to it greatly.
44:28
The folks from Australia are who wrote it are gonna come in and see the show.
44:32
So
44:32
~ awesome.
44:34
so you know, no pressure.
44:37
You got this.
44:40
But we're very excited and and we're I'm so thrilled ~ that they can
44:44
be here because it like I said,
44:45
it's a very human story.
44:46
For sure. And then after what could be t potentially a very cathartic,
44:50
maybe even a little heavy story,
44:51
you're closing out with a with a comedy,
44:53
a classic comedy, to make sure that people are laughing to remember with
44:56
all the the positives.
44:58
They're they're
44:59
laughing, it's zany, grandpa doesn't pay taxes.
45:03
I mean, it's like
45:04
Yeah.
45:04
Thanksgiving at all of our houses,
45:06
you know?
45:08
Absolutely.
45:09
~ what what made you kind of be like,
45:11
this is the show that we're gonna close the season out with?
45:14
You can and sorry, the show is you can't take it with you.
45:16
And I didn't mention that earlier,
45:16
The show is you can't take it with you.
45:17
listener, sorry.
45:18
Yeah. A classic
45:20
~ Kaufman and Hart show. ~ and you know what?
45:23
This one is a huge favorite. I actually have done the show before.
45:26
~ when I was in college, I played Paul Sycamore.
45:30
So I was really bad in the role,
45:34
but I was in the show ~ here at Oakland University.
45:37
And ~ so I was you know, I'm familiar with it.
45:41
but this is a show that actually our ~ managing director,
45:44
Cheryl Marshall, loves. She cannot get enough of this show.
45:47
~ and we were talking about it when we were doing the play reading committee
45:53
and all of these things. And I said,
45:54
you should put that up. You should,
45:55
you should. I encouraged her ~ to put that up because it's
46:00
a wonderful ~ cap to the season.
46:03
~ it it's again reminds us. I mean,
46:06
most of these things.
46:08
Really, when you think about them,
46:09
they're all really about the human condition this year.
46:11
~ and this
46:12
Yes.
46:14
one this one being so zany, it just reminds us that it's okay to let loose.
46:19
It's okay to have differences,
46:21
it's okay to I mean, they've they they've got a son-in-law who plays
46:24
the xylophone while the while the daughter thinks that she can ~ do ~ ballet
46:30
on toe on point, while the mom
46:32
Yeah.
46:32
is writing a play and grandpa's playing with snakes and the dad is
46:36
building fireworks in the basement and the like just so many things going
46:42
on and so many different perspectives and personalities.
46:48
And isn't that what our everyday life is about?
46:53
Is understanding those
46:54
And I feel like
46:55
personalities and figuring out how we blend
46:57
Yes.
46:58
with them?
46:59
I was gonna say this is you can't have a season at Meadow Brook Theater without
47:03
having one show that is just about personalities and zany and just makes
47:08
you laugh your butt off from start to finish.
47:10
You gotta have one.
47:10
Well we hope we
47:12
hope that it's this one.
47:14
And then of course with every show ~ listeners,
47:16
I do want to say that you get to also have a bit of a stand-up comedic
47:20
at the beginning. ~ Travis
47:21
jeez.
47:22
gets up there and gives us jokes and gets the show going,
47:25
so you don't want to miss those as well,
47:27
because those are ~ those are peak Meadow Brook theater experiences.
47:30
They are
47:32
it's an experience and I apologize to all of you for it.
47:33
So I apologize of you for
47:35
But it
47:36
you know, my feeling is always it's pretty easy to get everyone
47:40
to laugh together because laughing is something that's like socially accepted.
47:44
Like we it's it's o like we should do it together,
47:48
right? But if I can get everyone to groan before a show,
47:52
Yeah.
47:52
if everyone can groan as
47:54
a collective.
47:55
Then we've come out of our comfort zone just a little bit and we're ready
47:59
to be good audience members. You know what I mean?
48:01
Like, and and I so I take some pride.
48:05
~ and when they actually laugh at my jokes,
48:08
I actually am kind of sad because I'm like,
48:11
that should have been a good groaner.
48:12
~ I have
48:13
Ha ha ha.
48:14
to rethink what I'm doing.
48:17
Do you want me to just start groaning really loudly then now from now on?
48:22
I will you can I but I will point you out,
48:25
just so you know. I will point you
48:26
~ no, never mind. Never mind.
48:29
out.
48:30
But with such an incredible season,
48:31
Travis, where do you f how do people find out about getting tickets,
48:34
w season tickets? Like, where is the best way to find these informations
48:37
or make them a purchase to get those tickets?
48:39
I I love to tell people that the easiest way to get season tickets,
48:43
you can either do it on our website,
48:45
which is mbtheater.com, and it's theater,
48:48
as that one says, the French way,
48:50
T-H-E-A-T-R-E dot com. and you can go right on there,
48:56
like you can do it that way without having to really talk to anyone
49:00
if that's if you're a little socially awkward.
49:02
~ and that's okay. It's okay to be socially awkward.
49:05
I also am. I
49:07
For sure.
49:07
If
49:08
you want to talk to a person and get that live experience,
49:11
you can call our box office, which is 248-377-3300.
49:16
And ~ for individual tickets,
49:19
individual tickets go on sale August 24th.
49:22
~ and
49:23
Okay.
49:23
those can be done online at Ticketmaster.
49:28
~ what we do ask, and this is good for all of your podcast listeners.
49:34
If you are going to purchase your tickets online,
49:37
please only go through Ticketmaster.
49:40
Everyone else is unscrupulous.
49:44
So please,
49:45
True.
49:46
and when and and so some people they always seem to find our phone number after
49:52
they've been taken for like $400 tickets to Christmas Carol.
49:55
And I was like, why didn't you call the box office?
49:58
Why didn't you go to Ticketmaster?
49:59
But what what people don't realize is that
50:03
There are people who are ticket brokers who pay Google to put their ads above
50:08
you in the Google search. So if you see sponsored,
50:11
it's not us. ~
50:13
Sure.
50:14
and then because everything nowadays is service based,
50:18
they're not doing anything wrong.
50:20
They're just using Ticketmaster for you.
50:22
~ just like somebody goes shopping for you.
50:26
you can call and have that done.
50:28
So it's a it's a service. So if you if you don't want to pay for a service,
50:32
make sure you go to ticketmaster.com.
50:34
~
50:36
And just so listeners know too,
50:37
of all the all these incredible shows,
50:40
the Christmas Carol is not part of the season package if they buy the season,
50:43
correct?
50:44
Correct. Yeah.
50:45
Okay. So if you
50:46
want Christmas Carol, make sure to get those tickets 'cause those
50:48
go by very quickly. You wanna lock those down as quick as possible.
50:50
Yes, yes.
50:52
It it used to be part of the season ticket package,
50:55
but then we broke it off ~ as a separate as a separate thing.
50:59
So people could choose if they wanted to make sure that it's their family
51:02
~ you know, th ~ tradition that they do,
51:05
or they could or they can skip it.
51:07
You know, they can feel they skip it.
51:08
Some subscribers come every year and some,
51:11
you know, they come every other year,
51:12
or they come every third year just to see how it's changed.
51:16
They're kind of like you, Brian.
51:17
They to see what the little difference is.
51:20
But yeah, so it's not a season ticket.
51:21
I mean but they they should show up every time.
51:22
But they should. But ~
51:26
if you are a seasoned ticket holder,
51:28
you do get twenty percent off Christmas Carol tickets.
51:31
Which that's good to know. Yeah,
51:33
so that if you wanna go, you want the full season experience,
51:36
you can get those tickets just a little bit cheaper at a discounted rate and then,
51:40
you know, enjoy it with your family.
51:41
Bring everybody.
51:42
bring everybody and if you are a season ticket holder you get
51:46
20% off additional tickets to every chef so if you were you know if if
51:50
~ that's incredible.
51:51
there's if there's two of you coming but all of a sudden you found a third
51:54
you get their ticket at a 20% discount which is which is awesome you know it's
51:59
a it's a it's a nice way to share live theater with your friends.
52:03
And truly, this is a great night out.
52:05
This is a great way to just there's some great restaurants around there.
52:08
There's a great experience. ~ Meadowbrook has always been such a great theater
52:12
to come to. And again, come for Travis's stand up.
52:15
It's one of the best parts. I always get such a big laugh out of it.
52:18
I always look forward to whatever jokes we're gonna be getting that day.
52:21
So you do not wanna miss those.
52:23
I promise you.
52:25
Well, I appreciate it. I I will tell you,
52:27
I have had people in the past come up to me and they're like,
52:30
I've told that joke 17 times. And I was like,
52:32
Ha he.
52:32
please don't
52:33
tell, please don't tell these jokes.
52:34
They're not good. Please don't tell them.
52:35
~
52:38
Well, thank you so much for being here,
52:40
Travis. We are so excited for this season to arrive and it's been such
52:43
a pleasure talking to you about talking with you about what's coming.
52:46
Absolutely. Thank you, Brian. I really appreciate this opportunity and
52:49
I I look forward to seeing you at the theater.
52:51
So as Travis said, for more information about this season and also
52:54
to where to purchase tickets, visit mbtheatre.com spelled the British Way,
52:58
~ T H E A
52:59
There you go.
53:00
T R E dot com. ~ or visit Ticketmaster when they go live
53:05
Thank you again, everybody, for joining us here in our box seats,
53:07
and we hope to see you at Meadow Brook Theater this season.