Latest / Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast / Coming to AREA15: Edgar Allen Poe Speakeasy | 352

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Coming to AREA15: Edgar Allen Poe Speakeasy | 352 · Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: People leave the show.
0:01
SPEAKER_01: What are they what are they feeling?
0:02
SPEAKER_01: What are they saying?
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Everybody uh quoted Nightmare Before Christmas at me and told me I was Jack Skelington.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite things about this podcast is we get to showcase some of the more creative and unique things happening around Vegas.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: And this episode is going to be no different.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: More than 175 years after his death, we're still talking about Edgar Allan Poe and the stories he left behind.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: And now those stories are being brought to life in a new immersive experience here at Area 15 called A Night of Poe.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: And we're lucky enough to have one of the actors from the show here with us today, Jacob Cruthers.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me more about what a night of poe is is basically like?
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it will be not completely dissimilar to at least the structure of the serial killer speakeasy.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Um all of our uh various uh shows that we have at Midnight Creative fall under the same category.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Four drinks in a show.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: That's the basic idea.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Um so a night of poe uh helps the guests completely immerse themselves into eight different pieces uh by Edgar Allan Poe uh through song, uh all of which has been co composed by the legendary composer Danny Elfman of uh Nightmare Before Christmas.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's really cool.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: I get to be in my Jack Skellington era.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh awesome.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: I love that for you.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's very much like having different various characters um from uh Nightmare Before Christmas tell you the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Um we have uh four drinks that are each uh themed after a different short story or poem written by the man himself.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Why did you base this or create this show around Edgar Allan Poe and why not any other writer in history?
1:57
SPEAKER_00: He's having uh a moment, I think, culturally, ever ever since the Netflix show.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Um my gosh, what was that called?
2:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm breaking on it.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Julie will look it up real quick.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: But yes, yeah.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, we first started doing it maybe a month or so after that came out on Netflix, and it just blew up with the first uh iteration of the show, the Edgar Allen Poe speakeasy.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Um and that was about two and a half years ago now.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Um and it's just continued through chapter two, where we basically did the same thing, just different drinks, and now we're the A Night of Poe is essentially chapter three of the Edgar Allen Poe speakeasy with uh with song.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Something that we've been trying to incorporate uh in as a company like the entire time.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm a musician, um, the head writer, uh creative director for the company.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: She's also a musician.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: She's uh in a band um uh The Pretty Wild?
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Okay, oh yeah.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh the really cool.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Um so she screams and plays guitar.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Um so she's also the writer for this show.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Julie had you you found the answer?
3:09
unknown: I did.
3:09
unknown: The fall of the house of Usher.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there it is.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: How could I forget?
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Do you uh so how did Danny Elfman get attached to this as well?
3:18
SPEAKER_00: So from what I understand, he or not he, but one of his people reached out to our people.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh it's it's uh it's one of those things where as soon as they told me that this was happening, I just heard I just yes! Yes, you know, like it's it's a perfect marriage.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: It's um very a la Tim Burton, you know, uh everything with Edgar Allan Poe is obviously very Tim Burton is very much inspired uh by Edgar Allan Poe and his whole his whole world and the vibe that they generally go for.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: So it's uh it's wonderful.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: And it it's it's uh such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of it.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: A night of poe, it's a it's a traveling show, right?
3:59
SPEAKER_01: You go from city to city.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: We're uh prime we are based out of our my team is based out of here in Las Vegas, but uh we go I've been all over the country, uh, I've gone to England uh last year, uh like Alaska.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: From I've been f from New York to LA and a lot of places in between.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: Um so it's how many so and and do you play Poe or who who were you in the show?
4:23
SPEAKER_00: So in this show, I am um I'm not Poe.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: We do have a character who is Edgar Allan Poe, which is a little different from our uh previous iterations of the show.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: Anybody who's come to see them before, uh it's this is gonna feel even more immersive, I think.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Yes um than the last two.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh as the where we've had a narrator character come out before each piece and speak about a little bit about Edgar Allan Poe's life.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh but from the perspective of Edgar Allan Poe in the year 1809 or or whatever, the character who is the glue for the audience is Edgar Allan Poe.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Um saying my wife has passed away, and that's he's goes into the raven and whatnot.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: I um am just uh I do two pieces, uh two songs.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, The Telltale Heart and the Mask of the Red Death, which is the big finale.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Very excited.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, to we have a whole costume um that I've been working on, and it's it's pretty sick.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be great.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be so fun.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: It's a huge big finale where everybody dies.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: That's the best.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: That's the best uh the best story when everybody dies at the end.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: For the somebody who's you know very you know interested in seeing what the show's about and doesn't know much about it just yet, what can they expect when they initially walk in there?
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, uh Ambiance is one of our uh is key um to doing a production like this.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: And when they as soon as you step into the the space, this uh at Area 15, you're definitely going to immerse yourself in uh in some uh epic pieces of Gothic literature.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: I do think we've uh captured the spirit.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: There'll there'll be a lot of different pieces that hearken to any anyone who does know about Ed Growl and Poe is gonna notice the little things, but um anyone who doesn't will uh I'm sure notice things that they've seen elsewhere uh that are hearkening to these pieces of Poe.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's why they are in other pieces of literature, media, film, what have you.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Because as as you said before, there is not a piece of media that he hasn't influenced.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Um Sir Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, uh I do believe actually said he is the well from which all creativity sprung.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh he wrote the first detective story, he's the first American author that ever like made a living as a writer.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Um he's influenced literally everybody.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Um that's incredible.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: So I I I do think we do we do our best.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: And I do think uh more often than not, we do a pretty pretty darn good job of doing uh justice.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: The fact that it's at Area 15 too is is awesome.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh have you been there before everything?
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Several times.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've been to that uh uh that grocery store that's not a grocery store.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: Omega Omega Martin, yeah, Meow Wolf.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: Such a fun time.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: I've been there twice, and I still feel like I haven't done everything yet.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Every time I'm like, I'm tired, but I know there's more going on.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: The first time I walked into Omega Martin again without any spoilers, you go in there and I just thought, oh, it's a cool store.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: But then there's so much more, and I was just blown away by how awesome it is.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that you're doing this show at Area 15 is I'm sure it's gonna be phenomenal.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, how did you land this show?
7:48
SPEAKER_00: How did you get involved with this?
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Friend of a friend.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a very long story.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: But uh originally when I came into the company, they were doing um this show called The Haunted Tavern, okay.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, which is another immersive experience, four drinks in a show, same general idea.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: But uh you had four different performers, and each one would go up and tell a different ghost story, essentially.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: And then we had drinks.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was uh much more campy, a little different than what we're doing.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: Um the uh one of the gentlemen who's no longer touring anymore.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Now he's he's kind of retired from the road.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: It's just you know, it gets on you, gets to you after a while.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: He's getting up there.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: So um he had a falling out with the team, so he wanted to make help build a new team that was based out of the West Coast, uh, because at that time the company is and still is mostly uh based out of Florida.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay, at least the HQ is.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Um and I was a part of that.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's been a long, interesting, winding road, but uh eventually we uh got brought over to do the Edgar Allen Poe speakeasy, and it's just been it's never boring, yeah, to say the least.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: Never a dull moment.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Never a dull moment at all.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Every every weekend is just a different puzzle, um, because every every different venue, uh size of of the house or what have you poses uh poses different um difficulties that you know we make it work.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: As you do, as you should.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: How long have you been acting for?
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, um I first acted in like high school and then I did uh some regional theater work immediately after.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Um realized I didn't really pay very well.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: So then I started working um at a men's warehouse, and then I started doing like bar gigs, like doing covers and stuff, and I was making just about as much money, and then the pandemic happened.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: I uh I right before the pandemic, I came here to Vegas to visit.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: And uh because I'm not really like from here, from here.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: I've lived here for like six years, but and uh you're still a Vegas local in my book.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think after you've done like two or three summers, yeah, right.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: If that didn't scare you off just yet, then you're a Vegas local.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: There's air conditioning, exactly.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Right, like it's fine.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Stay indoors.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm wearing a sweater right now.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Sweater and shorts, I I dig it.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Um sorry.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I guess three three years, uh three years ago when I started working for the company, but in all since high school, which was a very long time ago.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: But there was like a break, pretty substantial break in between those two times.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it's it's uh it's always something that I've uh enjoyed doing.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Um ever since I watched, I think, yeah, The Phantom of the Opera.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing that made me want to get involved in uh theater.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: And uh and yeah, now I get to that and like Sweeney Todd, and now I get to be Sweeney Todd every week.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Kind of.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Sweeney Todd's so good.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: That's such a great film.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: That's so so good.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Um when you're getting into the role and the uh with a show that that involves just I I I I don't want to say darkness, but I guess it there is some there's darkness to it, to the the the theme.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: Is it hard to get in that mindset of all right now I'm not I can't be jovial and up eaten, you know, off the walls.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: I have to kind of just be, you know, focused or zoned in.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh with our show, because we are also um servers and bartenders, I don't really have any time or hardly any time in between me being happy go lucky, hey, let's all have a good time.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: And now I'm murdering somebody.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, like it's it's an immediate switch.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Um and I think maybe that is actually what kind of helps is that I don't have time to think about it or overanalyze.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Like I go from one mode into another.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I think that actually kind of helps the performance.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: That that is very unique too, because we we we noticed that with the serial killer speak easy, where the actors were also the servers.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: And you mentioned the drinks a few times.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: I want to elaborate more on that for the people that you know aren't familiar with with how the drinks are incorporated.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: But the the the actors who play the characters that you eventually watch, they're walking around, they're serving your drinks, and they're like you said, it's an immersive experience.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: So they're walking up and down the aisle right next to you or something like that.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: There was um who was the the the act Dahmer?
12:22
SPEAKER_01: Dahmer, even when we were waiting in line, we went to Sierra Killer Speakeasy, he was just staring at me and it creeped me out the entire time until we got to our seats.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: It was great, it was very immersive.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'm assuming it's it's similar aspect of that.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I mean Jeffrey Dahmer won't be staring at you, but we'll be uh very much in gothic attire.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's not as usually not as spooky, I guess, or scary when we do the drink service.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of when we try to have a moment of levity because the pieces themselves are so dark to for our own sanity as well as for everyone else's.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I you know, I'm a little more outgoing and just kind of you know, we're here to have a good time, yeah, right?
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh when we're doing the drink service.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: But I am like in what I lovingly refer to as slutty shirt, uh, which is like it looks like uh the pirate shirt from Seinfeld, but it's like got a really deep V.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to be a pirate.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Um where can you elaborate a little bit more on how the drinks are incorporated with the stuff?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: So um uh when you're when our guests arrive, they can expect to enter into whatever the venue is.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh we usually have some ambiance music and and the set, uh it's spooky lighting, and then the usually five minutes before the hour, uh we'll come out with the first drink and it's handed right to you in your seat.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then ideally, if everything goes perfectly, five minutes after the hour to give people a few minutes, uh just if they're running a little late to be able to get to their seat.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: They have their drink.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh we start the show.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: And there'll be uh the Poe will come out, we'll have a couple pieces, and then after the second song, we'll come out with another drink, and so on and so forth throughout the experience.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it it really is a uh such a fun date night experience, too.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Like we again, not to bring up serial killer speakeasy again, but when we when we went to it, it was just a great time out with you know, we had my coworker, I had my girlfriend, it was great, it was a fantastic time.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Um when you're going when you're performing or or doing a show about Edgar Allan Poe, so many people just know him as the you know the spooky writer.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: Is there more to him that we should know that we don't think of when we think of Edgar Allan Poe?
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I mean, I mean, of course, he's known uh for pieces like The Raven and uh The Fall of the House of Usher, Pit the Pendulum, but he also has uh heart-wrenchingly beautiful poems uh like Annabelle Lee, um where the Raven is about death and loss.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Annabelle Lee is really about love.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: But I mean it's it's dark in a sense, but it's I don't know, it makes me cry every time.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh every time I see it, it makes me think of my wife.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: So uh it it's a he he has many many different um sides to him.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: And he also wrote uh Murders in the Rumorg, which is a detective story.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: So the first detective story.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: We don't it's not something that we do.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh but he had he had a lot of yeah, he's not just dark, he's not just a dark and stormy night.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: It always blows my mind when people who are the first to do it and are influenced by others in the in the future, what goes through their mind when they create something like this?
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Or even just creating like that first detective story?
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Like that just I can't fathom just coming up with something out of nowhere or being influenced by something that isn't relevant really, but it turns into something like this and it's carries on for the rest of eternity, which is is is crazy to think about.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why we're still sitting here like 200 years later talking about Edgar Allan Poe, I guess, because that uh it's not uh it's not a normal thing for a person to be able to do that.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: But I am excited to hear this music.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: This the the the score by Danny Elfman.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: I I love his work, he's one of the most talented musicians.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh was that his titled musician or composer.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Composer, yeah.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Musician too, because you know he does singing and he plays as well.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: When you're performing and you have his scores going on in the background, are you hearing that or does it you just turn your brain off and you're kind of zoning out and you're focused on what you're doing?
16:34
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of both.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like I um enter ideally enter the a flow state where it's just like it's all one.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: Like I am the music, and the music is like a kind of like a part of my performance, my piece, my art.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it's it's it's I get both.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, is the real answer.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: It really I mean, I totally get the flow state.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: I completely agree with you, but I I love I think I for me, if I were in your shoes, I would just get so pumped up, so amped up hearing this going on in the background as I'm as the audience is staring at me, like, oh my god, I would yeah, that'd be tough to do.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: So I don't I guess I don't pay attention to the audience like hardly at all.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: Really the most part, actually.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Like I kind of like zone, I I I block it out, and then I'm just doing my thing.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: How many seats usually are in one of these uh performances?
17:28
SPEAKER_00: It depends on the on the uh on the venue.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Um uh Las Vegas will be 200.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh usually we're anywhere from 150 to 200, generally speaking.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Does it does the audience get involved at all, or do they kind of just is it just a show that they just sit and watch and enjoy?
17:44
SPEAKER_00: More of a show where you get to where you get to immerse yourself in, but we will I I mess with people.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: So like, you know, so like when sometimes during this the the piece, more often during the drink service.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: Has there ever been uh a situation on stage that maybe it didn't go as planned, but the audience didn't know about it, but you were able to kind of play it off as is?
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Nothing yet.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's something that did come to mind, uh, but I think the audience definitely knew that something went wrong.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, so the first year that we did Poe, we were in uh we're in Phoenix, right?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Um at the Arts Center, I believe is what the name of the theater was, doesn't matter.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: So uh for the liquor license in that venue, they have to have somebody who uh works for the venue there.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: So sh uh we were there from Tuesday to Sunday.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: So this lady had been here from Tuesday to Saturday, and on Sunday she wanted to come see the show.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: They had somebody else sit in, and she came with her sister, um, and we're like, okay, whatever.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: What we were unaware of is that her sister is a schizophrenic who was off of her meds.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: So um one of the performers is on stage doing the black cat, and evidently she thought he was talking directly to her.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Evidently, that's what her sister said.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: So what happened was in the middle of the piece, this lady in the front row jumps up and starts rambling incoherently, but there's one word in particular that I did understand that she said it was the n-word.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: And then she like she like ran to this the middle of the uh middle of the house or whatever, and then the n-word again.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And then right before she leaves, I heard her say, and you can't fuck with me because I'm the king of the X games.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: And then she dipped.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: What an exit.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And uh so poor Pat.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's the name of the guy that was on stage.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh he uh he kind of started to go back into the piece and then he stopped for a second and he said, Sometimes you have to dismiss the jurors.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And everybody just kind of like everybody just laughed and we uh you know broke the tension, and then he went back into the piece.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Brilliant.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was pretty great.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Brilliant.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: That was a great great story.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Do um do audiences react differently?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Like you mentioned you're overseas, um, you performed in Alaska and everything like that.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Are audiences different based on where you are, or are they all pretty much relatively the same in different things?
20:20
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're definitely very different.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Kind of depends on what part of the country you're in.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: Um uh and then like certain jokes when I was overseas that didn't land at all.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I always say at the end of each show, I thank them.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: I always thank the audience for coming because we're a bunch of theater nerds and we wouldn't be able to be here without you.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: In England, nobody had any idea what I was saying when I said theater nerds.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: That's just not like a term or a phrase over there.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: So it pretty much always almost always gets a laugh or like a it's from somebody when I say that, but nothing.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's just the English being the English.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh yeah, and then like certain areas are more rambunctious, I guess, uh for lack of a better term.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Vegas is usually pretty chill.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh if I go really deep NorCal, um Southern California too, some people just uh don't understand that they're in a room with 200 other people who are all trying to watch a show.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: And they just like you know.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it just it just depends.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: That's so funny.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: When you're when you're done with the show, and like you said, like it kind of forces you to get in the mindset early on when when you when you're serving the drinks and stuff like that.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: But when you're done with the show, take me through like the first half hour of being done with the show.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Are you able to do you have to like be in a quiet room and unwind, or are you able to just to go get changed and you're good to go?
21:52
SPEAKER_00: So, well, we do do shows back to back.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: So, like I'm just after if the first two shows I'm just prepping.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: For the next one.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: After the third one, I guess, yeah, I change immediately.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because I just I don't know.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a weird, it helped it does help me relax, I guess.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: I I don't feel like I'm fully relaxed until I'm in my normal people clothes again.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's bad.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: It's also a little more comfortable.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh then um yeah, I'll go uh watch something on Netflix or play my switch and just zonk out.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Mocktails are huge these days.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's into drinking as much, but obviously with your with your drinks that you serve, they are cocktails.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Do you offer mocktail options at all?
22:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh yes, we have mocktail versions of every single one of our drinks.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: It's actually kind of interesting.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, the longer I've been doing this, the more uh mocktails we have to make.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Really?
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Like when I first started, we'd make two at the beginning of the show, just in case.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh last weekend there was a show where we made 45 for every drink out of like 100 people where we were at.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's just becoming uh people are not drinking as much.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Just in general.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Let's get back to Area 15.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: So, what changes for you when you get into a production space like Area 15?
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Have you performed at Area 15 yet?
23:18
SPEAKER_00: No, it's the first time.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so you're you haven't even performed there.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Very excited.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Do you know which location or which spot it is within Area 15?
23:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't, but my phone does.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's let's find out.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: Let's see what happens.
23:27
unknown: I think it's Odyssey.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: Odyssey?
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Odyssey Manor?
23:30
unknown: I think so.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's gonna be good.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen Odyssey Manor?
23:34
SPEAKER_01: I've seen the pictures, so phenomenal.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's an incredible space.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're just gonna make it spooky, a spooky version of whatever you've seen if you've been there before.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Odyssey Manor is is such a great spot.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: The the show itself, again, another immersive experience.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: Area 15 is all about immersion.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, but the Odyssey Manor is a great show.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that you're gonna be in that location, chef's kiss.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for you.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna be sharing bathrooms.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: That's what I understand.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Because I have some friends that work in the show.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: They're like, I think I know where that's gonna be.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, people are probably gonna have to walk through Odyssey to go to the bathroom.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: That's so funny.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I never thought about that.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: When you're in the audience, you you say you meant you mentioned you play around with the audience a bit.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: Do you pull anybody on stage or is that just they're sitting in the room?
24:17
SPEAKER_00: No, but I do have some bits.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't want to ruin anything, but like I have little things that I'll say or to different people or do to different people kind of just depends on I mean it depends on vibes too, because like so if it's just like some old guy who's like at the end of the row, I'm not gonna mess with him because like he's not gonna he's not gonna be okay with anything, right?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: But like it's I don't know, it just depends.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: Let's say Edgar Allan Poe is alive today.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: He's he's here in Vegas.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Where are you taking him?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: What do you think would would would interest Edgar Allan Poe in modern day Vegas?
24:46
SPEAKER_00: The library.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: The library or Barnes and Noble?
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Barnes and Noble would probably blow his frickin' mind.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Because they have a whole table that's just him.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, I don't know if you ever watched Doctor Who, but they have this episode where uh Van Gogh and cries.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: And I I'd I can only imagine that it would be a similar experience.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Because there's every I mean, and then they sell t-shirts and stuff with his face on it.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, yeah, one of those two places I think would probably I mean he he probably really oh, or the sphere.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, he he was a you know uh artiste himself, so like seeing the culmination of so many different things, which I think the sphere really does uh and is, um, which is blows mind for so many reasons.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Could you play a a show at the sphere, you think?
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh yeah, we definitely did the show.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I don't know how um they they're crazy expensive.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: They're only dealing with like Metallica or whatever, right?
25:43
SPEAKER_00: So the eagles over and over.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: But it would be it would be um incredible to do something like the uh fall of the house of Usher or uh the mask of the red death just because of all the different images, and yeah, oh that'd be amazing.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: If you were to see the show, which piece do you think he would probably be most drawn to or feel have the most uh feeling for?
26:04
SPEAKER_01: It's tough.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Um Annabelle Lee is such a beautiful song.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: And the yeah, Annabelle Lee and also um The Mask of the Red Death.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Danny went hard on those two songs.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: They're my favorite ones.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And the Telltale Heart's also really good too, but it's um yeah, I think I think those two uh in particular really capture the uh the spirit of the piece and like being able to hear something that you you know he thought of in his head, like have this beautiful score behind it.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: I I can uh I think he would probably be taken aback.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited for this.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: How many other shows have you done uh for this performance?
26:49
SPEAKER_01: Like this this uh Night of Poe?
26:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh I've done it two two weekends worth.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think like twelve times, I think in total, between the two weekends.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Love that.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great show.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: When the 12 or so times you've done it, when people leave the show, what are they what are they feeling?
27:06
SPEAKER_01: What are they saying?
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Everybody uh quoted Nightmare Before Christmas at me and told me I was Jack Skellington.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: You weren't kidding about the Jack Skeleton.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm not kidding.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Like literally, like that, yeah, especially um the Mask of the Red Death in particular.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it just sounds very much like something uh he would sing.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it was uh it was a lot of the lady uh a couple people cried.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Um they were just so moved by the different pieces.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh everybody had a great time.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh so how many shows are gonna be here in Vegas?
27:40
SPEAKER_00: The first, second, and third, and the ninth and tenth.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Apologies, it was looking at the wrong weekend.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, so the Thursday, Friday, it'll be six, eight, and ten on Thursday, six, eight, and ten on Friday, and then twelve, two, four, six, eight, and ten on Saturday.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: And then uh Friday, there's a six, eight, and a ten o'clock, and then that's Saturday.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: It's the same twelve, two, four, six, eight, ten.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Which one is are you and your team doing?
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh because I I want to make sure I see you and sure.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll be the first weekend.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: So the first, uh, second and third.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I do have P there's gonna be some repeats uh the second weekend, but um I had some family things happen.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: I have to go back home for uh the second weekend.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you see this old man sitting on the end of the rail, feel free to pick on me.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: That's 100%.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm already ready.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Ideas flowing in your mind.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, it's gonna be great.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, well, Jacob, man, this was so much fun.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for coming on and sharing the story.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: We're excited to check out uh the the show.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: We're excited to check out Area 15.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: We're excited to see your performance.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fantastic.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: Julie, any questions before we get out of here?
28:45
SPEAKER_01: Julie's ready to go.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: We're ready to go.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to hear I want to hear a performance after we after we stop filming.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm excited for.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get in the zone.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Catch up new episodes each week on heybighead.com.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: We'll see you at a night of po.