Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Drew Minard of 'Gotta Dance!'

Transcript

Exclusive Interview: Drew Minard of 'Gotta Dance!' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Gotta Dance is bringing the best of dance from Broadway and Hollywood to NYC.
• 0:03
  And today we're talking with Drew Minard from the production.
• 0:05
  Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:06
  How are you doing today?
• 0:08
  I'm good, I'm good.
• 0:09
  Thank you for having me.
• 0:10
  We're so excited.
• 0:11
  We've talked to a few different people from this production.
• 0:14
  This is such an incredible energy.
• 0:17
  This show does.
• 0:17
  How has it Gotta Dance for you being up on stage and bringing all this incredible dance and all these incredible numbers to people?
• 0:23
  It has been just such a blast, the whole experience.
• 0:27
  I was a part of the first production at the York Theater on the Upper East Side last year.
• 0:31
  And it's been great to kind of see it evolve and welcome new people to the cast.
• 0:37
  we just opened a couple of weeks ago, so now we're really kind of settling in and, you know, having more people, audiences, they're really excited about it.
• 0:45
  People are just like really, really loving and appreciating what we're doing and preserving dance and
• 0:51
  People love dance and you know, so do we as a cast and we're just, we're having so much fun on stage every day.
• 0:57
  I love it.
• 0:59
  I was kind of talking with the last person I was talking with and they were talking about how there's not a lot of shows that have dance.
• 1:05
  it's true, like, I mean, every show has dance to some degree, but like this is a show that celebrates dance.
• 1:09
  You don't always have a lot of shows that really do that.
• 1:12
  So it has to be really cool to be able to have that be such a focal point of a show here in NYC.
• 1:18
  Totally, yeah, think people really appreciate it and people just love dance as an art form and it's so joyous and you we call this like the dopamine hit or show like it's just one
• 1:30
  hit after the other and people are just so excited and each number is so different and you know the dance just kind of contributes to that in such an amazing way.
• 1:41
  getting to kind of be a part of that first production and bring it to your new home.
• 1:45
  What is that like?
• 1:45
  How is that kind of transition with the show?
• 1:48
  How does it move from that one stage to this one?
• 1:51
  You know, it's great.
• 1:52
  mean, it just feels like we're sort of elevated and on a different level in such an amazing way.
• 1:58
  And we worked so hard at the York, you know, it's in a church basement.
• 2:02
  It's very modest, you know, but we all really cared about the show and put a lot of heart into it.
• 2:08
  And so just to see it grow feels so amazing and to see it connect with, you know, more people, it's what anyone would want in a show.
• 2:19
  Absolutely and with this being over a revue type of show and you get to kind of pay homage to so many great shows What are some of those maybe you know the the Broadway shows the
• 2:28
  Hollywood magic?
• 2:29
  What's some of what's some of those shows that you're really paying homage to and got a dance?
• 2:34
  There's just countless shows that, you know, we pay homage to.
• 2:38
  We start with Singing in the Rain, and then we go to something a little more niche the audiences love, like Contact, which premiered in 2000.
• 2:47
  And then, you know, we go to West Side Story.
• 2:49
  We do another niche show, Bublin Brown Sugar, which is really one of my favorite numbers.
• 2:55
  It brings the house down.
• 2:57
  We do I Love a Piano from White Christmas.
• 3:01
  you know, lots of chorus line content, of course, you know, like we just bounce around through all of these eras and also these different styles of dance and no number is
• 3:13
  similar to the last and you're always kept on your toes as an audience.
• 3:18
  So it's super exciting and there's so many more that I didn't even mention.
• 3:22
  So.
• 3:23
  It's kind of cool getting to pick like the cool pieces from all the different, you know, all the works that we probably grew up on.
• 3:29
  I know that when you mention all those, I'm like, saw that movie, I grew up on that music, you know, this is stuff that I listened to with my grandma and my mom.
• 3:35
  And so for somebody who's actively in the arts as well, I'm sure that has to be cool to be like, oh, I knew these pieces and now I get to dance them.
• 3:42
  Yeah, like one funny little tidbit.
• 3:44
  I did West Side Story in high school.
• 3:46
  I went to high school on 48th Street in Manhattan and I played riff and I'm playing riff in this production and Robert LaFosse, who is such an inspiration to me, he came to my
• 3:58
  high school and worked on our production when I was 17 and now he worked on this production as well and set riff on me again.
• 4:08
  So it was just like,
• 4:09
  such a full circle moment for me and he's amazing and these pieces just mean so much to me so it feels like magic it really does the whole thing
• 4:19
  That's so cool though that you got to have that like, that's like a pinch me moment of like, coming back around something that I did in high school that meant a lot of that time
• 4:27
  now is coming back in such a different way, a more professional way.
• 4:32
  Yeah, I mean it feels so different, you know?
• 4:34
  It feels like a completely different role almost ten years later.
• 4:38
  So what is your favorite number maybe from this show?
• 4:41
  Oh goodness, that's such a hard question.
• 4:44
  All the numbers that um I'm in are so different and I love watching everyone else in all of their numbers.
• 4:53
  This is going to be kind of an interesting answer, but I love one from Chorus Line in the finale.
• 4:59
  It's when we're really all on stage, um maybe for the first time actually in the show for the finale and
• 5:08
  You know, we just are really celebrating all of the work we've done for the past two hours and, you know, we're just kind of shining super brightly and I really have a lot of fun in
• 5:18
  that number.
• 5:20
  And that's also one of the most technically advanced, like, or difficult numbers too, right?
• 5:25
  Yeah, I was just gonna say, like, it is so precise and, you know, Bioworkly came in, Donna McKechnie came in, and they really coach us on this show.
• 5:34
  It's my favorite show of all time.
• 5:35
  I adore Chorus Line and I got to do the 50th anniversary at the Schubert Theatre in the summer last year and, you know, I worked with them there as well and, you know, those two
• 5:48
  are just incredible, you know, people to really give us the source material and
• 5:54
  They mix the sort of passion and story of a chorus line with the intricacies of all of the steps and the lines and the hats and I really enjoy all of that.
• 6:05
  I love that.
• 6:05
  That's actually, I'm gonna be a really bad theater gay right now.
• 6:08
  That's one show I've never seen.
• 6:10
  So it's definitely on my bucket list.
• 6:12
  You know, it's weird.
• 6:14
  Some people have seen it a thousand times, have been in it a thousand times, and then other people don't know it super well, you know?
• 6:21
  I think it's like, actually sort of underrated, you know?
• 6:25
  So I encourage you, the full black and white original production is on YouTube and it's gold.
• 6:31
  And then also the revival, the full one is on YouTube.
• 6:34
  So go watch it.
• 6:36
  Yeah.
• 6:37
  Maybe I'll be having a watching party real soon for those.
• 6:39
  uh You know, you have been a part of The Music Man, you have been a part of Beetlejuice, uh but how do you feel like this production maybe is different from some of the others
• 6:50
  that you've been a part of?
• 6:52
  You know, I really feel like I'm able to kind of shine on my own in this show and really kind of contribute what I want just through my personality and just through my like
• 7:03
  personal life experience in this show, which is really fun.
• 7:06
  And I'm understudying three roles.
• 7:10
  I go on every Sunday for Tulsa, for RJ Hickton.
• 7:15
  And that's really fun to be able to kind of know what I'm going on and
• 7:20
  then also be surprised.
• 7:21
  I was notified today this morning that I was going on for Tulsa for both shows today.
• 7:26
  So I did that for the matinee and then I'm about to do it for the night.
• 7:30
  And, you know, I've never understudied before and I am just like addicted to it.
• 7:35
  It's so fun to be able to really have to trust the prep that you've put in and trust the work and then just go on stage, have that extreme adrenaline rush, you know, and then be
• 7:46
  able to try it again next time that
• 7:50
  That's really, really fun.
• 7:51
  you know, like speaking of putting my own sort of personal experience on it with something like Tulsa, I get to do something completely different than RJ.
• 8:01
  You know, his is so amazing in a different way.
• 8:03
  And I really love being able to sort of, you know, put myself into every piece that I do in this show.
• 8:12
  You know, as an understudy, I'm sure that has to, like the energy has to be, you know, so electric as you're going up there because as a psychologist, I would always assume that
• 8:19
  there's a little bit of nerves that goes with that excitement being up there.
• 8:23
  Yeah, I mean, you I've gotten to a certain point now where I've learned to sort of hone the nerves a little bit, you know, where you just have to kind of think like, I have no
• 8:34
  choice but to do it.
• 8:36
  So I might as well really kind of go for it, you know, and not sort of hold back at all.
• 8:42
  And that's been super helpful.
• 8:44
  And just, like I said, just trusting the work that I've done, you know, in my bedroom and in the rehearsal room and all of that, like,
• 8:50
  letting it go and not being such perfectionist about it and just kind of like being free on stage.
• 8:56
  When I do Tulsa I just I have such a blast.
• 8:59
  It's just like so freeing to be looking out into the void, you know, and just kind of like really just living in the number.
• 9:08
  It's so fun.
• 9:10
  so awesome.
• 9:11
  Speaking of, you kind of talked a little bit about your journey, but I'm wondering, where did your passion for the arts and for dancing and for acting, where did that really begin
• 9:18
  for you?
• 9:19
  It began day one, I swear.
• 9:23
  I have an older brother, his name's Grant, and he started dancing a bit before me, and I just idolized everything he did growing up.
• 9:32
  And I started in dance right after him, and we would compete in dance competitions together, and we would do duets together, and he taught me everything I know.
• 9:42
  He taught me what Chicago the musical was, he taught me who Lady Gaga was, he taught me...
• 9:48
  all of the sort of dance pieces that I know and love now.
• 9:51
  So I'm really grateful to him and you know the bug just bit me at age four, I swear.
• 9:57
  I started when I was three and I was like, all right, well this is what I'm doing for the rest of my life.
• 10:02
  So I did Billy Elliot when I was 12.
• 10:05
  So that was kind of where I entered the professional sphere and I was just thrown to, you know, the world.
• 10:13
  They call it.
• 10:14
  Hamlet on roller skates.
• 10:15
  It's not an easy role.
• 10:17
  And that was a really great way to kind of start off with a bang.
• 10:21
  I just love it.
• 10:24
  I just want to dedicate my entire life to not only theater, but just art in general.
• 10:29
  And I have such a passion for working on the craft and uh creating my own work.
• 10:35
  And I think it's just the best.
• 10:38
  So, yeah.
• 10:40
  Did you ever have a moment where you were like the pinch me moment of, I like, I made it like this is it.
• 10:44
  This is what I wanted to do.
• 10:46
  You know, I think that stuff just kind of keeps happening.
• 10:49
  You you have these milestones and it's just these things that you've dreamed of for so long, you know?
• 10:58
  So Billy Elliot was definitely a made-me moment, you know?
• 11:02
  I did the Tony Awards for the Music Man and that was pretty insane at Radio City.
• 11:07
  I was in a full blur that whole day, you know?
• 11:10
  It was just...
• 11:11
  um So, you know, they just kind of like, they come...
• 11:16
  when you least expect it and you just have to kind of assure yourself that you deserve to be there and soak it in, you know.
• 11:24
  Absolutely.
• 11:25
  And you're also doing incredible work though to fight for LGBTQ equality in New York City.
• 11:29
  Can we talk a little bit about the work that you're doing with that?
• 11:32
  Yeah, you know, like being in this industry for so long, since I was 12, you know, I love it, like I was saying, but there's also so much more to life and just being a person in
• 11:44
  New York and I really kind of strive to, you know, just be a support system for my queer siblings and my chosen family and
• 11:57
  I worked with uh Research Foundation to Cure AIDS, which is a nonprofit in the city.
• 12:03
  Kambi Shekder is kind of the founder of it.
• 12:05
  And I worked with him just kind of, he is an incredible scientist working on stem cell research for finding a cure for HIV actually.
• 12:15
  And uh I got to be able to kind of watch him as he was working on that.
• 12:21
  And, you know, it was pretty mind boggling to be able to experience something like that.
• 12:25
  And, you know,
• 12:27
  no matter how amazing it feels to be an actor, can also feel sometimes self-serving or you you get a little busy in your head with all of the auditions and things like that.
• 12:38
  So it feels, it's essential to me to really be able to like put yourself out of your own sort of ego or your body or whatever and really fight for something else that you believe
• 12:49
  in, you know?
• 12:50
  So that's equally as to me.
• 12:54
  I mean, absolutely.
• 12:54
  mean, the work that you're doing on and off stage, all of it means so much because you either, you know, the work, I mean, just to help find a cure for AIDS or also just to
• 13:02
  bring moments of happiness, enjoy and escapism in difficult times to people.
• 13:07
  That's also very important work right now.
• 13:09
  Totally.
• 13:10
  Yeah.
• 13:12
  So one final question for you then is just what are you hoping audiences take away from this production of Gotta Dance?
• 13:17
  You know, I hope they just have an appreciation not only for dance, but just for theater in general.
• 13:23
  You know, you get a chance to see all of these different stories and to just find an appreciation for it and kind of relay your own experience to it.
• 13:33
  You know, I think sometimes we get so caught up in like, do I like this story or is it good to me or something like that?
• 13:40
  And with this, it's like you have 15 of them.
• 13:43
  So you are bound to connect with one, you know, so.
• 13:47
  Really, I encourage people to just let themselves into the worlds that we're presenting to them and, you know, take one, at least one away that kind of tugs at your heartstrings or
• 13:58
  inspires you or, you know, kind of motivates you in that way, so.
• 14:03
  Absolutely, I think I love that part of this too.
• 14:05
  Like a revue actually only saw my first one of like a year or two ago as I started this journey.
• 14:10
  it's because like you said, you can, you don't have to be into the whole story.
• 14:15
  Like you have that moment and a lot of the times it's those highlights.
• 14:18
  Those moments that people are always kind of looking forward to see.
• 14:20
  And then there's always something for everybody.
• 14:22
  So that is an excellent kind of point to a show such as this.
• 14:25
  Yeah, thanks.
• 14:28
  But thank you so much for your time, Drew.
• 14:29
  It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you.
• 14:31
  And again, we are so excited for this production.
• 14:33
  Thank you, thank you for having me, it's been so nice talking.
• 14:37
  So, Gotta Dance is currently running at stage 42 in NYC.
• 14:40
  So, get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.
• 14:42
  Yay!