May 31, 2024 • 18 mins
Michael Riedel and Christine Nagy chatted with Huey Lewis and Broadway's Tamika Lawrence and Zoe Jensen about THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL. They discussed the show's journey and the choices they made in life that brought them all to the Broadway stage. THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL plays at the James Earl Jones Theater.
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(00:02):
iHeartRadio Broadway presents Inside Broadway, thepodcast about Everything theater. It's where you
hear what happens from the ticket windowto the stage door, with the stars
and creative forces that make it allcome alive. Here are your hosts,
wo Rs Michael Riedle and Light FM'sChristine Nagy. Okay, Michael, there
(00:24):
is a fun news show that isplaying on Broadway at the James Earl Jones
Theater that has everybody singing, everybodyhappy, everybody in love. It's the
heart of rock and roll. Thisis Huey Lewis's show, and he joins
us today. We have his Broadwaydebut. Yes, no, no,
no, he was in Chicago's right, that's right, Philly Flinn. I
forgot about that. But we haveRazzle Dazzles right here. Huey Lewis is
(00:46):
with us and starring in the show. Zoe Jensen, Tamika Lawrence. Welcome
to Inside Broadway. We're so happyto have you guys here. Thank you
for having us listens, such agood mood. Thank you. Just everything
about you guys make us happy.That's right, which they're doing eight times
a week James Earl Jones Theater.That's right, man, So please tell
(01:07):
us the story, Huey. Youstarted working on this ten years ago?
Is that possible? And we're justwe're now having our Broadway debut. Yeah,
it's probably been ten years now.Our producer, Tyler Mitchell and Hunter
Arnold are two producers, and ourbook writer is John Abrams and they Tyler
came to me ten years ago andsaid, we'd like to do a musical
(01:30):
with your music. I said,great, the proofs in the pudding.
Show me a script, and theywent away and came back six months later
with a wonderful first draft that Ithought was fantastic. And here we are
nine years later and like thirty sevenmore drafts. You know. That's how
it started. It takes a littletime to get to Broadway, Well it
(01:53):
does. I mean it's been afirst of all, it's been a wonderful
experience. It can be frustratingly collaborativeat times, but the people you're collaborating
with are smart, talented, selfeffacing and just a lot of fun.
That's right. And that to Mekand what was your path to Broadway?
I went to school for theater aftertrying to do music and music composition,
(02:19):
and I was like, I don'tthink I want to do this, So
I switched over to musical theater major. I worked overseas on a cruise ship
for a bit and saved up somemoney. Yeah, and then happened to
have a friend that I made onthe cruise ship that was like, Hey,
we have a room open in ourapartment in Queen's. Do you want
to just try to move to NewYork City? So I said, yeah,
I'll give myself three months. Ihave three months worth the money set
up, and I'll give it ago and if not, then I'll go
(02:43):
back to Arizona. So I cameto New York and started temping like two
days after I moved, and thenbooked my first off Broadway show, which
was Rent the Revival. Oh Yeah, in twenty eleven, about three weeks
after I moved to the city,which was crazy. So many years later,
you're not back in Arizona nor friend'scouch. No, sometimes because she
(03:07):
moved away. But yeah, soI feel like I'm glad I can reciprocate
and and Paige your Road to apage I called her by the name of
the character Zoe Your Road to Broadway. Yeah. So I also went to
school for musical theater, and Iwas a little scared to go to New
York, so I tried the children'stheater route in Cincinnati, Ohio, which
(03:28):
I ended up connecting with a couplepeople who were like, you should move
to New York. So I madeenough money on that Cincinnati contract for like
a month or two to be inNew York. So I was like,
Okay, I'll try it out.I ended up moving here, fell in
love with it, and I justkept auditioning. I finally got a little
bit of a door opener in anoff Broadway show called We Are the Tigers,
(03:49):
which is a show about cheerleaders andit's like a horror movie musical.
It was a lot of fun.And then uh, after that, the
door kind of opened and I endup going on tour for a while with
Hamilton, came back and did thereplacement cast of six and Here I am
Heart of Rock and Roll. Hey, huweie, did you ever have the
(04:10):
lean years? Did you ever havethe lean years, the struggle years when
you were trying to scrape by?Sure? Yeah, how was that right?
Yeah? We played. I turnedthirty years old with three hundred dollars
to my name, I've been playingin bands for like twelve years and then
I got my first hit, youknow. I mean, it's fun to
hear the ladies tell their stories becausethey're so talented, right, and both
(04:35):
both Zoe and Tamika have been playedlots of parts, lots of Broadway stuff.
But what's really exciting is to watchthem originate the roles that they're playing
now in Harder Rocket Roll, becausewe you know, we can write words
and music and dance steps, butit's up to them to breathe life into
these characters and to watch them growand become these fantastic characters with the material
(05:01):
we've gon was really really a treat. So can you tell us about the
storyline and your characters. I understandit's nineteen eighty seven, it's not an
autobiographical This is the okay, Sowhat happens in this story? The musical
is about a guy's name's Bobby Stivik, and he was in a rock band
for a long time, really triedto like pound the pavement and make it
(05:25):
and kind of fell on his butt. He moves to Wisconsin and starts working
at a cardboard box factory just toget I think some some grounding and kind
of start over, and he developsa real passion for it. And the
character that I play is Ra's managerof HR. Yeah, scary person.
We call the HR Angel of Deatharound here they studio. Do you get
(05:51):
that? No? That was partof the reason Also why I wanted to
audition for the show, because mymom worked in HR for over a decade
and so I kind of got tosee both sides. I understand why people
call her the Angel Death, butshe also got to help a lot of
people find their way. So Ihope that I can show that HR can
(06:12):
be cool. But anyways, rosAnd takes a liking to Bobby, and
there's this the company's in trouble,but there's this convention that might save the
company from like a financial ruin.But the convention's in Chicago, where he's
originally from, and that's where hisband is. They're still trying to make
it. They get the break thatthey've always wanted, and so he's at
(06:33):
a crossroads now because he finally hasthis thing that he thinks he's always thought
that he wanted, but he alsohas made it and helped his company and
also is falling in love with Cassandra, and I think that's all you can
say. Yeah, that's it.Things get a little square as he tries
(06:55):
to do both these things. We'renot going to tell you how it comes
out. Yeah, that we wouldabout for your character. So my character,
I am Paige, who is Cassandra'sbest friend. So Cassandra is like
the love interest of Bobby who arejust talking about and it's amazing what can
unfold in a three day business conference, right, So my character Page comes
(07:15):
to the conference and her main objectivein life is she wants Cassandra to be
happy. Because her friend, Cassandrahas been single for years, she moved
back home. Paige has made ither prerogative to like bring Cassandra back to
life, find her love again.And what I love about my character is
I think that it speaks to anotherform of love in our show, which
(07:39):
is the love of friendship and whatyou do for the people you love.
Maybe sometimes Paige didn't always make theright choices, but it was always with
the intention of helping out someone helpingout her friend. And I have the
best friends in the world, soI have a lot of inspiration and I
dedicate this role to my friendships.Good. Hey, Hugh, I have
struck by something you said. Whenthey came to you and they said they
(08:01):
wanted to use your songs, theysaid, well, show me the book.
How did you know that that wasthe key to any musical? I
mean not coming from the theater.You were a famous rock and roller,
but you instinctively knew the story's gotto be there. The songs aren't going
to work. Well, you know, I kind of have a funny story.
I'll tell it as quickly as Ican. I was flying into Oakland
and I have a driver who's likea transportation Nazi. He only picked me
(08:24):
up during certain hours if the trafficisn't too bad and all that sort of
so, and he hates to goto Oakland because it's longer and more traffic.
But I had to fly into Oakland. I fly into Oakland and he's
out there, and I'm worried abouthim. So I'm trying to hurry and
get my luggage as I come offthe plane and I can't find my bag.
And finally I see my bag.It's the last one. It's a
(08:45):
big to me. I take it. I go with Larry drive an hour
back to my hotel. I openthe bag. It's not my bag,
it's somebody else's. And there's noinformation on there. There's no address or
anything or name. So what amI going to do? Was a bag?
I drive all the way back tothe airport. I find out for
the lady that this guy switched bags. Here's his cell phone. I call
(09:07):
it nothing. Finally I call itagain fifteen minutes later and he answers.
He says, oh, I'm sorryI took your bag by. I said,
it's okay. Where are you?I'm here at this pub. Come
on, I'm having dinner and I'mat the bar. Come I go in.
I find this pub, go in. The guy turns around. He
goes, oh my gosh, you'reHuey Lewis. I said. I said,
yeah, yeah, yeah, andyou got my bag, I said,
(09:28):
he says. He says, canI buy you a drink? I
said yes, sir, So Isat down and said, what do you
do? He says, Oh,I'm a musician. I said, no
kidding. What are you doing here? He said, well, I'm doing
a concert at Berkeley with an oodplayer. I said, but really,
musical theater is my thing. Isaid, really, no kidding. He
(09:48):
says, yeah, you know whoRichard Rogers was, I said, yes.
He says, that's my grandfather.Oh and and I go, oh,
my gosh. I said, that'sa amazing because we're developing a musical
right now. He says, letme stop you right there. He says,
is the book any good? Oh? I said, I said,
I think so. It's smart andfunny and he has a lot of heart.
(10:11):
He goes, good, because that'sall the matters. That's true.
No, it's absolutely true. It'sabsolutely If the songs don't set well with
the characters and as you say,propel the action, you're going nowhere.
And by the way, you knowwe have our show is funny and it's
smart, but it also is aboutchoices. It's about more than just entertainment.
(10:31):
It's about choices and coming of age, choices we all make in life.
And how does it feel for you, Hughey, because your music is
iconic and we love it. Youknow, I feel we've grown up with
it and we absolutely love it.To play it on your morning show every
day, we do. Yes,we're big fans at LIGHTFM, which you
(10:52):
know you met Covey and but especiallyfor your cast. If this music is
new to them. If it's newto the audience, how is it for
you to experience that like seeing itnew for someone? Well, it's amazing
because you know, you write thesesongs and we record them and they take
it on this life and now youknow, our orchestrator, Brian Husfer,
(11:13):
gets a lot of credit for thisbecause he's reimagined them all. But they're
all they all have completely different settings. And so to see the songs,
your songs live this other life isso gratifying, you know, and it's
so marvelous to see. And someof the best moments in our show are
songs that weren't big hits for us. They're buried on side too, but
(11:37):
lyrically they made sense and so on, and so we've sort of reimagined them
and and that's the thrill. It'salmost like watching your kids get a job.
You know. Zoe Any intimidated atall with having him in the rehearsal
room, Yes, of course,I mean, but honestly, not just
Hue. I mean, our castis stacked with Broadways Staples and Grammy winners
(12:01):
and I'm looking ato Mega, noliterally, I it's an incredibly talented room.
It is a room that is veryeasily you can feel very intimidated in.
But the cool thing is that everyoneis very cool and just supportive and
ready to play, and so ithas it ended up not feeling like a
(12:22):
very intimidating room, right, Absolutely, it seems like a very loving,
supportive cast, as you said,and Tamika for you singing Huey Lewis's famous
songs, I mean, it's gotto be incredible. Yeah, it's it's
it's wonderful. I grew up listeningto his music and so or your mother
did. I did too, becauseyeah, yeah, my mom's a big
(12:45):
rock fan, classic rock fan.So I mean that's all that I listened
to. So his music is likebible for us in our household, and
so it was incredibly intimidating to walkin and like meet you and try to
sing sing those songs. But alsolike I had to study. I wanted
to study his inflection, study howhe sings it and the intentions of how
(13:07):
he's saying, because I think itmeans so much. It's one thing to
sing the notes or just try tolike you know, gyrate on stage,
but it's another thing to try toget into like how you meant it,
and so it's been incredibly fulfilling toget your approval singing his songs because they're
precious to me, and you've donean amazing job. Both of you have
(13:28):
done such an amazing job of reimaginingthese songs. It's just it's amazing.
It's gratifying, right, it's justit's thrilling. And Zoe's sings don't Make
Me Do It to You, whichis a song nobody ever heard until now,
So what five copies and nobody everheard it, And it's a great
moment in the show. Yes,I know. Have you guys seen him
(13:50):
in the documentary about the making ofWe Are the World? Yeah, he's
what it's amazing. He is sohumble in that. Yeah, he's one
of the biggest stars on the planetand you look like you're scared to death.
It's easy to be humble when youdon't have that much talent. And
I feel like it's come full circletoo, because we see you in that
documentary and it's Michael Jackson and nowwe've got MJ the musical on. You
(14:15):
know, there's like there's been alot of a lot of this music.
Tina Turner, that's that's been onBroadway, So I mean, you're in
the right place rightfully, And thosememories, you know, from that night,
I mean, obviously it's an incredibleevening, but those memories are so
fresh, even though it's like thirtynine years ago. I mean, I
knew at that moment that this wasthe career event of my life. And
(14:39):
I was only thirty one years old. You know, I'm like, what's
ever going to top this? Thirtynine years later? Nothing has? And
you know who I have, Imean a tremendous respect for him, but
even more respect seeing him in thatmovie is Quincy Jones, and just he
was the boss. I mean,as as big as the egos were,
as big as the talent was.When Quincy said you do something, you
(15:00):
did it, and you know,and Ray Charles was amazing in that deal
because at some point the background vocals, which go you know, uh uh,
but we are the our world,our children, they tried to they
wanted to do that in Swahili tomake sense for the African stuff, and
they brought a couple of African galsin to translate, and it clearly was
unsingable. It was Budney Popo gooberor whatever. It was and so and
(15:26):
now the whole the whole production kindof slowed down, you know this one
way on Jenny's Yeah, that's whathe and Ray Charles. Ray Charles was
sitting right next to ra Charles.I just shadowed Ray Charles. I worship
Ray Charles. I just sat athis elbow the whole night. And he
goes and when all that stuff wasgoing on, he goes ring the bell
Quincy, ring the bell words stilllive by all Right. It is the
(15:50):
Heart of rock and Roll at theJames Earl Jones Theater, starring Tamika Lawrence
and Zoe Jensen and with music andlyrics by the great Hue Lewis. Thanks
a lot and best of luck withthe show. So, Michael, that
was fun. I think this isgoing to be a fun show to check
out. Absolutely, Yeah, theHeart of rock and Roll. Everybody who
(16:11):
sees it on Broadway really likes it. They come out very happy they do,
which we mean people on Broadway.That's right. You know what's the
big news is Audrey McDonald doing Gypsyin the Fall. Saw that that's wonderful.
That's been in the works for awhile. Yeah. Well, Otter
is a big, big, Broadwaystar. Oh yeah, I love her
so much. Yeah, and she'llbe a big draw on Broadway. And
uh, you know the the questionI have though, because Otter always plays
(16:33):
very lovely, likable characters, andMama Rose is funny, but there's a
big part of her that isn't likable. Do you know the real Mamrose killed
somebody? She did? She did? Yeah? No, the real Mama
Rose was a murderer. She victedor we think the story it's it's true
story. I don't think she wasever charged. But she murdered some guy
(16:53):
in the rooming house that they wereall living in. They had a fighter.
She murdered him. She was rough, yes, okay, yeah,
yeah, I don't think we'll seethat in the Broadway musical thought it was
about you know, egg rolls.Now, have you ever seen Gypsy?
Yeah? I have? Yeah,yeah, no, that's how she's charming
someone with an egg roll that's right, But she's a psychopath. In real
life, Mama Ros was a psychopath, and so you gotta have that.
(17:17):
It's a little softened for the musical, but you got to play the nerves
of steel that woman head and thatunbelievable drive she had to basically destroy her
children to make them stars well,also big Broadway stars. It looks like
we have a new production of OnceUpon a Mattress on the Way. We
do with Sutton Foster. Now that'scoming from Encores or it was a big
hit, you know, the CityCenter Encurse. It only plays a weekend
there. Yeah, so this isbut this is going to be there's gonna
(17:41):
be a Broadway show, full onproduction, full on Broadway show, Michael
Yuri. It'll be at the HudsonTheater. And my understanding is they're here
July thirty first through November thirtieth andthen taking it to La taking an out
of the road teller. Yeah.Yeah, got very good reviews. You
know, it's a it's a it'sa cute show. It's you know wrote
it Mary Rogers, the daughter ofRichard Rogers. No, I didn't know
that. Well, Michael, thishas been this has been fun, some
(18:03):
fun productions on the Way, andwe will see you next time on Inside
Broadway. Check out the Heart ofRock and Roll
iHeartRadio Broadway presents Inside Broadway, thepodcast about Everything theater. It's where you
hear what happens from the ticket windowto the stage door, with the stars
and creative forces that make it allcome alive. Here are your hosts,
wo Rs Michael Riedle and Light FM'sChristine Nagy. Okay, Michael, there
(00:24):
is a fun news show that isplaying on Broadway at the James Earl Jones
Theater that has everybody singing, everybodyhappy, everybody in love. It's the
heart of rock and roll. Thisis Huey Lewis's show, and he joins
us today. We have his Broadwaydebut. Yes, no, no,
no, he was in Chicago's right, that's right, Philly Flinn. I
forgot about that. But we haveRazzle Dazzles right here. Huey Lewis is
(00:46):
with us and starring in the show. Zoe Jensen, Tamika Lawrence. Welcome
to Inside Broadway. We're so happyto have you guys here. Thank you
for having us listens, such agood mood. Thank you. Just everything
about you guys make us happy.That's right, which they're doing eight times
a week James Earl Jones Theater.That's right, man, So please tell
(01:07):
us the story, Huey. Youstarted working on this ten years ago?
Is that possible? And we're justwe're now having our Broadway debut. Yeah,
it's probably been ten years now.Our producer, Tyler Mitchell and Hunter
Arnold are two producers, and ourbook writer is John Abrams and they Tyler
came to me ten years ago andsaid, we'd like to do a musical
(01:30):
with your music. I said,great, the proofs in the pudding.
Show me a script, and theywent away and came back six months later
with a wonderful first draft that Ithought was fantastic. And here we are
nine years later and like thirty sevenmore drafts. You know. That's how
it started. It takes a littletime to get to Broadway, Well it
(01:53):
does. I mean it's been afirst of all, it's been a wonderful
experience. It can be frustratingly collaborativeat times, but the people you're collaborating
with are smart, talented, selfeffacing and just a lot of fun.
That's right. And that to Mekand what was your path to Broadway?
I went to school for theater aftertrying to do music and music composition,
(02:19):
and I was like, I don'tthink I want to do this, So
I switched over to musical theater major. I worked overseas on a cruise ship
for a bit and saved up somemoney. Yeah, and then happened to
have a friend that I made onthe cruise ship that was like, Hey,
we have a room open in ourapartment in Queen's. Do you want
to just try to move to NewYork City? So I said, yeah,
I'll give myself three months. Ihave three months worth the money set
up, and I'll give it ago and if not, then I'll go
(02:43):
back to Arizona. So I cameto New York and started temping like two
days after I moved, and thenbooked my first off Broadway show, which
was Rent the Revival. Oh Yeah, in twenty eleven, about three weeks
after I moved to the city,which was crazy. So many years later,
you're not back in Arizona nor friend'scouch. No, sometimes because she
(03:07):
moved away. But yeah, soI feel like I'm glad I can reciprocate
and and Paige your Road to apage I called her by the name of
the character Zoe Your Road to Broadway. Yeah. So I also went to
school for musical theater, and Iwas a little scared to go to New
York, so I tried the children'stheater route in Cincinnati, Ohio, which
(03:28):
I ended up connecting with a couplepeople who were like, you should move
to New York. So I madeenough money on that Cincinnati contract for like
a month or two to be inNew York. So I was like,
Okay, I'll try it out.I ended up moving here, fell in
love with it, and I justkept auditioning. I finally got a little
bit of a door opener in anoff Broadway show called We Are the Tigers,
(03:49):
which is a show about cheerleaders andit's like a horror movie musical.
It was a lot of fun.And then uh, after that, the
door kind of opened and I endup going on tour for a while with
Hamilton, came back and did thereplacement cast of six and Here I am
Heart of Rock and Roll. Hey, huweie, did you ever have the
(04:10):
lean years? Did you ever havethe lean years, the struggle years when
you were trying to scrape by?Sure? Yeah, how was that right?
Yeah? We played. I turnedthirty years old with three hundred dollars
to my name, I've been playingin bands for like twelve years and then
I got my first hit, youknow. I mean, it's fun to
hear the ladies tell their stories becausethey're so talented, right, and both
(04:35):
both Zoe and Tamika have been playedlots of parts, lots of Broadway stuff.
But what's really exciting is to watchthem originate the roles that they're playing
now in Harder Rocket Roll, becausewe you know, we can write words
and music and dance steps, butit's up to them to breathe life into
these characters and to watch them growand become these fantastic characters with the material
(05:01):
we've gon was really really a treat. So can you tell us about the
storyline and your characters. I understandit's nineteen eighty seven, it's not an
autobiographical This is the okay, Sowhat happens in this story? The musical
is about a guy's name's Bobby Stivik, and he was in a rock band
for a long time, really triedto like pound the pavement and make it
(05:25):
and kind of fell on his butt. He moves to Wisconsin and starts working
at a cardboard box factory just toget I think some some grounding and kind
of start over, and he developsa real passion for it. And the
character that I play is Ra's managerof HR. Yeah, scary person.
We call the HR Angel of Deatharound here they studio. Do you get
(05:51):
that? No? That was partof the reason Also why I wanted to
audition for the show, because mymom worked in HR for over a decade
and so I kind of got tosee both sides. I understand why people
call her the Angel Death, butshe also got to help a lot of
people find their way. So Ihope that I can show that HR can
(06:12):
be cool. But anyways, rosAnd takes a liking to Bobby, and
there's this the company's in trouble,but there's this convention that might save the
company from like a financial ruin.But the convention's in Chicago, where he's
originally from, and that's where hisband is. They're still trying to make
it. They get the break thatthey've always wanted, and so he's at
(06:33):
a crossroads now because he finally hasthis thing that he thinks he's always thought
that he wanted, but he alsohas made it and helped his company and
also is falling in love with Cassandra, and I think that's all you can
say. Yeah, that's it.Things get a little square as he tries
(06:55):
to do both these things. We'renot going to tell you how it comes
out. Yeah, that we wouldabout for your character. So my character,
I am Paige, who is Cassandra'sbest friend. So Cassandra is like
the love interest of Bobby who arejust talking about and it's amazing what can
unfold in a three day business conference, right, So my character Page comes
(07:15):
to the conference and her main objectivein life is she wants Cassandra to be
happy. Because her friend, Cassandrahas been single for years, she moved
back home. Paige has made ither prerogative to like bring Cassandra back to
life, find her love again.And what I love about my character is
I think that it speaks to anotherform of love in our show, which
(07:39):
is the love of friendship and whatyou do for the people you love.
Maybe sometimes Paige didn't always make theright choices, but it was always with
the intention of helping out someone helpingout her friend. And I have the
best friends in the world, soI have a lot of inspiration and I
dedicate this role to my friendships.Good. Hey, Hugh, I have
struck by something you said. Whenthey came to you and they said they
(08:01):
wanted to use your songs, theysaid, well, show me the book.
How did you know that that wasthe key to any musical? I
mean not coming from the theater.You were a famous rock and roller,
but you instinctively knew the story's gotto be there. The songs aren't going
to work. Well, you know, I kind of have a funny story.
I'll tell it as quickly as Ican. I was flying into Oakland
and I have a driver who's likea transportation Nazi. He only picked me
(08:24):
up during certain hours if the trafficisn't too bad and all that sort of
so, and he hates to goto Oakland because it's longer and more traffic.
But I had to fly into Oakland. I fly into Oakland and he's
out there, and I'm worried abouthim. So I'm trying to hurry and
get my luggage as I come offthe plane and I can't find my bag.
And finally I see my bag.It's the last one. It's a
(08:45):
big to me. I take it. I go with Larry drive an hour
back to my hotel. I openthe bag. It's not my bag,
it's somebody else's. And there's noinformation on there. There's no address or
anything or name. So what amI going to do? Was a bag?
I drive all the way back tothe airport. I find out for
the lady that this guy switched bags. Here's his cell phone. I call
(09:07):
it nothing. Finally I call itagain fifteen minutes later and he answers.
He says, oh, I'm sorryI took your bag by. I said,
it's okay. Where are you?I'm here at this pub. Come
on, I'm having dinner and I'mat the bar. Come I go in.
I find this pub, go in. The guy turns around. He
goes, oh my gosh, you'reHuey Lewis. I said. I said,
yeah, yeah, yeah, andyou got my bag, I said,
(09:28):
he says. He says, canI buy you a drink? I
said yes, sir, So Isat down and said, what do you
do? He says, Oh,I'm a musician. I said, no
kidding. What are you doing here? He said, well, I'm doing
a concert at Berkeley with an oodplayer. I said, but really,
musical theater is my thing. Isaid, really, no kidding. He
(09:48):
says, yeah, you know whoRichard Rogers was, I said, yes.
He says, that's my grandfather.Oh and and I go, oh,
my gosh. I said, that'sa amazing because we're developing a musical
right now. He says, letme stop you right there. He says,
is the book any good? Oh? I said, I said,
I think so. It's smart andfunny and he has a lot of heart.
(10:11):
He goes, good, because that'sall the matters. That's true.
No, it's absolutely true. It'sabsolutely If the songs don't set well with
the characters and as you say,propel the action, you're going nowhere.
And by the way, you knowwe have our show is funny and it's
smart, but it also is aboutchoices. It's about more than just entertainment.
(10:31):
It's about choices and coming of age, choices we all make in life.
And how does it feel for you, Hughey, because your music is
iconic and we love it. Youknow, I feel we've grown up with
it and we absolutely love it.To play it on your morning show every
day, we do. Yes,we're big fans at LIGHTFM, which you
(10:52):
know you met Covey and but especiallyfor your cast. If this music is
new to them. If it's newto the audience, how is it for
you to experience that like seeing itnew for someone? Well, it's amazing
because you know, you write thesesongs and we record them and they take
it on this life and now youknow, our orchestrator, Brian Husfer,
(11:13):
gets a lot of credit for thisbecause he's reimagined them all. But they're
all they all have completely different settings. And so to see the songs,
your songs live this other life isso gratifying, you know, and it's
so marvelous to see. And someof the best moments in our show are
songs that weren't big hits for us. They're buried on side too, but
(11:37):
lyrically they made sense and so on, and so we've sort of reimagined them
and and that's the thrill. It'salmost like watching your kids get a job.
You know. Zoe Any intimidated atall with having him in the rehearsal
room, Yes, of course,I mean, but honestly, not just
Hue. I mean, our castis stacked with Broadways Staples and Grammy winners
(12:01):
and I'm looking ato Mega, noliterally, I it's an incredibly talented room.
It is a room that is veryeasily you can feel very intimidated in.
But the cool thing is that everyoneis very cool and just supportive and
ready to play, and so ithas it ended up not feeling like a
(12:22):
very intimidating room, right, Absolutely, it seems like a very loving,
supportive cast, as you said,and Tamika for you singing Huey Lewis's famous
songs, I mean, it's gotto be incredible. Yeah, it's it's
it's wonderful. I grew up listeningto his music and so or your mother
did. I did too, becauseyeah, yeah, my mom's a big
(12:45):
rock fan, classic rock fan.So I mean that's all that I listened
to. So his music is likebible for us in our household, and
so it was incredibly intimidating to walkin and like meet you and try to
sing sing those songs. But alsolike I had to study. I wanted
to study his inflection, study howhe sings it and the intentions of how
(13:07):
he's saying, because I think itmeans so much. It's one thing to
sing the notes or just try tolike you know, gyrate on stage,
but it's another thing to try toget into like how you meant it,
and so it's been incredibly fulfilling toget your approval singing his songs because they're
precious to me, and you've donean amazing job. Both of you have
(13:28):
done such an amazing job of reimaginingthese songs. It's just it's amazing.
It's gratifying, right, it's justit's thrilling. And Zoe's sings don't Make
Me Do It to You, whichis a song nobody ever heard until now,
So what five copies and nobody everheard it, And it's a great
moment in the show. Yes,I know. Have you guys seen him
(13:50):
in the documentary about the making ofWe Are the World? Yeah, he's
what it's amazing. He is sohumble in that. Yeah, he's one
of the biggest stars on the planetand you look like you're scared to death.
It's easy to be humble when youdon't have that much talent. And
I feel like it's come full circletoo, because we see you in that
documentary and it's Michael Jackson and nowwe've got MJ the musical on. You
(14:15):
know, there's like there's been alot of a lot of this music.
Tina Turner, that's that's been onBroadway, So I mean, you're in
the right place rightfully, And thosememories, you know, from that night,
I mean, obviously it's an incredibleevening, but those memories are so
fresh, even though it's like thirtynine years ago. I mean, I
knew at that moment that this wasthe career event of my life. And
(14:39):
I was only thirty one years old. You know, I'm like, what's
ever going to top this? Thirtynine years later? Nothing has? And
you know who I have, Imean a tremendous respect for him, but
even more respect seeing him in thatmovie is Quincy Jones, and just he
was the boss. I mean,as as big as the egos were,
as big as the talent was.When Quincy said you do something, you
(15:00):
did it, and you know,and Ray Charles was amazing in that deal
because at some point the background vocals, which go you know, uh uh,
but we are the our world,our children, they tried to they
wanted to do that in Swahili tomake sense for the African stuff, and
they brought a couple of African galsin to translate, and it clearly was
unsingable. It was Budney Popo gooberor whatever. It was and so and
(15:26):
now the whole the whole production kindof slowed down, you know this one
way on Jenny's Yeah, that's whathe and Ray Charles. Ray Charles was
sitting right next to ra Charles.I just shadowed Ray Charles. I worship
Ray Charles. I just sat athis elbow the whole night. And he
goes and when all that stuff wasgoing on, he goes ring the bell
Quincy, ring the bell words stilllive by all Right. It is the
(15:50):
Heart of rock and Roll at theJames Earl Jones Theater, starring Tamika Lawrence
and Zoe Jensen and with music andlyrics by the great Hue Lewis. Thanks
a lot and best of luck withthe show. So, Michael, that
was fun. I think this isgoing to be a fun show to check
out. Absolutely, Yeah, theHeart of rock and Roll. Everybody who
(16:11):
sees it on Broadway really likes it. They come out very happy they do,
which we mean people on Broadway.That's right. You know what's the
big news is Audrey McDonald doing Gypsyin the Fall. Saw that that's wonderful.
That's been in the works for awhile. Yeah. Well, Otter
is a big, big, Broadwaystar. Oh yeah, I love her
so much. Yeah, and she'llbe a big draw on Broadway. And
uh, you know the the questionI have though, because Otter always plays
(16:33):
very lovely, likable characters, andMama Rose is funny, but there's a
big part of her that isn't likable. Do you know the real Mamrose killed
somebody? She did? She did? Yeah? No, the real Mama
Rose was a murderer. She victedor we think the story it's it's true
story. I don't think she wasever charged. But she murdered some guy
(16:53):
in the rooming house that they wereall living in. They had a fighter.
She murdered him. She was rough, yes, okay, yeah,
yeah, I don't think we'll seethat in the Broadway musical thought it was
about you know, egg rolls.Now, have you ever seen Gypsy?
Yeah? I have? Yeah,yeah, no, that's how she's charming
someone with an egg roll that's right, But she's a psychopath. In real
life, Mama Ros was a psychopath, and so you gotta have that.
(17:17):
It's a little softened for the musical, but you got to play the nerves
of steel that woman head and thatunbelievable drive she had to basically destroy her
children to make them stars well,also big Broadway stars. It looks like
we have a new production of OnceUpon a Mattress on the Way. We
do with Sutton Foster. Now that'scoming from Encores or it was a big
hit, you know, the CityCenter Encurse. It only plays a weekend
there. Yeah, so this isbut this is going to be there's gonna
(17:41):
be a Broadway show, full onproduction, full on Broadway show, Michael
Yuri. It'll be at the HudsonTheater. And my understanding is they're here
July thirty first through November thirtieth andthen taking it to La taking an out
of the road teller. Yeah.Yeah, got very good reviews. You
know, it's a it's a it'sa cute show. It's you know wrote
it Mary Rogers, the daughter ofRichard Rogers. No, I didn't know
that. Well, Michael, thishas been this has been fun, some
(18:03):
fun productions on the Way, andwe will see you next time on Inside
Broadway. Check out the Heart ofRock and Roll
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