Hello, everyone, and welcome back into a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper.
We are getting on that cross-country trip again, heading out to beautiful, sunny California, where we are joined by two amazing artists, the book writer, lyricist, and director, Tom Kyoto, and the composer and musical director, Joe Netter.
They're joining us to talk about their new work being presented by the Great Beyond Company and the Hudson Theater. entitled Adventures in the Great Beyond.
This is happening now through December 8th at the Hudson Main Stage Theater in Los Angeles, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting onstage411.com.
We are so excited to be covering yet another fabulous production on the West Coast, and we cannot wait to be sharing this one with you.So let us go ahead and welcome on our guest, Tom, Joe, welcome into Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper.
Thank you so much.Thank you, Andrew.It's great to be here.
I'm so thrilled that the two of you are here.Thank you so much for joining me today on All Hallows' Eve and for bringing such a wonderful show, Adventures in the Great Beyond.
Tom, why don't we start with you and have you tell us a little bit about what this show is about.
Thanks, Andrew.And it's great to be here and to talk to you.Adventures in the Great Beyond. is a pop rock musical 90 minute one act.
It's about a journey of self-discovery, whether you're 20 years old, 50 years old, 80 years old, we're all always searching for who we are and discovery of self.
And this is the adventures of a young woman who drops out of college to find herself, travels across country to follow a gregarious guru in the ashram of the great beyond in the middle of the Arizona desert.
And everything that happens after that is fun.It's some of it's comedy and there's some really moments where we we touch upon some very important issues.
But we talk about everything in this musical from reincarnation to miracles to auras to karma, all about self-discovery and our adventure.
And it's applied to our everyday lives so that we leave the theater humming the tunes and identifying with one of the characters in the show.
That is fabulous.Joe, let me come to you and ask, you know, how did the two of you come up with this idea?What was the inspiration?
Well, our collaboration was pretty serendipitous, I would say.Me and Tom actually met kind of out of the blue at a church service in Hollywood that I was cantering at.
And Tom was looking to revive this work, basically, that he had put up back in the 90s and was looking for
a new composer at first maybe just to write a tune and see if we could get some sparks flying but then after that we had like you know a couple brunch meetings a tune here and there sent back and forth and then it was kind of like a month of whirlwind you know writing and collaborating and and really getting everything off the ground it was amazing
Well, building on that, Tom, I'm going to come back to you and ask, what has it been like developing this piece and getting it up on its feet?I mean, at the time of this recording, y'all are in tech right now.
Yes.Well, as Joe said, it's been a serendipitous relationship, but a wonderful and smooth one.Our collaboration is been like the musical.There are people of all ages in the cast.There's everything in the musical is about relationships.
And when I first came up with the concept for this show, it related very much to my life and my spiritual and metaphysical journey.
So applicable to what all of us experience, our relationship with our parents, our relationship with one another, love relationships, interest. the things that get in the way in our journey of life, self-doubt, affirmation.
And it's been extraordinary for Joe and I, who are separated by four decades in our age.But in our collaboration, it's been as smooth as a famous singer would say, bada.It's been really smooth.We've been able to marry lyrics and music
from two generations.So we give people an intergenerational experience in the musical, in the storyline, in the lyrics, and in what we each bring to it.And the synergy is exciting and dynamic.
If you'll come to the theater and see it, we promise to entertain you.And if you're not humming the tunes in the shower, you'll be humming them in the car.We promise that, or we'll give you your money back.
I love that.Joe, anything you'd like to add regarding the development of the show?
I would add working with the cast specifically has been truly fantastic and opened our eyes to a lot more places this show could go and has gone.We've had so many stages so far of workshop and staged reading and with each kind of generation
it has developed into an even more beautiful piece.
At least musically, especially I can speak to, I've had actors try so many different things and take the songs to places both like melodically and also emotionally that I would never have anticipated they would have found or dug into.
And being able to work with actors like that who are excited about a new work and also kind of want to put their stamp of their individuality onto our piece.
It's felt very fulfilling that we've created this foundation and then other people are kind of giving it the wings to, you know, find where it truly needs to go.
And if I can add to that, to Joe's point, we have a cast of eight in this musical and the orchestra.In the cast of eight, we have seasoned actors who have performed on Broadway and all over the world.And we have young
actors, very talented, who this is maybe their first time on a professional stage.But if you can see the scene, you let us know.It is such a seamless collaboration.And in reality, while Joe and I may be the creators, this isn't our piece anymore.
It is the orchestra that brings their music to it.It's the talent of the characters that these actors are developing.It's all of us questioning, what do you believe this character is really all about?
Share it with everyone in the cast and to a cast member.How do you see that character that you relate to?How do you hear them?What do you think about them? And then we like to be questioned.Does this make sense to you?
Because then we want to see how an audience reacts to it.So it's really been, you know, new theater, new pieces, whether they're plays or musicals, are difficult to do.Musicals are very difficult to do.
You have to really be in tune with every moment of the fast pace and make it
rational such that an audience is going to understand it and they're going to absorb whether they're going to relate to it like the music like the lyrics like the story identify with the character it's it's it really takes on its own life and what will it be like after 10 performances 20 performances it'll be different again it's all fantastic tom as the director of the piece in addition to one of the creators is there a particular message or thought you're hoping the audiences take away from this
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.There's a song in the show that's called Miracles.It's about every day you make choices, and those choices can be miracles.
If you live in a box, and this is your box, this is my box, your box, Joe's box, and you don't know what's outside of that box, you may never experience it.So it's about taking risks.
It's about, if you're afraid of something, maybe that's an arrow pointing to where you should go. wonderful playwright wrote that once, and it stuck with me my whole life.It's the adventure of life.See it as an adventure.
Don't be afraid to express what you feel, to try to understand it.Find out you're not alone.We want people to feel good about their lives.This is a time where we need some comic relief in our country.
We need some karmic relief in our country where we can leave a theater and learn something about ourselves.Maybe I leave the theater and I would interact with you very differently, Andrew, from something I see in a play or a musical.
That's really what we're looking to have happen.It's the adventure of a young 20-year-old girl.
but it's also her relationship with her mom, the mom's relationship with another love interest, the interaction between a group of friends who have all different backgrounds.
It's the sage character in it that lives in an airstream in the desert who's sort of, you know, when we're trying to find ourselves, sometimes we go off to where we're peaceful.Some of us may go to the woods or some of us
may go to an island or however it is we find ourselves we all have a way that we refuel and we figure things out and then we come back and we continue our adventure it is the adventure we bring everyone into an immersive experience.
When you walk into that theater, you will feel the energy of this adventure for 90 straight minutes.
And there's a lot of exciting things, including video projections within the theater on the screen that takes us all of these places, sometimes in our imagination and sometimes for real.
I love that.Love that.A message that is so important now more than ever.Absolutely.Joe, anything you'd like to add to that idea?
I think the only thing I would add is it, yeah, it's truly a show about kind of finding your place no matter what stage of life that you're in.We all have opportunity to grow and evolve and learn no matter who we are or where we're from.
And oftentimes it is that journey itself that is the most important.And I think being able to change and being amenable to seeing the world around you from different perspectives constantly as we grow and we age and we change is super important.
So hopefully people can relate to that and see that from our work.
And if I can add another note, Andrew, to what Joe just said and what I've said.If you're a fan of Justice Plays and you like the serious dramas, we have some drama
I would also bet and make a wager with our audiences that if you come, you will laugh and you may shed a tear.There are moments and deep moments where people talk about difficult times in their life and how they've cooked with them.
Or there's a wonderful song where people who go from one adventure to another and they still haven't found themselves question Am I in the right place?Am I doing the right thing?There's some really tender, exciting moments like that.
So if you're a straight play lover, come to this musical.I think we can reach your heart strings through a lot of the dialogue and lyric. and Joe's music, which is really extraordinary.
There's emotion in Joe's music, how he matched it to the lyrics so seamlessly.It was an adventure unto itself.So there's a lot in content.It's a, I will say this as the lyricist, it's a wordy musical.We put a lot out there.
There's a backstory in how I wrote the story that relates to my own experiences in life and my own adventures that then got applied to this musical comedy through other characters in a completely different storyline.
But if we took one topic like karma, what do you think that means?What do I think it means?Are we judgmental with karma?Or do we think about, oh, karma is going to get you, Andrew, but not me?Or what have I done in my life
to create this karmic experience where I'm paying my dues, or did I do something in another lifetime?Or if I were in Joe's place, or I was in the president's place, this is what I would do.
We talk about those kinds of experiences in our adventures in life.So we try to make this more meaningful than just a musical, you're in, you have a good time and you go.
So wonderful, wonderful. All of that barrels into my first part, which is, who are you hoping to have access to adventures in the great beyond?And Joe, can I start that with you, please?
Yeah, I actually think this is a really fantastic show for people who may not traditionally be theater goers.I think sometimes what can be difficult is, I mean, I've been a theater person since I was a kid, my whole life.
And a lot of times, unfortunately, people who live outside of that bubble don't always get access to these stories that are so wonderful and meaningful.And I think our show does a lot to kind of bridge the gap between
We have these elements of traditional musical theater that like people who are fans of the art form will appreciate.We also have stuff that is for people who maybe are just interested in the story or interested in like this spectacle that we're
putting them in or they're interested in kind of the place we're taking it musically.
So I would love for it to be a show where we can try to bridge that gap a little bit and maybe get some people in the door who aren't traditionally, you know, going to see new works on a Friday night.
And thus far, Joe and I have been surprised that we've seen people of different ages attract to it.So we're excited to see which of the generations from Gen Z to Baby Boomers attract to this song or that song or this moment or that moment.
And so if people give it a chance, we're hoping that it's the type of show that they'll send others to see.And we certainly would love to see the show and be seen by a lot of folks.
For the second part of our interviews, we love giving our listeners the chance to get to know our guests a little bit better.Pick your brains, if you will.And I would love to start with our regular first question, which is, what or who inspired you?
What playwrights, composers, or shows have inspired you in the past or are just some of your favorites?And Joe, why don't we kick the second half off with you, if we could?
Sure, I have so many pages of musical inspirations.I want to give like all of the support and love to my parents who exposed me to so much music when I was so young.My mom was a huge Showtunes fan.
Anything like Stephen Schwartz ever did, I was singing in the car with her always.
so that was amazing but she also loved like 70s Motown and my dad loved like 80s hair bands and country music and like crooners from the 50s and so I feel like I was just getting all of this crazy different angles of music from when I was so young
And that has always really inspired me to kind of pick the sounds that I like from each genre and each element and try to fuse them into something that I can hopefully call my own.
And especially with regards to this show, it's been a really fun exploration of
as far as musical theater composers go i love like a catchy show tune which is not only like the stuff from like golden age jazz adjacent musical theater and i was a jazz major in college so all that stuff was like in our playing wheelhouse but also stuff that's like pasick and paul type yeah it's like pop music but we're in a theater and people are you know singing
waving through a window in their car every day.That kind of stuff really inspires me.But also the level of like technical prowess from like a Jason Robert Brown and like only he can play the score because it's so crazy type of stuff.
So fusing those elements together of, yeah, I want this to be like a pop rock show where like people can sing and hum and, you know, dance on their own time and this and that.
But also like, I want to try to voice the ensemble in the same way that I would like voice a big band when I was in college.
So things like that have been so much fun for me and inspire me always to create new sounds and delve into what I love to delve into. That is fantastic.I am right there with you.
The only thing I'll add to that too is my favorite memory from my childhood is like right after we would sing Back in Black in my dad's car growing up, he loved to sing Sit Down John from 1776.He would recite it word for word.
He does it like every Christmas now.That whole musical, he can go through the whole thing.But it's that same thing of like,
show tune to rock tune to this tune so much fun so much fun all right so christmas over at joe's house that's all i'm hearing tom what about you what are who inspires you so unlike you and joe i come from another generation and i think we would have a great discussion if i were to say so much of the music you like now was
created and was very popular in my generation as a child from rock and roll, et cetera.Starting with family like Joe did, my eldest brother was a rock and roll drummer.My second eldest brother was a quite an accomplished jazz musician.
He recorded with Dizzy Gillespie and Jaco Pastoris and all these folks.So, but for me as a lyricist, I think I should answer.Anything Stephen Sondheim lyrics or music, I'm there.
And I lived 32 years in New York City, and I worked in theater, and the influence was deep in those 30 years in New York City.I saw a lot of theater I would go to.
London and see 13 shows in about a week or two, and then I'd come back and wait for that show to come to New York and see how it changed and listen to it and maybe go to it three or four or five times or second act it.
And the influences come from growing up hearing so much great music in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
and then at some point learning to develop a style from all the styles I like sometimes you'd copy a style till you get your own and then at some point you kind of want to follow your inner vision.
and listen to yourself and see where that takes you.And see if, I always ask someone, Andrew or Joe or anyone, what is it that you do that when you start doing it creatively, you don't know where it comes from?That's probably what you love the most.
When I sit down and write, I do not know where the words come from.I know they're gonna come.And that's how I approach something. and I have to feel it, and I gravitate to music and lyrics that I can feel the emotion.And I love different styles.
As I said, Sondheim, I got to see a lot of Broadway shows and off-Broadway shows, and I love off-Broadway.I tend to always want to write six and two and eight character shows because they can tour, they're compact, and they can entertain.
And I was also trained in theater and musical theater was my first pass in theater as an adult.
I was also trained that if you can't do it with two headlights and a black box and the audience, you don't grab your audience, then you're doing something wrong.
So we're not minimalists with this show, I'll tell you that for sure, because it's a real immersive experience.And I think we're experimental in a number of very creative ways, but as Joe said, there's a lot
traditional theater style within it also, but a lot of non-traditional too, where we're taking some risks, just using projection mapping to the degree that we're using it in the show to try to make it an immersive experience so people feel what the characters feel is a risk we're taking with the show.
I love that, love that. Well, Tom, I want to kick my next question off with you.And I want to know, what is your favorite part about working in the theater?
Not knowing what the next moment's going to be.Imagining something.Imagining something.
see it come to life, create lyrics, and then have someone like Joe put them to music the way he wants to put them to music, to see how those marry, and then see a character speak your words.They speak your words and they sing your words.
I'll get emotional here, but I get very emotional to see that.And when it works, it's magic. And when you define it as it doesn't work, it isn't that it doesn't work.You need to go another direction.
Joe and I, one of the other blessings of our relationship is we have cut some tunes.We liked them.It just didn't fit in the show. It's sort of, I like my mom and dad, I don't think they should be in the show.
But we had to do that with the tunes, because Joe may be married to certain music or an element of a song, and I may be married to a lyric or a dialogue line, but I would just as soon cut it if it serves the purpose.
And I think that anyone that's in theater, you have to put the purpose before the people and look at it that way, because, you know, You can't come into theater saying, how many lines do I have to take a role?
The one individual that we talk about, the sage that lives in the desert, she said that she has never in her life accepted a job before she's read the script or listened to the music and she did with this one.She knew she was going to do it.Why?
I think she felt that kind of energy.And that tone is set without a doubt by the creators, but it has to be company-wide for it to ultimately work.
And that includes technicians and everyone on the production team and everyone that works on it because it really takes a village in theater.You can't edit eight shows a week or three shows a week In a film you can, in television you can't.
You can't do it in theater.You've got to do it live, original, and feel it every time you do it.
Amen.Absolutely to that.Joe, what about you?What is your favorite part about working in the theater?
I think the element of live performance is just pure magic.I think Some of my most formative and special memories have either been like performing in or watching a live piece that just like sucks you out of reality for an hour.
And then like the house lights come on and you're like, oh my God, right, I live in California.And you're like, wow, like that is a really magical thing that I think oftentimes you can't get in different spaces.
So having that level of like, this is live, it's real, it's happening right now in front of you, we're all going to this place together and then in an hour and a half we'll all be back to what we were.
That's just like such an incredible feeling that I hope I can do literally for the rest of time.There's nothing like it for sure.
Oh, I love that answer.And I want to snowball off of all of that, and I want to ask you two my favorite question to ask guests, and that is, what is your favorite theater memory?
I have one that is really special to me.This was actually not from a show that I performed in, but some theater that I went to see. with my oldest sister, Catherine.She lives in New York City.
And I remember when I graduated, I think from high school, one of my graduation gifts was I got to see the production of Angels in America that was on Broadway.And there was one night a week, they did both parts the same day.
And you see the matinee of part one and the evening show is part two.It's like six hours of theater, seven hours of theater, whatever it is.And it was literally this moment you just described.
I remember after part one ending, me and my sister just looking at each other and just being there, saying nothing.The theater is so still.
you're just like oh my god like that that was so powerful like i i i am just like no words to describe that we went back for part two and it was the same thing you're just in the theater you feel like two weeks go by but really it's been like 45 minutes and that is just a memory i will hold forever in my heart it was so so wonderful
to share it with her and to be in the city and to feel it all.And I think that was a moment too, I was like, yeah, this is a space where magic happens.This is where the art happens for sure.
I love that memory and what an amazing show too.That's fabulous.
So incredible, so incredible.
There's a lot of them, and obviously one must ultimately say here and now, because it's a culmination of it, but I do have two I would mention.You know, I told you I had four careers.
I gave up a very promising career in public health for theater to take a job for $125 a week that then led to me performing and then getting a professional offer and then directing and producing and creating two theater companies and moving to New York and
et cetera, and everything that came from that.But I remember seeing a musical theater production with my mom who worked for the Girl Scouts of America and a whole bunch of Girl Scout leaders.And it was Annie.
But being in a Broadway theater with my own mom, and seeing something that really sparked me.And I'd seen, I don't think, I think that's the first musical.I had certainly performed in high school.
I was on my way in college to becoming a psychologist, and then I ended up working in public health.But when I switched to theater, And then I remember moving to New York, didn't have a dime to my name, and I went back home to Western Pennsylvania.
And my best friend from college and his wife, they met in college and got married, his wife said, well, what do you really plan to accomplish?What would be success for you in New York?
You've moved there, you left a promising career, you went into theater, you're not making any money. What would you really like to have happen?Well, I made something up on the spot because I didn't know what to say.
I said, well, it would be really nice if I could be in an off-Broadway show in three years.Well, in three years, My first off-Broadway show that I wrote opened off-Broadway, and I've had several since.
And then I went on to more, and I remember also when I gave up my public health career, I remember my dad, God bless him and rest his soul, said, oh, you're throwing your life away.
But I also remember by the time my second off-Broadway show came about, and he was there at opening night, he looked at me like a dad can, and he said, you've done all right for yourself.And he patted me on the back.
And those are the kind of things you hold with you, no matter what you take on, no matter what you love.And it also inspires you too. Stick with the vision within.
The show's certainly a lot about that, because we're inundated, especially in this world with social media, with opinions.And one of my favorite lines is, your opinion of me is none of my business.It's hard to listen to yourself.It's really hard.
But theater gives you the opportunity to really express.And it helps you with your health, your mental health, and your well-being.I'd certainly recommend a theater experience, acting, singing, any of the above.
for anyone that wants to enhance their ability to understand themselves.So those are my kind of stories all lumped into one looking back.
I love those.Those are wonderful.Cannot wait for your book to come out.No, I love both of those.Those are wonderful.Thank you so much for sharing those.
As we wrap things up, I would love to know if our listeners would like more information about adventures in the great beyond or about either of you.Maybe they'd like to reach out to you.How can they do so?
A couple of ways you can. Go on social media channels from Instagram to TikTok, to Threads, to Facebook, and put in Adventures in the Great Beyond Musical, and you'll find our social media sites.You'll hear some clips from the show.
You'll hear some of the actors and various of us talking a little bit about it, short ones to take 30 seconds and watch it, or two minutes, or you can buy tickets through onstage411.com, Great Beyond.
You could go to Eventbrite if you want to press the button with Apple Pay and buy your tickets, or you can call the box office at the Hudson Theater in Hollywood.
We're beginning our first performance on November 1, and we're running six weeks every Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 3, until December 8.And we're hoping for good audiences and good reviews.
maybe we'll be around for a while, but we're, you know, the musical is about this life and the next and the next and the next.So we're hoping to be around for that long.
Perfect.Well, Tom, Joe, thank you both so, so much for taking the time to speak with me and sharing your wonderful new work.I am truly excited for it.It just makes me want to just get a private plane so I can hop on it and head out there.
This is fabulous.So I can't wait for the show to have a huge success in Hollywood and then make its way out here to the Big Apple.So thank you both so much today for your time.
Andrew, thank you, and we wish you the best in becoming a parent, and we have a seat for you, your wife, and your new baby.
My guests today have been two fantastic artists, the book writer, lyricist, and director, Tom Kyoto, and the composer and musical director, Joe Netter.
They joined me to talk about their new show being presented by the Great Beyond Company and the Hudson Theater, Adventures in the Great Beyond.
It's playing now through December 8th at the Hudson Main Stage Theater in Hollywood, California, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting onstage411.com.
We also have some contact information for our guests, which we'll be posting in our episode description, as well as on our social media posts.But hurry over to onstage411.com right now.Get your tickets for this great show.
You will not want to miss it. Come join the Hipster Club, where we can all say we saw it when.Again, the show is Adventures in the Great Beyond, playing now through December 8th.
So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies, and keep talking about the theater in a stage whisper.Thank you.
If you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review, like, and subscribe.
You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Stage Whisper Pod.
And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod at gmail.com.
And be sure to check out our website for all things Stage Whisper and theater.You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets, and more.Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is Maniac by Jazzar.
Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar and Billy Murray.You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com slash stage whisper pod.There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar.
Thank you so much for your generosity.We could not do this show without you.
Sign in
