Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical), Michael James Scott (Aladdin), and Sara Bareilles (Waitress) discuss what it’s like bringing their shows back into the rehearsal room.
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TRANSCRIPT
It was the most incredible thing to come into the first day of rehearsal and feel that energy that we've all been aching and hungry to feel for so long.
[♪♪♪♪] Arabian nights [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Like Arabian days [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] More often than not [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Are hotter than hot [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] In a lot of good ways [♪♪♪♪] And there's nothing you can really do to really just prepare you for that intensity, that is the theater.
What we put our bodies through eight times a week.
I took for granted how fierce we were before the pandemic [laugh] And what it takes to get back to that fierceness.
It's taken a lot longer than I expected.
Broadway is hard, y'all. Broadway is hard!
[Cheers and applause] The first rehearsal was wild. It was surreal.
It was overwhelming.
This extraordinary community of artists and artisans, you know, Waitress has a massive family.
There's so many people behind the scenes that have been toiling over this and trying to get this to come to life.
So today, we're just filming 'Opening Up' kind of with the purpose of everyone getting to hear everyone's voices again for the first time.
Just capturing again, the essence of reopening, opening up.
Resilience and faith. It's like rising up.
Those themes resonate so deeply to me right now.
[♪♪♪♪] The day starts like the rest we've seen [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Another carbon copy of an old routine [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Days keep coming, One out, One in , They keep coming [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] I don't know what I wish I had, But there's no time now for thinking things like that [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] We've got too much to do [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Too much to do, All these same things , We're always [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Opening up [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Letting the day in [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Over a cup, We'll say 'Hello, how ya been' [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] 'Thank you, come again! [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Lookin around, Seeing the same things, Everyday bring [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] 'Hello, how ya been? Thank you, come again!' [♪♪♪♪] It was fun. I mean, everything like snapped into reality in this very beautiful and sort of intense way.
[♪♪♪♪] Opening up , Some things never change [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] 'Hello, how ya been? Thank you, come again!' [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Some things never change [♪♪♪♪] [Cheers and applause] It's very, very meaningful to me. These people are extensions of my family.
They've been absolutely amazing and nothing feels better than being back in a room with other artists, you know, passing the ball around.
I have a few notes.
[Laughs] [♪♪♪♪] Vocalizing [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Vocalizing [♪♪♪♪] So when I found out Broadway was coming back, I was completely not in shape [laughs] so the first thing I thought was, 'Oh my gosh, how do I get in shape so quickly within like three months?'
And I just buckled down and did it.
And I also had to realize, you know what, like I'm older now and I am just a different woman and it's okay if my body's not gonna be exactly what it was.
And to come into this role again, just as a new Adrienne and to like, really be in love with that person and in this body, this vessel, that has gotten me through a lot, so thank you body.
But I was terrified [laughs] when I found out Broadway I was coming back.
[♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] [♪♪♪♪] Whoa!
[♪♪♪♪] I mean, I was so excited that we were gonna bring the show back, praying that I could bring it back, that they would let me come back.
And then when we went into the rehearsal room, I realized I completely forgotten the show [♪♪♪♪] [Adrienne starts to sing] [♪♪♪♪] No, oh my god, I messed up!
[Cheers and laughter] [♪♪♪♪]
