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[0:01] Eli Tokash: Hello everyone and welcome to this I guess bonus episode or like mini episode if you want to call it that of Take A Bow. I'm your host Eli Tokash as always and I just wanted to come on here today and just share my appreciation and gratitude with the wonderful listeners, those of you who listen to this show on a weekly basis and just your support through this time for us as we have taken a little bit of a hiatus and that's definitely that that has a lot of factors that have played into this, a lot of factors that I will I can't wait to I guess indulge and share with all of you very very soon. And so I just wanted to come on here today and tell you all that we are back and we are going to be back starting tomorrow with an unbelievable guest.

We have none other than the Broadway legend herself, Robyn Hurder, on the podcast this week and we have Robyn on in a special episode that we are both dedicating to Gavin Creel, who is one of the most beloved performers in our industry who we lost this past month. And he is such a bright light and he is, I guess I will say that like Robyn and I actually connected through the same project that where I met Gavin Creel and that's the yearly concert of I Put a Spell on You that is done sometimes benefiting Broadway Cares. More recently, it's been benefiting a more global cause, the Ali Forney Center, and Robyn has been a part of I Put a Spell on You for years as was Gavin Creel and I have been a part of it for years now.

And so every year we would always look forward, or I guess I would always look forward to being back in a room with those wonderful people. And this Monday, we are going, I guess Sunday and Monday because Sunday's tech, but Sunday and Monday I'm lucky enough to be back in the room with Robyn and you all can be too if you come and join us and celebrate and honor Gavin and all of his efforts that he did both on stage and off stage and oftentimes at the same time in giving back to just the people that he loves and a community that he loves in a community that is dear to him. And I just wanted to come on here and say that we're back tomorrow and that is for to honor Gavin Creel with Robyn Hurder and it's gonna be a full-on episode.

It's gonna be a regular episode, we're gonna be doing some Broadway news, obviously there's so much to catch up on. Just a brief little backstory here and then I'll let you all go for today and move on to tomorrow, but basically Take a Bow has been on a brief hiatus for probably six weeks now which has absolutely flown. And y'all, to be completely blunt with y'all, without going in depth into it all, we're just figuring out the next steps. Obviously, we're not going anywhere. I love this show that we have built and that you all listen to every week and it is an absolute honor that you all come and support this every week and also send messages and sending like, "Hey, hope all is well, hope that Take a Bow is still going," and all these things have been so lovely.

And I'm so sorry for leaving you all out to dry through these past couple months, but I'm here to say that there are some very exciting things happening and very, I don't know, things that I'm excited about that I can't, I don't know how much I can share right now or how much I want to share right now because we are obviously still figuring out the logistics. And so we will be here hopefully weekly, I will say these past, this past season really, but also these past two seasons ever since the COVID pandemic really, obviously media has been such a heightened thing in all aspects of life and so obviously it's grown a lot in our industry here on Broadway. And so I will say all the shows that are on Broadway right now, obviously y'all know or may have caught on that I really like to have current and current guests on and like relevant to talk about like the shows that are currently on Broadway just to have that relevant source of like, "Oh, what do people want to see on Broadway?"

Oh, well here's a show that they can hear about and sort of provide that bridge to Broadway audiences or even like newer audiences that are coming out of town to visit and stuff like that. So I enjoy that and with that comes very challenging obstacles because these shows now are very press team oriented. So you have to go through press teams and then you have to get it approved and then you have to get it approved from the actor themselves and then there's no direct communication with the actor until the interview begins. And so like even like if the last minute things come about for both the actor and or, you know, myself, it's hard. Like last minute things can get rescheduled and it's literally like five minutes before because there's just no open communication or direct line of communication right away.

And so it's been tricky, especially as of late. There have been so many opportunities that I've been so excited about that have just fallen through and no, no, you know, just because things happen and that's the nature of our industry and so that's completely fine. And I look forward to continue hopefully revisiting those opportunities or, you know, just looking forward to the next opportunity that comes. But I want to say that like it has been very hard to find these guests and obviously like nowadays it's been super taxing with the amount of media and doing eight shows a week that these performers have to do on top of doing their lives and continuing to audition and possibly doing readings and stuff throughout the day.

You know, it's just been, it's just another layer to the puzzle that like people are just like, you know, it just, it's an added element that it's harder to work around. So I appreciate you all for bearing with me throughout this hiatus as well as us finding out our next steps. And as I alluded to earlier, that really just comes with, you know, our social media following has been so lovely and so gracious that we want to not only do our weekly episodes but we also want to figure out how to create social media content and more YouTube content and digital content for all of you that enjoy that space. That has been so overwhelmingly incredible, the feedback that we have received from the little amount that we've kind of tapped into that space.

So we want to figure out how to continue to grow that and maybe do that more or focus on that even more. But as always, we want to come back with the goal is always weekly content for you all. I have so many theater updates for you folks with shows that I've seen and exciting news to share with you all and just things to talk about because it's been so long. So with that being said, thank you all so much again for your patience throughout this time as we figure out, you know, where to not even pivot but like how to figure out what kind of content we want to do and is it gonna be weekly interviews? Is it, you know, the other thing is getting on just like friends again and even though, you know, I try to do new guests every week, but the reality of that is after 200 episodes, you know, this industry is not as...

[10:05] Eli Tokash: It is a big industry, but it's also such a small community that it's hard to get new people on every week. So maybe we'll get some more returning guests on here every once in a while, especially the ones that were on here 200 episodes ago, and we have not talked to them since. And the show has grown so much. I have grown so much. They have grown so much. So there's obviously so many incredible things to talk about that it would be a completely different show. So we're just figuring it all out and we're just putting it all on the table. And as I said, the goal is weekly episodes. So obviously come back again tomorrow for our regular episode. I wanted to come on here today on Thursdays, which is usually when our episodes drop.

But I wanted to come on here to make sure that you all saw that we were coming back first and it wasn't just like, oh, new episode, what the heck is going on? So yes, this is what this is. And I'm gonna leave you all with a show that I absolutely fell in love with during this little stint. I would say a week or two ago, I had the pleasure of attending the opening night of Safety Not Guaranteed at BAM. And I want to shout this out right now, because the sooner that y'all hear about it, the better. I will probably say it again tomorrow in the full episode with Robin. But Safety Not Guaranteed is a musical that made me believe in musical theater again. And I'm so grateful to have seen it. And this is not something that I say lightly, because oftentimes I like to come on here and I like to boast about musicals, even if I don't like them, because I support the performers in the show and the hard work that goes into it.

But honest to God, Off-Broadway, the theater is just unlike anything else. And it's the simplicity of it all. It's the brilliance of the writing where you can focus on that and the story and not be kind of blindfolded or masked by the incredible sets or costumes or whatever that the big, big budget commercials are going or commercial theater, I guess it does. But this is happening over at BAM in Brooklyn. And honest to God, it's the most incredible space. And it's the perfect show to see that venue, like it's the perfect venue to see that showing. And so I cannot recommend it more. And I'm recommending it now because it is closing this Sunday on October 20th. And I hope that everyone sees it.

I saw it with my sister. My sister went back to that show tonight because we just related so much to it. I would have gone with her, but I had a class from six to nine, so I couldn't go see the show. But the show is incredible. If you've ever felt like an outsider or if you've ever felt alone and like, it's crazy to say because it's like, oh, like you're an actor, blah, blah, blah. No, like if you've ever felt like an outsider or like you've ever felt like a sense of regret, a sense of just so you're struggling or you're finding still your relationship with time and your relationship with yourself and your relationship with others. And like all of those things I just said, like you, everyone in the world relates to that in some sort of way.

Everyone relates with that in a different way. And I'm just so thrilled that I got to experience that show at this time in my life because it spoke so much to me. And by the way, Taylor Trench stars in it, and he alone is worth going to see the show. He is absolutely brilliant in this role. He's by far my favorite actor, especially after seeing the show. Like it's just everything about his performance in the show reminds you of like what it is to be an actor. And I'm getting deep with this because I feel so passionate about it. And so I just hope that everyone gets a chance to see it. And I hope that it has a life after this Sunday because it deserves it. And the music is just brilliant. By the way, Safety Not Guaranteed, I may have said that title and you may have been like, I feel like I heard of that.

You probably have. It was based off a movie with who? Aubrey Plaza. And one of my personal favorites, Jake Johnson, who plays Nick in New Girl. So it is that movie. The musical is very different. In my opinion, the musical is 10 times better than the movie ever was or ever probably could be. I was not a huge fan of the movie, but I loved, loved, loved the musical. And I would not be shocked if we see it on Broadway within these next couple of years. That's how much I believe in the show. And I believe that everyone who's listening right now would be honored to be like, oh, I saw this show when, you know, I really believe that it's going to be one of those shows. And I just absolutely loved it.

So I wanted to come on here and say that. And I will probably reiterate it again tomorrow when I release the full episode with Robin. But with that being said, I can't thank you all enough again for your patience, your support, and just the time to not only like recalibrate and like refresh, but also like figure out what's next. You know, like I'm 21 now. I'm not, you know, what was it? 16, 17 when I started this. You know, I just feel like I'm at a different point in my life. The content may, you know, change a little bit more. I kind of want to, I want to explore being a little more like, you know, not so kiddy content, you know, for lack of a better term. It's like, I want to have realer conversations that I want to get deep and get into those personal relationships.

And I think tomorrow, it will be a kind of a small step forward in that direction into what I'm talking about, as well as some exciting new things that we will be adding to our weekly episodes. So with that being said, again, I cannot wait for these next steps and what's to come. And I cannot wait to have you all along for the ride. And those of you listening to this, I know are the ones that will be along for the ride because y'all are the real ones. So I appreciate you. And I'm rambling at this point. So I'm going to let you all go with your Thursday, you know, afternoons or whenever you're listening to this. I appreciate you all more than you know, and I can't wait to be back. So let's start this off with a bang.

I'm going to call this, honestly, I feel like this should be like a season four, almost, of Take A Bow. I know I don't usually do that, but I've seen podcasts do that. I've kind of just gone like weekly for 200 weeks, or I've tried to maybe a week or two off here and there. But yeah, we're going to just like dive into quote unquote, season four of Take A Bow, starting tomorrow with episode 212. I know it's such a weird, you know, number to just dive into whatever. But I say let's go for it. And I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks. And, you know, excited to see what the next steps are. Okay. With that being said, thank you all so much again. And I hope that you all have had an amazing past couple months.

And if you are struggling with anything, it's okay. It's gonna be okay. And you're great. And you're loved. I love you. And that's all I have. So come back tomorrow with an incredible episode with Robin Hurder, as we talk about her career, but also her personal life. And it's just so exciting. And, and so incredible to learn about. And I think that especially like if you're a big fan of Robin Hurder, like myself, you're really going to enjoy this episode. So I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. All right, everyone. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. All right, everybody, I will. So that is all I have for you folks for this episode, this mini episode. With that being said, I cannot.

So that is all I have for you folks for this little mini episode here of Take A Bow, as we dive into our season four of Take A Bow. And I just hope to see you tomorrow as we kick it off with none other than the fabulous Robin Hurder. All right, everyone. Have a great day. And I'll see you tomorrow.