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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Hi, everybody. This is Robert Bannon, and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news. The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show, brand new and now up and running with brand new round table merchandise. Go to robertbannon.com. Follow me on Instagram, and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show.

[0:29] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Well, welcome to the Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon, and you're listening to us on Broadway World, the Broadway podcast network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists talk about art. I love dogs. I have two. One is little, one is big, one is old and happy and grump, like happily just living, and the other one, as you hear him huffing and puffing, is a psycho. What if our dogs could help us? What if we could, you know, talk about dogs and their ideas and all the things that come and sit and stay and come see the dog show? It's a brand new company, and what if dogs could finally tell us what they really think? My dogs would say, I'm crazy.

Jordan is here. Angela is here. Gisele is here. And my old friend, AJ, who's been here, you know, he's a, I don't know, a circus performing Broadway superstar. I don't know how to describe it. But I'm so happy that you're all here. Jordan, the dog show, what in the world? Tell me about it.

[1:27] Jordan Matthew Brown: Yeah, it's a beautiful show that consists of monologues that we are lucky enough to perform as the dogs. So this is a story of, I'm not sure how many. I was like, do you guys know? Is it, I mean, 18, 20, 23? There's a certain number of dogs. I've had an hour and 18 minutes worth.

[1:50] Jordan Matthew Brown: Yes, of dogs. And you get to come up and tell the story of each specific dog and share their inner thoughts. This is, you all get to be a specific. Angela, hi.

[2:03] Angela Reed: Yeah, hi. You, you have done, like, Angela is like a serious actress, everybody. Like, if you ever, if you saw.

[2:10] Robert Bannon: I'm very serious.

[2:11] Angela Reed: She's serious. I saw you in A Doll's House. A Doll's House, they're all Broadway superstar. Like they're all.

[2:17] Angela Reed: You didn't see me in A Doll's House. You saw Laurie Metcalf in A Doll's House, as everyone did.

[2:24] Robert Bannon: But you were, because you were in it, but you weren't on the stage.

[2:27] Angela Reed: I was standing by for her.

[2:29] Robert Bannon: But doesn't that mean you're like the world's second best Laurie Metcalf? Like you were.

[2:33] Angela Reed: Probably. I kind of have won several Tonys because I have worked for her.

[2:38] Robert Bannon: When people need Laurie Metcalf, but she's at Starbucks, they call you. So what do you.

[2:43] Angela Reed: No, I'm kidding, Angela. You're incredible. And other shows, Broadway star as you are. What dog are you? Do you like dogs?

[2:50] Angela Reed: I'm a dog freak. Now, my husband and I had a dog for 13 years and he was a Pitbull. He was a Blue Nose Pitbull, the most gorgeous dog in the world. Oh, there's a little painting behind me that my brother-in-law commissioned. Right there. I can't do this backwards. Right there. He passed away at 15, which was kind of amazing for a large 75-pound Pitbull. And we were obsessed with him and we're still obsessed with him. And now we do a lot of dog sitting, which is great fun. We have a dog coming this afternoon and he's going to be with us all next week.

[3:29] Robert Bannon: A stranger dog?

[3:30] Angela Reed: Yes. We've met her. It's a her. Yeah, Blue. We've met her, but she has never been our roommate before. So we're looking forward to that.

[3:39] Robert Bannon: You're subletting your house to dogs. That's perfect. And by the way, I didn't mean to Jordan to not talk about your Broadway. He's a Broadway star as well. And he has a dog.

[3:48] Jordan Matthew Brown: Oh, yeah.

[3:49] Robert Bannon: Okay. So moving on now to Giselle. Giselle also in Wicked. You've seen, she's been on stages before in this world. Giselle, how'd the show come to you?

[4:01] Gizel Jiménez: Mark Kaplan, our producer, reached out and asked if I was available. And I was. I was like, let's do it. I'm a dog mom. My dog, he's part German Shepherd, part Australian cattle. And he's eight years old and his name is Banksy.

[4:18] Robert Bannon: Like the painter.

[4:19] Gizel Jiménez: Yeah, like the artist.

[4:21] Robert Bannon: Artist.

[4:21] Gizel Jiménez: Yeah. My dog is the best. Really dramatic, really needy, but still has puppy energy at eight years old. So I'm hoping it's going to be a long time.

[4:37] Robert Bannon: I love that so much. That's incredible. So AJ has done many things. He's a talented person who creates and does all sorts of stuff besides being a theater star. When you heard that you got to be a dog, is this like a dream for an actor or is this a nightmare? Is it scary?

[4:54] A.J. Shively: Oh, no, it's a total dream. I mean, I guess it's always scary to do weird things in front of people you've never met before who have paid money to be entertained by those weird things. But no, I thought it was so much fun. So each of these monologues is an archetype of a certain kind of dog. So I have like the Frisbee dog or the dog begging for scraps at the table or, you know, a really klutzy Great Dane, right? And I have so much fun just kind of dropping into these personalities of these guys that we know so well. And the whole evening is full of, you know, all laughter is laughter of recognition. It's like for dog lovers, by dog lovers, with dog lovers, as dogs.

[5:52] Robert Bannon: I love it. And AJ, everybody, go blue. I'm in Detroit, Michigan right now.

[5:56] A.J. Shively: Oh, you are?

[5:58] Robert Bannon: I am. My husband's from here. We split our time here in Detroit. So, hey, Ann Arbor. Hey, University of Michigan. And that's an alum. He went there, too. So I can't, I don't know anything about none of that. But go football, woo, yay, blue.

[6:11] A.J. Shively: Are you going to a game while you're up there?

[6:15] Robert Bannon: Do they have food? Can I get like a hamburger?

[6:17] A.J. Shively: It's so good. The whole city shuts down. There's a big tailgate. Like the whole city of Ann Arbor is like one big tailgate party. You should go. It's really fun.

[6:25] Robert Bannon: I'm going to, I promised you I'm going to go. He asked me to go. When you come here, I'm taking you to a game and I'm going to get you done. So I love it. So, Jordan, you're a comedian guy. Like you do a lot of funny shows. You've been in a lot of funny shows. What is so humorous about this show? It's a political, I told you, my show is as nuts as your show, everybody. So what is it that makes people love dogs and find this so funny?

[6:50] Jordan Matthew Brown: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, what, what, what, sorry, sorry, sorry. It's a, it's a, it's a smart show. It's not just you all.

[6:56] A.J. Shively: Yes. Yes, completely. And I think it goes along really with what AJ was saying that like, there's so much recognition. Anyone who has a dog, has had a dog or has even seen a dog on the street will, I think, recognize these characters and recognize the thoughts and feelings. And I also think the thing that's so great about it all is that it is so funny and broad and beautiful with the comedy, but underneath it, there's such a beating heart to the, to the entire thing. We are all humans playing dogs and we are giving the human emotions to these dogs. And I think there's something so sweet and lovely about that. I, so far people have seen the show and afterwards they've been like, I expected to laugh, but I didn't realize it was going to cry too.

And I was like, that's the most beautiful thing that we can have the whole spectrum of emotion in this thing. I think that's what makes it so much fun. So tell me, Angela, about the writing. I mean, the, the, the, the gentleman who has written this piece has like 162 Emmy awards.

[8:01] Angela Reed: Exactly right. And two Grammys too, 162 Emmys and two Grammy awards. What is David's writing? What makes this so, so prevalent and important for now?

[8:12] Angela Reed: Um, I mean, he's incredibly witty. He just has a great wit. And so, uh, there was a real dryness to these dogs. And I think, you know, what makes a good writer in general and maybe even more for comedy than anything is, um, uh, being really, really aware of behavior. And he is a very good observer of, we know from his recent work of humans, but he's also a great observer of dogs, obviously. And, uh, he just has a terrific wit. And also as Jordan mentioned, he has a lot of heart that he brings to the work. And, um, so it is a pleasure to, uh, have, you know, these couple dozen dogs, but they bring a variety of emotions to, um, to the evening. And he's, he's very good at providing, um, journeys to, to both of those, um, those emotions, which is really a gift. I think to do both.

[9:14] Robert Bannon: Yes. You know him, everybody. He wrote, he's the head writer from the daily show. He wrote act of God. You he's, he's brilliant. And you're going to see this. What I love so much, Giselle is that, okay, here's my real question for you all. The, the triad, which is where this is at is the most beautiful little cute, adorable theater. It's so beautiful inside. You go up the stairs and you walk in and there's the stage. There is really no backstage. There is a room behind the stage that may be a big enough to fit a refrigerator. And that is all that is there.

[9:52] Gizel Jiménez: So a dorm refrigerator. So Giselle, what is the stick? Like, do you walk through the audience? Where are you? Are they, what, what do you all do during the show?

[10:02] Gizel Jiménez: Listen, we're all just hugging each other real tight in the back, you know, just kumbayaing, uh, ready for a little phone call that sends us out, tells us you're ready to go. And we just come right out into the, into the audience. Yeah. And it's must be fun because it's very intimate because there's not a bad seat in the house. So the people are right there with you. It's very intimate. And also I wanted to say, like, you don't need to know a lot about dogs. You don't even need to be a dog lover because the images are, are basically what the monologues are going to reflect. So you'll see the image and then we'll, we'll do the monologue. And to me, it's very easy to understand and to find the humor and all of that. But, um, I feel like, you know, our director, Richard, he really wanted to make sure that we approached this in a way that was grounded and came from the human perspective.

[11:01] Gizel Jiménez: And that's what I really, uh, am enjoying the most because at first I'm thinking like, okay, are these going to be like caricatures or, you know, are we going to be like Scooby-Doo and like, you know what I mean? Like how, how far is, are we going with this? And in rehearsals, there were a lot of, for me, strong and wrongs. Um, you know, I was just going at going for it. And then Richard was like, like, what would it be like if you brought the human aspect to these, these, you know, these animals. And it's actually really beautiful because it's, it gives a way for people who don't really know a lot about.

[12:10] Robert Bannon: I get, look, I love dogs, but when I see a dog getting on a plane with me, I have questions and the same thing with them coming to the theater with me. AJ, so with all love, I love people that need a dog. I'm not trying to, yeah. AJ, for you all, the monologues, I think about it as people are always looking for, actors are looking for new monologues. There's so many overdone monologues, people that are going to school that need to find a comedic monologue, a dramatic monologue. They pull out the same book that's been around for 100 years. How fun was it to dig into these new monologues? And how many do you do in the show?

[12:42] A.J. Shively: Well, each of us does, what, like four, plus we each get a duet, plus we each, there's one scene with all four of us as four dogs on a walk. We were saying after rehearsal the other day how rare it is for an actor to do a monologue, especially, like, I tend to do a lot of musical theater, and there's just not, like, we sing instead, you know? So, it's been really wonderful to kind of ride an emotional arc through a moment, to be able to sit in silence and breathe with an audience in a way that feels, like, very human, as Giselle was saying.

[13:29] A.J. Shively: One of the brilliant things David has done with this piece is he's highlighted that connection that we have with dogs, that, I'm going to say humanity within them. I don't know if it would be, like, canine-anity or something like that, what the real term is, but the kind of anthropomorphic, you recognize these dogs the same way you recognize people. And I've really enjoyed both my performances and my wonderful castmates, their performances, seeing just the wide range of people I know in this very, very quick, what, hour, you said hour and 18 minutes is our time? It's just, each of us are doing, you know, a half dozen archetypes of humanity, and at the end, you're kind of left with this, or I'm left with this big, I don't know, feeling of community and togetherness, and it's really, it's very sweet for something that you think is going to be, like, caricatures, as Giselle just said. It's really not. It's much deeper than that.

[14:44] A.J. Shively: And it's intimate.

[14:46] Gizel Jiménez: And it's intimate, exactly. Yes. Yeah.

[14:48] A.J. Shively: You're not going to be far from the stage. They have tickets that are, they're less than $100. You can get tickets for less than $50. Even if you sit upstairs on the balcony, the balcony is so cute. You get a drink, you have a seat, and you have an enjoyable time. You'll be right up on the stage.

[15:01] Robert Bannon: Jordan, there's, dogs are beloved. Like, they're part of my family. I'd rather you take, put down my brother, don't put down my dog, is really how I feel in life. So, Jordan, there's got to be a sweetness and a cuteness, because even though they must look at humans as we're nuts, and we look at dogs sometimes, like, what are you doing? They are really, truly people's best friend.

[15:20] Jordan Matthew Brown: Yes, 100%. I mean, I don't know if actually anyone in the cast knows this. I don't think I've said this, that as a little kid, I was really scared of dogs. I was like, I had like a major fear of dogs, until I was like, I don't even know how old I was, maybe somewhere between ages of like, eight to 10, or around that time. My uncle got, my uncle and aunt had a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier. And I, and he was like the sweetest, his name was Jackson, he was the sweetest dog ever. And he just, he like changed my world with dogs. Suddenly, I was like the biggest dog lover, I was no longer scared, it was not a thing for me. And that changed everything. And then we had a family dog, Rocky, who lived to be over 18, which was unbelievable. They know that, I've talked about him. And we said he was like a lovely little grumpy old man, but just love, just all love. And so I think like, I mean, dogs are so special. I think they're man's best friend for a reason.

[16:23] Jordan Matthew Brown: Because, and something that we kind of talked about, I don't know if this is really answering your question at all. But something that we talked about was how we all already kind of put human qualities on our dogs, the dogs we own, we give them voices, we give them personalities. And this show kind of lets us do that for the world. And lets the world take that in. So yeah.

[16:49] Robert Bannon: It's perfect. So Angela, if you're looking, who do you think should come? Is this a good date night? Is this something I'm supposed to take my mom for Thanksgiving time? Who is supposed to, Halloween, come in your dog costume? Like what, who is the audience that should come see this?

[17:04] Angela Reed: Yes.

[17:05] Angela Reed: Human beings.

[17:08] Angela Reed: Correct. Honestly, because I, I can't really even narrow it down to a specific kind of audience. I suppose if you're, you're just a grumpy cynic, and you just want to be like beaten up when you go to the theater and, you know, there are options for that, then, you know, go someplace else. But honestly, it's for young people, old people, and everyone in the middle. I really believe that. In the way that dogs appeal to every, you know, every kind out there. I think the show does too. I just, I can't imagine somebody not appreciating it.

[17:53] Angela Reed: As Giselle said, even if they're not huge dog lovers, it's just a, it's sweet and fun and funny. Yeah, I would find it hard to believe that, yeah, if you're not a dog lover at the beginning that you won't be at the end.

[18:11] Robert Bannon: I love it. I love, I want to know why dogs stick their head out the car window. I need to come see the show. So, I need to know.

[18:18] Gizel Jiménez: So that's a monologue.

[18:21] Robert Bannon: That's it. I'm ready. I need to hear it. So for you, Giselle, a lot of the world is crazy. It's scary out here. It's like on fire most of the time. And the news is scary. You put on social media, it's scary. So an hour and a few minutes of just joy and laughter and some love sounds like a good time. Is that what you deliver at the end of the show?

[18:40] Gizel Jiménez: Yeah, absolutely. I think that in this, this political climate that we're currently under, we need this kind of entertainment. Just for us to appreciate the things that sometimes we might take for granted, or just not appreciate as much. It's like a reminder to like, to smell the flowers while you walk by and just the little things that that give you a little smile to appreciate that smile, as opposed to just finding the one thing that could easily aggravate or upset you especially living in New York City. That can happen really easily. So it's, it's refreshing. And, and also, you know, David's writing is just so it's so smart. He's so smart.

[19:31] Gizel Jiménez: You know Harvard. But, but I think something that I really admire is, is, even though he's able to give that wit, he really was able to find the heart within all of these dogs and, and I appreciated that the most.

[19:53] Robert Bannon: Yeah, I love that. That's beautiful. So AJ, at the end of the day, getting to play a dog does, did it teach you more about what it's like to be just our relationships with dogs and what you've thought about since you play this make you think more about our relationships as humans. There's some correlation between all of it.

[20:09] A.J. Shively: Oh, absolutely. So if you know dogs are kind of domesticated wolves, right, you know, 10,000 years ago, it's the friendlier of them. They've been kind of like, I was gonna say molded in our image, which is like getting into territory that I don't intend to but, but the thing about dogs and the thing about these, these monologues and the thing about the evening of theater is they just, they exist in the now and they tell the truth. And, and it's just, I think, for me anyway, I grew up with dogs. Also, my mom has a really sweet little like, mutt of a teddy bear dog named Presley because her lip gets stuck like this sometimes. But it's just, it's one of, it's, it's one of the, especially in like today's political climate, as we're talking about, it's one of the few places you can go and trust that what you're getting is genuine and real.

[21:13] A.J. Shively: You know, and it's the kind of unconditional love between, you know, a dog and their human is, it's, it's, I don't know, it's familial, it's reflective of, I don't know, it's making me think of my grandparents now who, or, you know, anything like any, any close relationship that you have like that. I think it's, I don't know, worthy, worthy of, of enshrining with an evening of theater.

[21:47] Robert Bannon: It sounds perfect. It sounds like October 18th, the show opens. It runs until November 29th. You have to be able to get your tickets. All you got to do to get a ticket is just head on over to the website, go to dogshowmyc.com and get your tickets. It's the perfect night. If you're looking for something unique and fun to do, then this is the, this is the show for you. If you spend more money at Petco than at the Whole Foods, then this is your show. Come here, Ralphie.

[22:14] Robert Bannon: He's blending in in the background, but Ralphie, say hello. Okay, Ralphie is eight months old and he is a big giant baby and he's my baby. So Ralphie, this one's for you, but the show's crazy. I'm so grateful that you all hung out with me and I'm so excited to be able to come into New York and see this show in the night. Congratulations. Look, Broadway stars, Tony nominees, dog. I'm sure when they all went to acting school, they dreamed of being a dog in a show. It was, it's the most fun job of acting to be able to play some of our best friends. Thank you for spending some time with us today.

[23:00] A.J. Shively: Thank you.

[23:01] Gizel Jiménez: Thank you.

[23:02] Angela Reed: Thank you.

[23:13] Jordan Matthew Brown: Thank you.