Michelle Interviews Skylar Astin!
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00:00♪ 94.7 The Wave. ♪
00:06Woo!
00:08Incredibly talented Skylar Astin.
00:11Thank you so much.
00:12Hi, it's Michelle Bridell from 94.7 The Wave.
00:16And Skylar will be with an all-star cast
00:20July 28th at the Hollywood Bowl
00:23for the music of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon,
00:26and more, Bublé and Schoenberg's
00:28Do You Hear the People Sing?
00:31And I cannot wait to see this.
00:33Yeah, I can't wait to perform it.
00:35I've just started kind of like
00:37learning the things on my own
00:39because it's just a kind of a fast
00:40and furious rehearsal process.
00:42So, I mean, who doesn't know Les Mis and Miss Saigon?
00:45But there's a couple other, you know, deep cuts
00:47and there's some songs from that show
00:49that I didn't know all the lyrics to.
00:50So, you know, I'm not really much of a Valjean
00:54so I got to put that hat on and I'm excited.
00:57I'm very excited about the opportunity.
01:00Well, I love that.
01:00So you are doing a little Valjean in this?
01:03Oh yeah.
01:04Oh, I'm doing more than a little.
01:05In fact, there's one song,
01:09the act one finale that I'm bouncing
01:12in between Valjean and Marius
01:13because we're doing One Day More
01:15and we only have six soloists.
01:18So between myself and Patrick Wilson
01:21and John John Brionis, we have to kind of divvy it up.
01:25Oh my gosh.
01:26I love John John.
01:27I'll get to that.
01:28First of all, so I saw you at the Hollywood Bowl,
01:31I believe it was 2019,
01:33The Baker and Into the Woods and it was fabulous.
01:38Oh my God, I look back very fondly on that production.
01:43That cast was so incredibly talented
01:47and I really never thought of myself as a baker.
01:52I thought maybe, you know, when the offer came in,
01:54I thought it was maybe for one of like the princes
01:57and I was so excited to tackle the baker
01:59and it's become one of my favorite roles I've ever done.
02:02And I got to do it with Sutton Foster
02:04playing the baker's wife.
02:05So it was kind of, if I was ever lost,
02:09I just had to look at her for guidance.
02:10And that's kind of what The Baker does anyway.
02:13Absolutely.
02:14I mean, I can definitely see you as the princes,
02:16but man, The Baker is the role.
02:18The role.
02:20And there's a couple like tracks
02:21that don't get a lot of love
02:23on the soundtracks of The Bakers,
02:24like the song No More,
02:26which, you know, I didn't understand
02:28until I started sinking my teeth into it.
02:30It's such a beautiful and sad song
02:32about a misunderstood father and son connection.
02:36It's so, so deep and I just love Sondheim so much.
02:40So anytime I get to sing his music, it's incredible.
02:43Oh, absolutely.
02:44Was that your first time at the Hollywood Bowl?
02:46That was my second.
02:47I did a production of Rent in 2010.
02:51That's right, that's right, yeah.
02:53Where I got to play Mark and I did that
02:55and then Into the Woods.
02:56And then last year I did a Sondheim celebration
02:58where I got to do even more Sondheim.
03:01And that cast was Patti LuPone and Sutton Foster,
03:04Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell.
03:08I was like, what the hell am I doing here?
03:09But they gave me some really big sings.
03:12And again, another huge bucket list
03:14to be able to do some of those songs in that venue.
03:17Well, that's incredible because you do everything.
03:20I mean, you do theater, you do TV, you do voice work.
03:23And of course, most people know you from Pitch Perfect.
03:27And I'm sure you still get stopped on the street
03:29and say, do the lines.
03:32The lines or like the hand gestures.
03:36That movie's the gift that keeps on giving.
03:38I'm very, very grateful for that.
03:41I know some people sometimes try to distance themselves
03:45from these like big successes of theirs
03:47because they want to kind of depart from it.
03:48But I'm always very proud to represent that movie
03:51and the whole franchise, honestly.
03:54And I understand that.
03:55I mean, to celebrate what you have and you do move on,
03:58but still that's a great part of your life.
04:01And you did Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist.
04:04And of course, most recently, so help me, Todd.
04:09Yes.
04:10Which I'm so sad, it's not going to be coming back.
04:13Oh, that makes two of us.
04:17Do you have something else lined up in those lines?
04:20Right now, between Do You Hear the People Sing,
04:23there's a couple of indie movies
04:25that haven't been really announced yet
04:27that I'm attached to.
04:28And then as far as like a new series,
04:29I just want to kind of wait for the next best thing
04:33because I'm so fond of Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist
04:36and then so help me, Todd.
04:37And I feel like I'm kind of going
04:39in a really good direction with that.
04:41And I want to make sure that it's something
04:44that I'm equally excited about.
04:47And maybe like, yeah,
04:49maybe a little different from those characters.
04:52And I know that filmed in Canada, I believe.
04:55Both of them.
04:56So both of them, oh, both of them did.
04:58And you're a native New Yorker.
04:59Is your home base in New York?
05:02New York and LA.
05:03So I kind of bounce in between the two of those.
05:05And then, yeah, I've become like part Canadian
05:08for the past five years,
05:09because I've been living in Vancouver
05:10for the majority of those five years.
05:14Not too shabby.
05:15No, not at all.
05:16I love Vancouver.
05:17I love Vancouver.
05:20So now this show,
05:21I know that Bublé and Schoenberg have been together
05:23with 50 years or something like that.
05:26Yeah.
05:27And their music is my generation.
05:30So that's what I grew up with, you know,
05:32and I saw a Jonathan Price and Miss Saigon
05:36and my young years that blew me away.
05:40So please tell me you guys are doing the American dream.
05:43I believe we are.
05:45I think Jon Jon is doing that.
05:47Oh, of course, of course.
05:49I had the fortune of seeing the original production
05:51of Miss Saigon at a young age as well.
05:54And all of them, I mean,
05:56I've been playing that score or the song book,
05:59you know, the kind of the chords that they sell
06:02at Colony Music back in the day.
06:05I've been playing both of those for a very long time.
06:09And I'm very excited to be able to sing.
06:11I'm singing some really great Miss Saigon songs.
06:14Can you tell us what they are?
06:18Probably not, but I haven't been told not to,
06:23so I don't know.
06:24You can imagine that I'm gonna sing the Big Chris song
06:27if that brings true to you.
06:29Absolutely.
06:33I know, I know, these humongous songs
06:36that both include God in a very important way, I guess.
06:39Yeah, and tears.
06:41And tears, yes.
06:43Very high.
06:45I'm sorry?
06:46And very high notes.
06:47And very, well, you can do them.
06:49So have you worked with these other cast members
06:53a lot before?
06:55No, this is my first.
06:56I'm actually meeting every single one of them.
06:59Patrick and I went back on text a little bit
07:02because we were in like a little group thread
07:03with the musical director, who I know very well,
07:07Kevin Stites and his associate Douglas Peck,
07:11they're very good friends of mine.
07:12This is my third thing at the Bowl with them.
07:14And so when Kevin texted Patrick and I,
07:17I think he was down to business as usual
07:19and kind of talking about,
07:19on measure 44, we're doing this lyric
07:21and this has changed and whatever.
07:23And Patrick and I were just giving each other
07:25a little like side texts of like,
07:26hi, by the way, I'm so excited.
07:29We're actually getting to do some closeup magic together,
07:33a particular Les Mis duet that I'm like,
07:36yeah, I can't believe I get to do
07:37and I can't get to do with him.
07:39So it's gonna be very fun.
07:41Oh, I just cannot imagine.
07:43And I think there's like a 60 piece orchestra
07:46that's with you guys, that's insane.
07:49Yes, yes.
07:50And I do kind of know what to expect,
07:54though it will sound way different
07:56instead of it being, you know,
07:58some Sondheim stuff for it to be,
07:59dum, dum, bum, bum, bum,
08:02just with that 60 pieces is gonna be so epic.
08:06I know what to expect only because
08:08every time I've done the bowl,
08:10you know, you're in a rehearsal room
08:11for a couple of days with the piano
08:12and then you do what's called the Sitzprobe,
08:14which is when the cast and the orchestra
08:16get together in a room,
08:18everyone kind of faces each other
08:20and kind of shows what they've been working on.
08:22And, you know, I know Kevin Steitz
08:25always like hand selects this orchestra
08:28and they're just the best,
08:30the best of what's around, truly.
08:33Like, I think like the harpist last year
08:36has done like every major motion picture ever essentially.
08:40I mean, so, but everyone's really,
08:42it's always just a really positive atmosphere.
08:44Everyone's always very grateful
08:46and complimentary towards each other
08:48and, you know, really respects what the other does
08:52and what, you know, you yourself really doesn't do.
08:55Like I look at the trumpet section in awe
08:58and they probably look at me like,
09:00wow, I'm not a singer myself.
09:01And it's just, it's very inspiring
09:04to be around musicians and performers of that caliber.
09:09That is so beautiful to hear.
09:11You know, so nice.
09:12It just kind of nourishes your soul
09:14when you're around other giving, loving entertainers
09:18and artists and you don't feel,
09:21you know, they don't make you feel bad.
09:23I know that's not always the case.
09:24So that's a beautiful thing to hear.
09:26Yeah.
09:27And I'm sure with that orchestra, oh, go ahead.
09:31No, it's not.
09:32It's sometimes when people are at the top of their field
09:35and I'm not talking really about myself.
09:36I'm talking about, you know, these musicians,
09:38like there's this, there's like a real sweet confidence
09:42but also a humility that's there.
09:43They feel they don't have anything to prove.
09:45And I think that they themselves are surprised.
09:48They're like, oh, you, you know,
09:50because like, there's this feeling of,
09:52but you're the one on stage in the bright light.
09:54So like you, you're, you know,
09:56you're really focusing in on what I do.
09:58And it's like, of course, I think, you know,
10:00I think the mutual appreciation is really like abundant
10:04in those moments.
10:06That's wonderful.
10:07And with that orchestra, there's not going to be a bad seat.
10:10And I mean, there isn't any way,
10:11but even in the very back backseat,
10:14it's just going to be, the sound is going to be incredible.
10:18Yeah.
10:19Well, I am so excited.
10:21Skylar Esten, thank you so much for being with us.
10:24Hollywood Bowl, July 28th.
10:27You can get tickets at hollywoodbowl.com.
10:30Everyone get them.
10:31If they're not, I think they're getting close
10:32to being sold out.
10:34I think they are, but we did just,
10:36I just recorded some sort of a selfie video
10:38for their Instagram.
10:39So I know that there are some still available
10:42and it's a very big venue.
10:43I mean, you know, I don't want to toot my own horn
10:46and say, oh, we're sold out.
10:48Cause I can't imagine, I mean, to me, I just can't imagine.
10:51Not that it's my name that they're all coming to see,
10:53but I'm sure that there's still some, some seats available.
10:57And yeah, it's a one night only situation.
11:00So you don't want to miss it.
11:02Cannot wait.
11:03And we will see you there.
11:05Thank you so much.
11:06Oh my gosh.
11:07Thank you.