Dec 14, 2021
Dennis connects via Zoom with author Eddie Shapiro to discuss his book A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater and the actors featured in it including Raul Esparza, Michael Cerveris, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Cheyenne Jackson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christopher Sieber, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel and many more. Eddie talks about why he thinks the world of musical theater seems to favor female performers over men and how the men he interviewed reconcile that. Eddie also talks about the passing of Stephen Sondheim, how Sondheim personally mentored the men in the book and Eddie's own memorable interactions with the composer. Other topics include: being openly gay as a Broadway leading man, how much stars make on Broadway, Playbill hoarding, sassing back to Elaine Stritch, the stage door encounter he'll never forget, crying during the diner scene in tick...tick...BOOM... and, of course, the length of Cheyenne Jackson's shorts in Xanadu.