Gaten Matarazzo

love.

You know, I'm working with also opposite someone in a way like quite closely with Gaten and all of that, all of that stuff.

And then you've got We're Okay, we're throwing phones around and like all the components of the energies of that number.

So it was actually quite a technical entrance, I think, into Joanne, which...

i didn't know i love that musical

And Gaten Matarazzo is in it.

And he was also in Stranger Things.

Yeah.

This happened to me when I was watching Rent.

I just thought, of about eight different people, you've got a better voice than any pop star present or past.

Why aren't you a household name? Anyway, mate, Gaten Matarazzo, I hope I'm getting his name right, who played Dustin Henderson in Stranger Things, We queued, and he did come out.

And it finally, third time lucky.

You could be mad, but this is not.

Shut up, Gaten, I'm mad.

Four people were blocking one person, dog.

Yeah, yeah.

So hopefully we can make that happen.

I know that Gaten Matarazzo, who voices Dustin, he went to Netflix and he listened to the voice actor who voices Dustin.

And he thought it was himself because the voice acting was so good.

So it would be so great if we could all meet our live action counterparts at some point.

Exactly, if it doesn't extend.

Because in the cast you have Gaten Matarazzo as Mark in his West End debut.

Yes.

Gaten Matarazzo is obviously in Stranger Things.

Oh, okay.

He plays Dustin Henderson.

And it is quite astounding that Larson was writing in a time before the internet, before social media, when he does sort of preempt a lot of that in the conversations he's having.

The other headline I imagine was that Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo is in it playing Mark.

And I've said before, sorry, I'm rambling about Rent now.

I said, I think in other productions of Rent, Mark's kind of been played by like a sort of foppish, like Ivy League kid who just needs to quiff back his hair and then he'll get all the girls and he'll be super popular.

But actually with Gaten Matarazzo...

You feel like, oh no, he's an outsider looking for a community and he hides behind his camera, which is something they bring up time and again because he doesn't know how to interact with people.

And especially when half of his friends are staring down the face of this awful illness that they're all dealing with, he... who simultaneously has to feel distanced but also kind of feels compelled to honour their story and capture their experiences.

And that's never worked for me in a way that it did for Gaten Matarazzo because he feels like he brings that vulnerability and social awkwardness and also just that incredible voice.