Jerry Mitchell

Bitch! Come on, cover girl.

So me and Jerry Mitchell and some of the other dancers from Bowie Bears.

So we're being celebrated with that.

And it's just like iconic.

And this was what it was out of town.

Jerry Mitchell will concur.

If anyone's telling the truth, they'll tell you this is what it was.

And I remember having so many very heated conversations with the creative team saying, listen to me.

And like so many.

quintessential kind of stereotypes of what nerds were but like i just had to bring up merit because he was the you know he's again square peg and round hole when it comes to the nerddom he was not the the typical nerd but he very much was that new wave like new wave nerds that that's a whole other episode we're going to focus on probably yeah yeah talking about new wave in the 80s what about jerry mitchell

i

mean come on you know

three o'clock three o'clock high

See, I thought of Jerry Mitchell as far as being like – yeah, he's the nerd that bucks the system, right, who overcomes the odds in a different way.

I think of Lucas, Corey Feldman playing Lucas.

Of course, before anyone drives off the road, Doc Brown is the ultimate nerd of the 80s probably.

So it leaves a lot of room for putting who you are inside of it.

And when I got cast early on, sort of in the reading process, the director, Jerry Mitchell said to me, and the reading process in musical theater is like when you are developing a musical, um, we have these things called 29-hour readings.

And so we spend five days or 29 hours in the week learning the music, going over the lines, and then we have a presentation for the creatives at the end of that 29-hour reading.

And it can be just for the creative team, which is the writers and directors of... direct, you know, lead producers, or it could be for investors and theater owners or wherever you are in the process.

And at the end of it, we sat down and read it and I sang the songs.

It was only for the creative team.

And it was at that time that the director, Jerry Mitchell, said to me, I don't ever want you to watch the movie again.

Oh, really?

Well, Reg, we had quite a three-game show with Mel Parnell and Pete Reynolds, who played here at Fenway Park, about that left field wall, and Bobby Richardson tattooed it the first time around.

Did they have any significant remarks? Yes, Jerry, I think you've heard them all.

One, the pitchers in this park have got to keep the pitchers down because Mon Bookett got put up high on them.

Yeah, he did, and Bobby got it up high.

No balls, two strikes, two outs.

Oh, he got one going.

Did Ronald have anything to say as far as a hitting was concerned about that wall, Rich, that might help a batter up there? Well, Jerry, he had a great deal to say, and so did Farnell.

In fact, Armed Forces Radio very often takes the soundtrack from our pre- and post-game shows.

It's written for you.

Jerry Mitchell must have looked at you and thought, perfect.

Well,

I did come into the audition room and I had either a beret or a silk scarf and I said, which should I put on? And he said, go for the scarf.

I was the first one from the Broadway company to come in.

And Jerry Mitchell had reversed the entire show.

So everything that we did on the left foot on Broadway, we did on the right foot on tour.

Why? I

I haven't really dove into The Devil Wears Prada at all.

It's a Jerry Mitchell production, if that does anything for you.

It's Elton John music, if that does anything for you.

But... they're continuing to sell tickets and they're going to run for another year, year and a little bit of time here.

And I'm Richie.

And today on our Spotlight series, we welcome a very special guest, Tony Award-winning director and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell.

Jerry, welcome back to Half Hour Podcast.

Hi, I'm so happy to be back with you guys.

bio.

Oh my God.

So we have Jerry Mitchell, a Tony Award winning director and choreographer whose work has helped define contemporary musical theater.

He won Tony Awards for Best Choreography for La Cage a Faux and Kinky Boots and received a 2023 Isabel Stevenson Tony Award in recognition of his more than three decades of service to Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS.

So direct from our home, we reflect on her milestone journey at the Dominion Theatre in London, why performing in the West End is a dream come true, and how British audiences have embraced her, including why she's proud to dive deep and explore more of the most famous fashion boss of all time.

Plus, we talk about collaborating with Sir Elton John and Jerry Mitchell, her soaring love for co-star Matt Henry, and why everything is iconic at Runway, from her entrance to those quotable lines and all that fashion.

And with friends, industry peers, and colleagues, including Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim, Luther Vandross, Hal Prince, and Barbara Cook, to name but a few, we celebrate a life on the stage that has allowed this superstar to flourish and shine, and why she's never taken a moment of it for granted, and above all else, why you shouldn't measure yourself by the opinions of others.

Legend-only edition now, as it's time to enter the house of Vanessa.

Uh, there have been times where, and again, I don't know whether the audience doesn't know that it's okay to clap or whether they're, you know, but, uh, there have been a, a couple entrances that I've had that I've come up and looked at the audience, and they say nothing, and then I, I nod to them that it's okay, and then they clap.

So there's never been a no audience, uh, response at all, so thank God for that.

But it, it's, you know, I thank Jerry Mitchell for, for that, that entrance.

Um, it's dynamic.