I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes

Kevin Adams is a 4 time Tony Award winning lighting designer who's currently nominated for his 9th Tony Award for his lighting design on the 2025 Broadway revival of Chess! His previous credits include the Off Broadway and Broadway productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Spring Awakening (for which he won his first Tony Award for). He's also worked on the original productions of Next to Normal, American Idiot, SpongeBob Squarepants, and The Cher Show! His work transcends musicals having worked on operas, Broadway plays, and one person shows including John Leguizamo's Sexaholix! Upcoming, he's working on a new book charting his career to be released plus lighting designing the Broadway musical Galileo starring Raul Esparza coming this fall to the Shubert Theatre. As our first lighting designer on the podcast, we get to talking not only about his career in the theater but also how lighting has evolved moving from the incandescent era to the more energy efficient era we're in now!

Beowulf Boritt is a 2 time Tony Award winning scenic designer! His charity The 1/52 Project which focuses on amplifying marginalized designers has won the 2026 Tony Award Honor For Excellence In Theatre! Some of his work on Broadway includes Act One, New York, New York, On The Town, A Bronx Tale, Flying Over Sunset, The Scottsboro Boys, Sunday in the Park with George (2017), Prince Of Broadway and many more! His book Transforming Space Over Time released in 2022 and features a detailed look to the scenic design process as well as featuring interviews with legendary theater directors including Hal Prince, Susan Stroman, James Lapine, Jerry Zaks and Kenny Leon! Upcoming, he’ll be scenic designing the new musical Wanted and The Imaginary Invalid both transferring to Broadway this fall!!

Two-time Grammy Award nominee Lisa Lampanelli was known for more than 30 years as “Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean.” A constant on the comedy scene, with countless tours, 13 NBC “Tonight Show” appearances, and sold-out performances at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall under her belt, she became well-known for her roasting skills, publicly lambasting everyone from David Hasselhoff to Flavor Flav to Pamela Anderson on Comedy Central. In 2016, Lisa decided to do something a little different. She wrote “Stuffed,” a four-person play about food and body-image issues, which enjoyed two off-Broadway runs! Her charitable efforts -- she raised $130,000 for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis during season 5 of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and won $50,000 for the same organization on Fox’s “Celebrity Weakest Link” – are among her proudest achievements. She is currently serving as Associate Producer of “The People Versus Lenny Bruce," which has begun performances Off Broadway at Theatre Row now until June 28th!

Janine LaManna is a Broadway star who's most well known for originating the role of Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical! Her other Broadway credits include Evelyn Nesbitt in the original production of Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, The Drowsy Chaperone and more! She also starred in PBS' version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as Carmen Sandiego! She also performed multiple times at the White House during the Bush administration! She joins us to discuss her career, what Broadway was like post 9/11 and how the role of Gertrude is one she'll cherish forever.

Adam Gwon is an award winning composer and lyricist whose work has been performed on 6 continents! His musical Ordinary Days premiered Off Broadway in 2008 and has gone on to become a hit beyond its Off Broadway run in part thanks to its successful cast album! His songs Fine, I'll Be Here and Favorite Places from Ordinary Days have gone on to be performed at concerts and cabarets all over the world! He's here now to discuss the cast album for his latest musical All The World's A Stage which premiered last spring Off Broadway and is OUT NOW and features former guests Matt Rodin & Elizabeth Stanley! We get to talking about how he went from actor to writer, how Ahrens & Flaherty affected his career in a major way, his time as a Tony Award voter and much more!

George & Marty Lee Andrews are on the precipice of celebrating 50 years of marriage, having shared a life working in the theater. The two of them have been a part of some of the most legendary musicals of all time. George holds the Guinness World Record for the longest running actor in the same Broadway show having been in the original cast of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in 1988 and finishing his run in 2011! Prior to this, he originated the role of Frid in Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler’s classic musical A Little Night Music which Marty starred in its first national tour. The two of them directed the show in it’s premiere in South Africa and developed a strong relationship with its original director and Broadway legend, Hal Prince. Their career spans decades and have spread their welath of knowledge to generations younger than them with children and grandchildren also working in the theater. George & Marty tell us all about their careers, how they met, and their favorite Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim stories!