I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes

Ken Jennings is a Broadway star best known for originating the role of Tobias in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street! His other Broadway credits include the original Broadway casts of Grand Hotel, Side Show, and Urinetown (originating the role of Hot Blades Harry)! Disney Parks fans will know him as a hologram in the short lived EPCOT attraction The Astuter Computer Revue! His one man s...

Jack O’Brien is a theater legend whose work spans genres and across the globe. He’s directed classic Shakespearean plays (incuding Henry IV, MacBeth starring Ethan Hawke and more on Broadway), original Tom Stoppard epics (The Coast of Utopia, The Invention of Love and more on Broadway) and some of the greatest musical comedies of the contemporary era (Hairspray, Shucked and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...

Stephanie Klemons is currently the Associate Choreographer for Hamilton (Broadway, National Tours and UK) as well as Heathers Off Broadway. She also appeared in the original Broadway casts of Hamilton, In The Heights (for which she also served as the Dance Captain) and If/Then! As a choreographer she worked on Rock & Roll Man, In the Heights (Kennedy Center), and numerous commercials and music...

Grace Yurchuk  is a singer/songwriter and musical theater composer, and a 2024 graduate of NYU Steinhardt (B.M., Classical Vocal Performance). She is best known for  Caesar: The Musical , as well as her self-produced theater-pop songs like “30 Seconds” and “Mixed Messages.” Grace built her audience for  Caesar  by sharing each draft for the show online as it was written, as well as other peeks int...

Alejo Vietti is our first costume designer on the show! His work is currently represented on Broadway in the Tony Award nominated Titanique which he's been a part of since it's premiere in NYC. Other Broadway credits include SMASH, Holiday Inn, Allegiance and Beautiful: the Carole King Musical! Originally from Argentina, Alejo has worked with some of the most prominent costume designers to...

Jim Borstelmann is a Broadway veteran having been in the original casts of The Producers, The Addams Family and many more. Jim was in the ensemble of the 1996 revival of Chicago starring Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth and Joel Grey which is still on Broadway holding the record for the longest running Broadway revival. A self taught dancer, Jim made his Broadway debut working under the legendary Jerom...

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...

Maulik Pancholy is currently starring as Reverend Howard Layton/The Leprechaun in Schmigadoon on Broadway! Onscreen he's best known as the voice of Baljeet in the Disney Channel sensation Phineas and Ferb and Sanjay in Sanjay and Craig on Nickelodeon. He's also well known as Jack Donaughy's assistant Jonathan on the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock! His former Broadway credits include It's O...

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...

FIFTH DREAM GUEST! Susan Stroman is a 5 time Tony Award winning Broadway director and choreographer! Her most iconic work includes directing and choreographing The Producers (working alongside Mel Brooks), Contact (for which she won multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical), the 2000 Broadway revival of The Music Man, Bullets Over Broadway (alongside Woody Allen), New York, New York and many mo...

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 Fl...

Stephen Kramer Glickman is most well known for the beloved role Gustavo Rocque on the hit Nickelodeon series which created the boy band of the same name, Big Time Rush, a band and TV show Elbi was absolutely obsessed with growing up! His theater history is also vast having originated the role of Shrek in the pre Broadway developmental workshops of the musical rendition for YEARS as well as helping...

Jeffrey Seller has impacted the theater industry forever. Best known as the lead producer of Hamilton, Rent, In The Heights, and Avenue Q (all of which won him the Tony Award for Best Musical), Jeffrey is the only person to have produced two Pulitzer Prize winning musicals. On top of this, Jeffrey alongside his former producing partner Kevin McCollum created the rush and lottery discount ticket op...

Carey Renee Sharpe is currently starring in the Off Broadway show which she also co-wrote, Blood/Love at Theater 555! A former nurse from Wisconsin, Carey decided to pivot her career after renovating a venue in her hometown. Alongside her writing partner Dru Decaro (Grammy nominated producer for Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Sabrina Carpenter and many more) the two have spent the last 6 years developin...

Claybourne Elder is a Broadway star whose work spans decades on stage and screen. His new album If The Stars Were Mine is streaming everywhere now and you could also look out for his solo shows where he performs songs from the album, sharing their relation to his journey to Broadway, his childhood, current fatherhood and beyond! He originated the role of Hollis in one of Stephen Sondheim's final m...

Mark Evans is an actor whose stage work spans multiple continents having starred in multiple West End AND Broadway shows! His Broadway debut was The Play That Goes Wrong which he's now the Associate Director of Off Broadway at New World Stages. Some of his other Broadway credits, include Waitress, Mrs Doubtfire, and Tammy Faye! His West End credits include originating Troy Bolton in High Schoo...

Simon Leary is a New Zealand based actor who's making in his NYC debut off Broadway in a new play titled Heartbreak Hotel at the DR2 Theatre running now until April 19th! Originally from Timaru, NZ, Simon has since moved to Wellington where he's performed in numerous productions at the Circa Theatre including The Glass Menagerie, A Servant to Two Masters and more! On top of all this, he's written...

Michael Sommers is a drama critic currently working for New York Stage Review. He served as the president of the New York Drama Critics Circle for two terms as well as freelanced for the The New York Times and Backstage to name a few. Michael was a longtime chief of The Star Ledger as well as the Newhouse News Service! We get to talking about the history of drama critics, whether or not being a cr...

Currently nominated for an Olivier Award for his work on Shucked in the West End, Robert Horn is a Tony Award winning Book Writer for his work on Tootsie alongside David Yazbek! Prior to working in theater, Robert had a successful career in TV/Film writing on Designing Women, Living Single and High Society to name a few. He’s penned some successful television movies for Disney Channel including th...

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM JUNE 2025! Currently starring in Schmigadoon on Broadway, Brad Oscar has received 2 Tony Award nominations for starring in the original companies of The Producers and Something Rotten as Franz Liebkind and Nostradamus respectively. He just wrapped up 8 shows a week in Wicked on Broadway as the Wonderful Wi...

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM NOVEMBER 2025! Currently starring in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway alongside Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, Michael Kostroff is an actor with over 100 TV/Film credits! He’s best known for his role as the defense attorney Maurice Levy on The Wire as well as the executive producer Marshall Pike on Dis...

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM MAY 2025!Currently starring as The Dentist in Off Broadway's hit Little Shop of Horrors, Andy Karl is an Olivier Award winning and 3 time Tony Award nominated actor whose career spans widely amongst screen and stage. He's most well known for his Olivier Award winning performance as Phil Connors in...

Thank you for watching and listening to I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes for one whole year! Here's to many more!

Rob Rokicki is best known for composing and writing the lyrics for the cult musical The Lightning Thief based on the hit book series Percy Jackson & The Olympians! The musical has gone on to be performed all over the world and we get to talking all about the new Original London Cast Recording whcih Rob also co-orchestrated and is OUT NOW! What started as just a Theater For Young Audiences prod...

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 Hou...