Two Kids & A Broadway Star

Ellie and Haley interview LIANA HUNT!   Liana can be seen on Broadway right now as Lorraine Baines McFly—Marty’s mom in Back to the Future. And yes, we ask her if Lorraine has a crush on her son like she does in the movie. But you also might know her from Mamma Mia! Because she toured with the show and made her Broadway debut as Sophie. She also starred as Katherine Plumber in Newsies, toured with...

Ellie and Haley interview KATIE ROSE CLARKE!   Katie Rose Clarke doesn’t do things small. She made her Broadway debut in a little show called The Light in the Piazza when she was 21. She’s been Glinda A LOT. In fact, she holds the record as the longest-running Glinda on Broadway. Now, she’s hanging out with a little Sondheim show named Merrily We Roll Along. Which means she’s taking the stage eigh...

Ellie and Haley interview JOSE LLANA!   Jose leads a big, new take on what a Broadway show looks like in Here Lies Love—an immersive show that makes the audience a part of the performance. But before that, he graced the stage in Rent, Flower Drum Song, Wonderland, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The King and I — not once, but twice. And he’s been seen on your screens in Sex and the...

Ellie and Haley interview LESLI MARGHERITA!   Queen Lesli herself! Lesli made her Broadway debut as Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda the Musical. She was everyone’s favorite Princess in Emojiland, everyone’s favorite Cindy Lou Who in Who’s Holiday AND is the creator of two broadway.com vlogs, a digital short series, two books, two solo shows and the album Rule Your Kingdom. But before she did all that, sh...

Ellie and Haley interview MARIA BILBAO!   Maria made her Broadway debut earlier this year playing Johanna in Sweeney Todd and was in On Your Feet, Evita and In the Heights before joining one of Broadway’s biggest shows of the year. We talk to her about what that’s been like, all her favorite Sweeney things, and of course her advice for aspiring Johannas and Mrs. Lovetts.  Maria tells us about: ⭐️...

Ellie and Haley interview ERIC WILLIAM MORRIS!  From the original SQUIP to Be More Chill to Mamma Mia! to King Kong to White Girl in Danger, Eric William Morris has popped up in some of our favorite shows. And he can be seen in Fleishman Is In Trouble, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. But we’re here for all things on-stage!  Eric tells us about: ⭐️ Playing three role...

Ellie and Haley interview ANDREA MACASAET!  We know Andrea best as the first—and fan favorite—Queen to lose her head in Six.  But before she made her Broadway debut, she racked up some awesome stage credits, like Avenue Q, Heathers and Miss Saigon. Then, during the shutdown, she popped up in Ratatouille the Musical. And she’s back on stage in RENT at this year’s Stratford Festival in Ontario, Cana...

Ellie and Haley interview ELIZABETH TEETER!  We love a good Beetlejuice story, and Elizabeth Teeter has one of the best! When the show came back to Broadway in 2022, she jumped into reviving the role of Lydia Deetz. And she had a blast until the show closed in early 2023, sending off our favorite goth girl with a big heart. But Elizabeth has a handful of other amazing shows under her belt, too, li...

Ellie and Haley interview JULIE BENKO! You might have heard of a little show called … Funny Girl? Well Julie’s been with the show from day one in a BIG WAY. First as the Fanny Brice understudy, then taking on the role full-time and now as the character’s alternate every Thursday. She’s also been in Spring Awakening, Fiddler on the Roof and Les Mis. And the New York Times named her a Broadway break...

In this very special episode of Two Kids, Ellie and Haley are helping raise money for one of their favorite kids and their favorite places. Madison Barthelmes has been fighting pediatric cancer for the past year, and her parents own Ellie and Haley’s local youth community theater, Spotlight Arts in Fairport, NY. To help support Maddie and her family, Two Kids auctioned off three guest spots for th...

Ellie and Haley interview GERARD CANONICO! We’ve been big fans since we first saw Gerard as Rich in Be More Chill. But you might also know him from some of Broadway’s favorite shows, like Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Groundhog Day, 21 Chump Street and now Almost Famous! Gerard tells us about: ⭐️ Reuniting with his Spring Awakening cast in 2022 ⭐️ Be More Chill and his love of the Iconis Fam...

Ellie and Haley interview KEELEY KARSTEN! You can see Keeley in Steven Spielberg’s new movie, The Fabelmans. She plays Natalie, a role inspired by Spielberg’s younger sister, and the movie tells the story of how Spielberg fell in love with film. It’s a big deal. This episode is a little different, but we worked in plenty of Broadway AND we’re so excited to have Keeley on the show because she’s a b...

Ellie and Haley interview ELI GOLDEN! If you haven’t heard of Eli Golden yet, you’re about to! He plays Evan, the star of Netflix’s new 13: The Musical movie, out August 12! And for theater kids everywhere, that’s a BIG deal. In this episode of Two Kids, we talk to Eli about what it was like bringing a musical to the screen, what he hopes kids take away from the movie, what the audition process wa...

Ellie and Haley interview ANALISE SCARPACI! If you’ve been around Broadway lately, you know her as Lydia Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire! And we were lucky to get a sneak peek of the show way back in 2020 at BroadwayCon. But before THAT, she made her Broadway debut in A Christmas Story and later starred in Godspell and Matilda, a show we just did, so you better believe we talk about that! Analise also j...

Ellie and Haley interview JORDAN MATTHEW BROWN! We met Jordan in 2019 when he was touring as Elder Cunningham in Book of Mormon. But before he became one of our favorite stage-door people, he was in Into the Woods, Parade, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Who’s Tommy AND made his Broadway debut as Book of Mormon before heading out on tour! In this episode of Two Kids, we talk Broadway....

Ellie and Haley interview JOHN TARTAGLIA! John first hit Broadway as the original Princeton and Rod in Avenue Q, and he stayed on and off Broadway in a bunch of shows, like Beauty & the Beast, Newsical and Shrek as the OG Pinocchio and the hands behind dragon and the magic mirror. In this episode of Two Kids, it’s all about his work as a puppeteer! From Johnnie and the Sprites to Julie’s Green...

Ellie and Haley interview KIM SAVA! If Kim and Ellie have one thing in common … it’s that they’ve both done shows with Haley! Kim recently wrapped up a super-fun run as Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda at Syracuse Stage, and before that, she made her Broadway debut in Beetlejuice in some of the show’s most memorable roles, including understudying Delia, Barbara and Maxine. She also toured with Matilda and...

Ellie and Haley interview BEN CAMERON! You know him from BroadwayCon. You know him from Broadway Buskers. You know him from Broadway Sessions. You know him as your Broadway Buddy! Ben Cameron was in the original Broadway casts of Wicked, Footloose and Aida, and has toured with multiple shows and can be heard on a bunch of cast albums. We met him at BroadwayCon and can confirm he’s as awesome as he...

Ellie and Haley interview JOE ICONIS! Joe wrote BE MORE CHILL, which is one of our all-time favorite musicals (ask us about our Jeremy and Christine cosplay from Broadway Con) and earned him a Tony nomination. He also wrote Broadway Bounty Hunter, Love In Hate Nation, Two Player Game and more. Hear Joe tell us: ⭐️ How he wrote some of our favorite songs in Be More Chill ⭐️ How his love of theate...

Ellie and Haley interview CHRIS AND CLAY RICE-THOMSON , our first Two Kids & A Broadway COUPLE! Chris is currently on tour with Hamilton and was in Pretty Woman and Book of Mormon on Broadway. And he and Clay toured together in West Side Story, where they met. Clay has also toured with Wicked, Jesus Christ Superstar and Oliver. And has been in King Kong, Matilda and Newsies on Broadway. From C...

Ellie and Haley interview STEPHANIE D’ABRUZZO! Stephanie is the OG Kate Monster in Avenue Q! It’s a role that earned her a Tony nomination and showed the world a brand-new kind of puppeteering—right on stage! She’s built her whole career on amazing puppeteering and voice work, with roles on Sesame Street, Julie’s Greenroom, in video games, on TV, in movies, off Broadway and more! From puppeteering...

Ellie and Haley interview DREW GASPARINI! Drew is a composer, songwriter and performer, and he’s been making big waves lately with the new Karate Kid musical and a stage version of It’s Kind of a Funny Story. In this episode, Drew tells us all about ... ⭐️ Staying true to Karate Kid and when we can see its out-of-town run! ⭐️ Becoming a noodle. ⭐️ How he feels about Cobra Kai. ⭐️ Some exciting...

Ellie and Haley interview TAMAR GREENE! Or as we like to call him: George Washington! Tamar joined the Broadway cast of Hamilton in January before the shutdown, and before that, he spent a year and a half in the role during the show’s run in Chicago. And he was born right here in Rochester, NY, where he went to the Eastman School and performed in some of the same local theaters we’ve been lucky to...

Ellie and Haley interview AARON ALCARAZ! We first saw Aaron as Angel in the 20th anniversary tour of RENT! And he later made his Broadway debut as a swing in the cast of Mean Girls. He’s one of the nicest actors we’ve ever met and we can’t wait for you to hear what he had to say about … ⭐️ How he learned Angel’s crazy dance moves! ⭐️ How he got from the RENT tour to the Broadway stage! ⭐️ What’...

Ellie and Haley interview ALEX BRIGHTMAN! You know him as the ghost with the most. The teacher with the meacher. He’s rocked out in School of Rock and he’s haunted the Winter Garden as Beetlejuice. He’s a two-time Tony nominee, a writer, a voice actor and a member of the comedy group The (M)orons. AND he’s the nicest Broadway star we’ve ever met. In this episode, Alex tells us all about … ⭐️ The...