Up next in 10
Backstage Bite with Katie Lynch: THE BAND'S VISIT's Etai Benson Makes a Wrong Turn(over)!
12K views
Nov 2, 2022
In Backstage Bite with Katie Lynch, come into Katie's kitchen with some of Broadway's brightest as they eat, drink and merrily mix it up. See your favorite stars out of their element as they whip up dishes inspired by their Broadway show. Watch what happens when these actors trade belting for baking!
View Video Transcript
0:00
This episode of Backstage Byte is sponsored by the In The Raw family of sweeteners
0:04
Hi! I am Katie Lynch. You might know me from Backstage Byte
0:09
I, today, am auditioning to be a member of the band for you guys, The Band's Visit
0:15
I thought it would be a really nice audition because I play the kazoo and I thought it would, like, round out the sound
0:21
And, like, I know you guys are nominated for 11 Tonys. Tonys are the Sunday, but my friend Etai Benson, he plays Poppy, is gonna come join me, too
0:29
But until he gets here, I have prepared the opening number of the show
0:44
Here's the time Bye! Shalom, shalom
0:54
I am so happy you're here. Me too. I am so happy to finally like get to know you
0:59
You went to Michigan, you're here in New York, you did Wicked
1:03
I did. And now you're in this incredible brand new musical. The band's visit
1:07
Nominated for so many Tony Awards. 11. Were you always a performer
1:12
My dad recently converted all our old home movies to digital, and even when I can barely talk
1:18
every time the camera goes by me, I'm just like, I make some kind of face or little move or dance
1:24
So I feel like I was always kind of performing. In eighth grade, I was in the boss, I played the Tin Man
1:30
It changed everything. I had the little if I only had a heart dance
1:38
Okay, let's get down to it. How much do you know about cooking and baking? Very little, but I know a lot about eating
1:43
But I just moved into a new apartment with this beautiful kitchen, so I gotta learn
1:47
I gotta learn these things. Well, for your housewarming party, you're going to be able to make these. Yes
1:51
Fans visit inspired wrong turnovers. Because they make a wrong turn. Okay, I love a plan
1:55
Okay, I think we should get started. Yeah, let's do it. First, you're going to start off by cutting two apples into little cubes
2:04
This is how I do it, right? If your brand new apartment caught on fire, what
2:09
God, don't even say that. Don't put that out in the universe. What three things would you grab
2:13
I need to grab my laptop. My whole life exists on that laptop. I would grab, I mentioned that my dad
2:18
had just turned all our movies into digital. I would grab all those little hard drives
2:23
with all of our home movies. That's a good one. Oh, you know what? These are probably obsolete now
2:27
but I very I a movie freak and I very proud of the DVD collection that I compiled and the movies that I love You busted this out and I thought we were gonna spin Give me a beat I don know with the girls I don know what to do I don know where to start
2:44
I'm smarter up here than I am down here and up here I'm not too smart
2:48
That was so good! We are stuffing our turnovers with cinnamon sugar apples
2:54
First, I need you to put your two chopped apples into your pan. Sssssssssssss. Oww
3:03
Next, you are going to add two tablespoons of our favorite sugar on the rack
3:06
Oh, that's sugar. So raw. So raw. Oh. Oh yeah. They're sizzling
3:13
Now we're going to add our cinnamon and make it spicy like we tried
3:17
Yeah, just like me. One teaspoon of cinnamon. Next, you are going to do 1 4th a cup of water
3:23
Oh, you could hear that one. It's now my favorite time of the show
3:28
because you're gonna mix these ingredients together. It's time to mix them
3:34
That was a great mix-mell! Your show has done such an incredible job
3:40
of bringing diversity to the stage. Can you talk to me a little bit about that
3:44
I know your dad is from Israel. Yeah, there really has never been a musical on Broadway
3:50
that takes place in the Middle East, especially the modern Middle East. And, you know, a lot of the actors in our show have talked about that they've never really had opportunities to audition for their actual cultural heritage
4:00
other than, like, maybe the role of a terrorist or a terrorist's wife
4:03
That's what there is out there. And suddenly we have a show that is about Middle Eastern people who are just ordinary, everyday people
4:11
I feel very lucky to be a part of it. And, you know, originally coming from Israel, it means the world to me to be able to speak my language, speak, you know, speak Hebrew on a Broadway stage
4:19
I never thought I'd get to do that. You know, theater is kind of just a pathway to empathy, for people to feel empathy for others
4:27
And so for audiences from all over the country to suddenly watch these Middle Eastern characters and see themselves in them, you know, that's what it's all about. Invaluable
4:47
Since, you know, you're only in town for 24 hours. That's right, here at the wrong turnover kitchen
4:53
Here at the wrong turnover kitchen. We didn't have time to make actual pastry dough
4:58
because it takes forever. You fold and you add the butter and you fold and you add the butter So we gonna use frozen pastry dough because it makes everyone life easier Cut your puff pastry dough into little squares to make your turnovers If you were a brand new musical instrument
5:15
what instrument would you be? And what would it sound like? So I was in band in middle school and high school
5:20
I really wanted to play the trumpet, but my embouchure, as they call it
5:24
was not good for the trumpet. It was good for the trombo. They made me play the trombone
5:28
So, I think I would do a combination of the two and call it a trombumpet. Trombumpet
5:37
Well, your squares are perfect. Thank you. You're very welcome. Fill your dough with your apples
5:43
and a little bit of the syrup because you want it all in there. What's the best part about your job
5:47
Oh, the best part about my job. There's so many good things. One of the best parts about this job
5:52
is that I get to roller skate on the same stage where Marlon Brando yelled, Stero
5:57
After my final callback, they asked if I knew how to roller skate. And the answer was no, but of course I said yes
6:04
So they said, oh, okay, that's great, that's great. And I thought, all right, so they're just gonna offer me
6:08
the part, and they said, no, no, okay, we need you to make a video tape of you roller skating
6:14
and singing your song loudly and confidently. And I was on tour with an American in Paris at the time
6:19
in Cleveland, somehow I did it, and then I got the job, and it was totally worth it
6:24
Now I would like you to glaze the top with some of your cinnamon sugar drizzle
6:28
You wanna know how to say cinnamon in Hebrew? Yes. Kinamon. Kinamon
6:32
And we do sugar, butter, flour. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sukkah. Sukkah. Chemah. Chemah. Chemah. Chemah
6:40
I want Catherine McPhee to learn that. All right. Now we're gonna put these in the oven because they look beautiful and perfect at 400 degrees
6:47
400 degrees. For 20 minutes. 20 minutes. And then, once you do that, we're gonna play our favorite game
6:52
Quickfire Questions. Quickfire Questions. I'm so excited. You have 30 seconds on the clock
7:00
Hit me. Ready, set, go. Who did you last text? You. Comedy or drama
7:07
Comedy. Apple or banana? Apple. Pen or pencil? Pen. Chicken, beef or fish
7:11
Chicken. Mom and dad's names? Arnon and Teva. Cat or dog? Dog
7:16
Fiction or non-fiction? Fiction. Favorite movie? Clockwork Orange. Mac or PC? Mac
7:21
Favorite season? Summer. What superpower would you want? Flying. Mexican, Italian or Chinese food
7:27
Mexican. Light side or dark side? Light side. What planet would you visit? Venus
7:32
Middle name. Sami Mou What did I get You got through a lot No turnovers complete without without a nice frosting drizzle You gonna make your frosting Two and a half cups of
7:45
Chemach. Flour. Nope. Powdered sugar. Oh, whoops! Two and a half cups of powdered sugar
7:53
Four tablespoons of milk. Four tablespoons. Beautiful. Good. One teaspoon. A little bit more if you want it
8:01
Okay, one teaspoon. Plus. If you were stranded in a foreign city for 24 hours
8:08
Yes? What city would it be? And what would you do? I'm going to choose somewhere I have been to
8:13
Hoi An, Vietnam. Oh! And I remember this was like one of my favorite days ever
8:19
We took motorbikes up to the mountains nearby, the Marble Mountains nearby
8:23
And just, it was like something out of a movie. And I want to do that again
8:27
Um, look at your beautiful turnovers. I'm a genius. You are. I'm dying on my turnovers
8:33
Yeah, like beep-a-bop-a-boo, beep-a-bop-a-boo. What fictional character would you want to spend the day with
8:39
So I'm currently watching 30 Rock for the first time. Werewolf bar mitzvah
8:43
Spooky scary boy becoming men, men becoming wolves. So I think right now I want to hang with Liz Lemon
8:51
Did you hear that, Tina Fey? I want to hang with you. Coming for you on the carpet
8:55
You tie? Perfect. My mouth is watering. Betelbon! Oh my god. They're a god-on-on. Good
9:03
Why'd you call them wrong turnovers? They are so right. Yeah, you have been so much fun today
9:08
Thank you. How do I follow you? At Itai Benson. And everything
9:12
How do we follow Band's Visit? At the Band's Visit. Go follow BackstageBite
9:16
At BackstageBite. Perfect. You're perfect. You're perfect. So we're perfect together. I alley-ooped you for that one
9:23
It was an alley-oop. Seriously, no joke. You guys need to go see Itai Benson as Poppy
9:29
in The Band's Visit. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Backstage Byte
10:07
sponsored by the In The Raw family of sweeteners. For more information, visit www.intheraw.com
#Broadway & Musical Theater
#Cooking & Recipes
#Culinary Training
#Performing Arts