Baldwin, Pinkham & More Save the Day with a Sneak Peek of SUPERHERO

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Up next at Second Stage Theatre is one of this season's most eagerly awaited new musicals, Superhero, which features music and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning composer Tom Kitt, a book by Tony Award winner John Logan and is directed by Jason Moore

and it features a stellar cast led by Kate Baldwin, Bryce Pinkham, and newcomer Kyle MacArthur

It begins previews on January 31st and be dropped by The Green Room 42

to give you a sneak peek and catch up with the company. We're living in between

I can do this. She's waiting for a hero, and I'm the one who's answering the call

But even as I think this, I'm still sitting here doing nothing at all

I could change that. I could change that. First of all, how excited are you to be working on a brand new musical

Unbelievably excited. The whole team are geniuses. You've got Tom Kidd, who writes the most beautiful music ever

John Logan, who's just a genius, and Jason, who guides us ever, you know, since it's my debut

it's my first professional gig to be with this team, is the coolest thing in the world, and I'm so grateful for it

Simon is 15, he's in high school. In a lot of ways, he's a very regular kid

He's very into comic books. He and his dad were very close

He's a very imaginative kid. And he's kind of having a tough time

deal with the loss of his father. So the regular difficulties of a high schooler

a teenager trying to come to terms with adulthood, trying to understand himself

that coupled with the tragedy he's trying to overcome and the grief that he and his mother

are coming to terms with. And the whole show is a difficult growing experience for him

What's the most exciting part about working on a brand new musical? Oh, I think just being the first person to sing these songs

the first person to think about the situation and make some choices. And

Jason and I go back and forth a lot About what my point of view as a mother because he is not a parent but obviously has parents

And but I am a parent. And it's always on your mind when you're a parent

And Tom Kidd is a parent. Like it's it's part it's part of your sort of split personality, not split personality, but like or like double identity

Who am I today? Where am I? Am I here giving an interview with you

Or am I wiping up spilled milk at home? It's always on your mind. It's always in the back of your head

So I react to the script from a mother's point of view

And that informs a lot of what I'm doing in the show. Why should audiences come and see Superhero

Because they will recognize themselves in it. Because there's a universality. it's about connecting with other people

It's about the loneliness that a big city can or even anywhere can make you feel

and how you are not alone and you are connected. Yeah, we sang a song called In Between

which is these two characters sort of reconciling the reality of feeling like in the real world

nothing is black or white. Everything kind of lives in this shade of gray and that's something I definitely have learned

is that sometimes choices are not as clear as you want them to feel

but you just have to make them. But this choice to do this show was not a hard one

When I saw the names on the list and I saw Kate Baldwin, I sort of said, well, I'd be an idiot not to do that

And I was right. So I play Jim. He is the mysterious neighbor who moves in next door to Charlotte and Simon, her son

and Simon is obsessed with comic books, is sort of processing the loss of his dad through writing his own comics

and he becomes convinced that this mysterious loner next door is a superhero

You know, he's a 15-year-old boy. So that becomes his obsession and he sort of tries to enlist his mom

in finding out more about this guy. and you know hence the three of them sort of connect and help each other move each other's

lives forward uh but yeah jim is a loner he's he's he's kind of afraid to engage with anyone

in the world and he's really kind of isolated himself and it's the two of them that help him

move past that maybe it time to cut myself slack to look at my life and hit reset Maybe it time to pull myself back And live without regret

It's the endless struggle To wipe the slate clean And then maybe I might

Give in and not fight Cause it's not light or white

It's in between This is the first musical I ever wrote

I didn't know what the form was. I was desperate to do it

And so to get a chance to work with Tom was amazing because he taught me what a book writer does

And he taught me how to negotiate music and dialogue in such a way

And there could be no more compassionate, educated, or wise teacher than Tom Kidd

This has been thrilling in every way to work with John. I was such a fan before I even stepped into the room

And we've just hit it off as friends, as collaborators. And John is being very kind to say what he's saying

But he came with such expertise and story. And so much was on the page before I even started writing any music

and I remembered early in the process at some point watching Hugo

and being at home by myself and just crying and I was like, I'm so thankful that John's

writing this show with me but really, he's extraordinary, it's been wonderful

we were saying that every musical goes through this process and we

are sitting in the room and it's happening all around us and on top of that it's so beautiful, so human

and so to be a part of it every day is magical, truly. Absolute gift

Yeah, I think we all just feel so lucky to be a part of something that's so original, never been done before, and being a part of the creative process

It's just, with all these legends, hello. Right, the legends. Ridiculous, ridiculous, yeah

So beyond exciting. Yeah. And I know we're all honored and grateful

It's John Logan. It's Tom Kitt. It's Jason Moore. It's your cat, Kate Rice

Bryce No I mean again these Broadway legends and film and TV legends all in the same space and we all creating this beautiful thing And I learning so much every day from Kate and Bryson and just being around these people who have been doing it for years years

I saw Kate, and I told her on the first day, I saw her in Songbird. And I was just immediately a huge fan

And I told her on the first day, I was like, I saw you in Songbird, I loved you, I'm so grateful to be working with you

And she was like, and now we're going to share a dressing room and be best friends. And I was like..

What unlocked this musical for you for musical staging? I always ask you that because there's got to be a way in

What was it for you? For me, it was about representing the physicality of loneliness

of isolation, of grief, of time passage, and of healing, and the deep love that a mother and child feels

Why should audiences come and see Superhero? Audiences should come and see Superhero because it is literally the most emotionally full musical I've ever seen

And the music is extraordinary. Working with this cast, I mean, working with each other and working with this incredible cast

Well, I'm going to jump in on this one. I love this cast

This company is amazing. A lot of talented people, but everyone is generous

This is probably one of the most generous group of people I've ever been around

And then the talent level is so high in the room. And so I just think everyone, no one wants to be the weak link

I'll put it that way in this cast. It's extraordinary. You know, I was just watching the presentation here

I was watching Bryce and Kate sing. And I was noticing how beautifully they breathe together

And they do that in the rehearsal room. They do it when they're doing their scenes

And then it suddenly occurred to me, everybody I watch in this

and hopefully I'm doing it too, we all breathe together. And I think that that's not only a credit to the material

it's a credit to Jason's work. Jason Moore is one of the most generous and kindest directors

I've ever worked with. And smart, oh, smart. Creating something from scratch for a musical

is like the most sublime experience. It's the reason we all got involved, right? Because the best musicals usually are really smart

innovative ideas that only that author could have thought of. And this story comes from the brain of these two guys

who have big hearts but love comic books. So it has sort of all of the fun and mystery plotting

of a great comic book, but all the depth and heart of what those guys write for the musical theater

It's also really funny. It doesn't always sound funny, but it really is

so it kind of brings that side of it too. So it's a true joy to be in the room with the two of them