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BKLYN's Emma Kingston Visits Backstage LIVE- Watch Now!
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Oct 26, 2022
Watch below as he chats with West End star Emma Kingston, who appears as the title character in Mark Schoenfeld andamp; Barri McPherson's BKLYN The Musical, which is now available to stream on Broadway HD!
View Video Transcript
0:30
Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge. My guest comes from across the pond
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She is known from such shows as Evita, The Last Five Years, In the Heights, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Les Mis
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And now she is one of the stars of the new virtual production of Brooklyn the Musical, which is currently streaming on Broadway HD, the premier streaming service for theater fans
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Please welcome Emma Kingston. hi hi how are you first Emma where are you and how are you I am good thank you I am in London
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the unit in the United Kingdom it is currently what time is it I'm five hours in front of you
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guys so whatever time you are watching I'm five hours ahead fabulous and how are you I'm doing
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okay thank you I mean the sun is shining today which is a rarity for London so anytime the sun's
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So I'm happy. Wonderful. You know, I've spoken to performers all around the world over the past 15 months
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So can you sort of let me know what these past 15 months have been like for you
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Oh, what a big question. The past 15 months have been, in one sense, I think it's been a real chance to actually have a rest
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Because I think as actors, the hustle is always on. like you're always alert to everything you know one phone call could change your entire life and
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there's been no sense of that phone call happening in the last 18 months or so so
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I guess it's kind of on one hand been less pressure but then on the other hand I have
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just missed it so much and I don't think I realized how much I missed it until
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sort of, you know, this country is ahead of their vaccine race and this country is opening up this
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bit and there's this. And then you start to get a bit jealous of the normality. So, yeah, it's a
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it's a yo-yo effect at the moment. But I'm I'm really hopeful we're sort of like seeing our way
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out. Yeah, I was going to ask you, you know, with the theatre starting to open up worldwide
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what's happening in London and the West End? So the West End in London is slowly reopening
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Some of our shows are currently open under social distancing guidelines because our restrictions were supposed to end about a week ago
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and that has now been extended. So a few shows that have opened up are at 50% capacity
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but I think the majority of West End shows are going to probably open around September
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October time, hopefully to full capacity. Yeah. Yeah. See, we're, we open again primarily
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in September. That's sort of our starting date for the big shows, but some shows have, you know
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littler shows, you know, off-Broadway shows are starting, you know, the immersive ones or the
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ones you sort of walk through or, you know, you just sit in a little pod have sort of started
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but we're sort of on the same game plan. So, you know, you know
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with the theater beginning to open up how diversified and, and how inclusive do you hope the theater will be
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Wow. I mean, I, it's something I've always hoped for, and it's something that I think is so deeply important. And I think
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you know, relaying back to your first question with, you know, how's it been over the last 15 months
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I think we've had to have some very tough and very needed conversations. I hope that we start to see people for who they are
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rather than having to have other people assume who someone is and things like that
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that I just hope that we're seen for who we are as individuals
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and for what our talent is rather than anything else going forward. And I hope that shows going forward and entertainment going forward is a much more inclusive society
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Beautifully put. The same conversations are having here, you know, being diverse and inclusive
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So I hope everybody listens to everybody and I hope it comes back that way
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Thank you for sharing that, Emma. Thank you. Well, listen, congratulations on this new production of Brooklyn the Musical
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Thank you. As Brooklyn, how excited are you to be a part of this
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I was so overwhelmed to be a part of this I think you know I was saying to our producers that we used
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to have a little shop here in London called Dress Circle and it was basically you know show heaven
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and you'd go and you'd get an album that maybe you couldn't get normally in London that would
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be like a new Broadway cast recording or something like that and I remember picking up the Brooklyn
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album and buying the CD from Dress Circle and you know singing all the songs from Brooklyn you know
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when I was a teenager so to be doing it in such a new format as well like we've almost created this
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new medium of it's not quite digital theatre it's not quite film it's sort of somewhere in between
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that it just feels really special and unique and almost a positive of the pandemic it never would
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have happened had it not have been for this past year. I don't think you would have got the five of
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us available all at the same time. Yeah. Well, we have to give a big shout out to your producers
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because they have totally thought outside of the box this entire year. I know it's been frustrating
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for them, but they found a way to create some incredible art and bring theater back. So it must
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have been great to work with them. It was amazing. I mean, Lambert Jackson have done so many
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incredible things be it they put the last five years on a streaming platform and songs for a
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new world and then they actually took songs for a new world into a theater for a couple of nights
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because we were allowed to at a certain point have you know distanced audiences and then from
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doing things like first date to doing brooklyn and we've sort of seen them go from you know
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filming in one's house sort of very much like this to being on location and being able to
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figure out new ways to number one, employ people, but also like bring art out for people who have
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been really like missing our genre. Yeah. They really thought outside of the box. This of course
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is a brilliantly conceived production. What was it like working on it? Like how long did it take
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to film? Like how was that all done during the pandemic? Wow. I mean, we were doing this
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We filmed it back in February and it was such a whirlwind
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We actually learned the entire show on Zoom, which was interesting to say the least
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And I think our amazing musical director, Leo, like he deserves awards because he worked so hard making sure that he'd put a
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track down for all five of the cast members on their specific harmony lines
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and we'd go through it sort of one by one so that everyone knew exactly what they were doing
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and we sort of did 10 days on zoom we got in a studio for two days I tell you though that first
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day in the studio we were all tested to make sure that we were all okay to be in the same room
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and that half an hour while you're waiting for those results please please please um and sort of
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we rehearsed in a studio for two days sort of getting a few bits on its feet singing together
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for the first time. And we filmed it over a course of three days, which is actually quite insane
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Yeah. Well, how wonderful is it living in the world of Brooklyn the Musical by Mark Schoenfeld
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and of course, Barry McPherson? I loved living in that world because for me, it's a world whereby
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you're trying to establish your community through music. And I think relaying that into sort of
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this year especially that you know the theatrical community and you know the performing arts community as a whole
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the way that we had to really work throughout this pandemic if we been able to work is definitely mostly through music And it sort of reaching out there to people And you know even as far as
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our little production that we filmed in London in February is now on Broadway HD. And, you know
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like the outreach that that has to people sort of living in that world and creating like a slice of
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New York in London. And I love New York. It's maybe my favorite place in the entire world
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So to be able to sort of offer that little slice of the world that we created felt really special
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See, that's what's great about Broadway HD. It's the premier streaming service for theater fans
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Anybody can buy a ticket any time of the day, watch it anywhere in the world. You know
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that's the silver lining during all of this, isn't it? And it's something that we could never even have dreamed of happening
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You know, I'm that kid that I say kid, but, you know, I was that kid who tries to find a stream to watch the Tony Awards every year
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because they don't show it in London. And, you know, I, my
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my biggest dream is to at some day be on Broadway and things like that
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You know, it's not lost on London, you know, people who've worked in the West End that even just getting to Broadway HD feels like such a privilege
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It's so great, though, because I was I watched them all the time. I'll be like, oh, I have like two hours or whatever
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And then you go through their library. And I mean, I know all these shows, but I'm like, oh, wow, I can see a New York production or something that was filmed in London
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Yeah. Fascinating. All the wonderful things that the treasures they have on Broadway HD
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so this has been a full circle moment for you from going to dress circle which i totally miss
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because before the pandemic i was over in london i was like where's dress circle and they're like
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oh it's closed i know good i wanted to go there and sort of live in the london world of what you
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know we have here you know in the new york you know theater community or whatever the little
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stores that offer you theater posters cds and scripts and all of that i remember being obsessed
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with Colony Music Store. And that's not there anymore either, is it
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And it just breaks my heart. It used to be my favorite thing to do was just like go around and look through Colony
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Like, oh, what books was I going to take home with me? And yeah. See, when I was a kid, Colony was there
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and I'd come in and see a musical and I'd go to the sheet music and there'd be like four songs released
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from a musical that I'd buy. Or, you know, you were lucky enough that the vocal selections had already come out
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So you'd buy all this stuff and then bring it home, you know? Yeah, I love that. After you've seen the matinee or something
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Yeah. I mean, just singing this score of Brooklyn, what it meant to you
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I mean, I've been watching, I watched it, I watched all these clips and everything else. It's so exciting to watch you do what you do
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To have that full circle moment and to be living in the world of Brooklyn
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What was that like for you? Oh, wow. I mean, getting to sing the music
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Yeah. It felt like maybe the biggest challenge that someone could have given me during a pandemic
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yet it felt just so exciting to do and I'm a huge Eden Espinosa fan from you know listening to the
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soundtrack we actually worked together doing the West Side Story Proms in London and we sang America
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together because she was playing Anita and I was doing Rosalia and to almost have that full circle
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moment of like getting to perform with Eden felt like a huge deal that sort of getting to follow
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on in her footsteps because she's made so much of that music so iconic um but you know even as far
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as I played Vanessa in In the Heights and Karen Olivo was in the original cast of Brooklyn that
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there seemed like so many fated reasons why this was sort of meant to be that's fabulous what a
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great cast you got to work with I mean talk about your fellow cast members in this show
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I mean, where to even start? Because we have the incredible Marisha Wallace playing Paradise and Marisha is a force of nature
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Her performance as Paradise is just absolutely phenomenal. I'm so sorry, my hay fever with my eyes and they're watering at the moment
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Mine's the same way here. Or actually, no, I'm just very emotional thinking about Marisha's performance
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that too my incredible friend Sejal Keshwala playing my mum and you know she is not that
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much older than me but you know her performance is so nuanced and beautiful we have the incredible
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Jamie Moscato playing my dad and just I've been a fan of Jamie's for a really long time
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I've seen him in so many shows from his first show when he did Spring Awakening in the original London cast here to recently I saw him in Heathers and he's had such an incredible, incredible career
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and Nushin Matthews. Now, Nushin Matthews in this production is going to blow your mind
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Some of the vocal tone that he produces, I've never, ever, ever heard anyone else sing like him
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and be so just open and warm. There's something so beautiful about certain moments of this piece
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where I don't think anyone else could have done it like Nushin
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So the cast are really quite just top-notch. Everyone's at the top of their game
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It was just so lovely to work with everyone. Please give a big shout out to your director
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Oh, Dean Johnson, our amazing director, who worked as cameraman extraordinaire as well as director
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and sort of like, you know, very much had this artistic vision for Brooklyn
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And while I'm there, you know, we've got Leo Munby, our incredible musical director, who I said before
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Leo and what he did to the tracks in terms of like updating the sound
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and the vibe of this show for like a modern day, you know, influences from things like Hamilton is in there and you know the way that he's recreated the music
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is amazing. Andrew Exeter on our set design, when I tell you the first time I saw the design
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for the Once Upon a Time moment I was shook and Andrew and I had the amazing opportunity actually
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with Leo, we worked together on the last five years and Andrew's set for the last five years
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that we did at this incredible theatre down in Cornwall also just completely blew my mind and
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Andrew is one of the youngest set designers I've ever worked with and he has such a long way to go
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because he he's so talented at creating almost something out of nothing and making it just look
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this word might sound a bit tacky but like he makes something look really expensive and
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sophisticated. But yeah, our entire, entire team were just, just amazing really
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Yeah. And of course the video editor, Sam Diaz, did such a brilliant job with putting this
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Sam, like we didn't actually get to see it until the first day it was released
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in the UK. So when we all sort of were sat watching it
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we were still in lockdown. And so we watched it individually, but we had like a zoom beforehand and we were just like three days
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And most of the takes that you see, I would say most moments
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we only maybe did two or three takes. So all the vocals are live
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And, you know, what Sam and Dean managed to put together is nothing short of extraordinary
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And they only had a month to edit, which is insane. I love the space. Is it Ugly Duck space where it was filmed
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yeah ugly duck and you know none of us quite knew what to expect and I think what the company do is
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they take these sort of old buildings and abandoned warehouses and sort of make them into
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performance spaces essentially and it almost felt quite rent inspired I felt like I just wanted to
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give a performance of over the moon like the entire time that you know you're in this sort of
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like new performing arts worlds and this idea of Brooklyn as well of it being like super downtown
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and that that whole like um earthy vibe to the space I mean I won lie it was February and it was freezing And for anyone who does watch us on Broadway HD you will at times literally see our breath
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because it was so cold, but it was so worth it. But it looked like you were outside. You know, when you say you see your breath
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like living under the Brooklyn Bridge. So it all made sense. Totally. It totally all made sense. And hey, look, London winters are cold
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but they're nothing like New York winters. So we probably got off quite easy
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Totally. Why do you think Brooklyn the Musical is the perfect musical for today? The way this
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was totally reconceived for everything we were going through? I think the reason I love New York
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and especially why I love New York is because it's essentially a city of immigrants and it's a city of
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so many different cultures all fusing together. And I think, you know, Brooklyn is this girl from
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France who comes over to find her dad who sort of meets this amazing being called Paradise who
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you know, literally has to sit Brooklyn down and kind of say, you have no idea about my town
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this is my town let me introduce you to my world and you know this speech that paradise has as well
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about you know this idea of kids going into school like with their books and then as I think quoted
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and an ak-47 and the other like it's just the piece is about now the piece is about you know
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the the idea of you know race and class structure and how that can affect you know
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what your options are in life and things like that and there was always a line um
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where again in paradise's speech it's like uh one i can't remember the beginning of it
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one hates black, black hates Jew, and they all, you know, and it's like, why, why is hate anywhere
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near that? And I think, especially in the, you know, in the times that we've been living in over
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the past 18 months or so, like, it's never been more important, you know, like you asked me in the
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very beginning about the industry, but sort of more, more than the industry, like the wider world
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it's a time to be inclusive, hear, hear other people's stories, like, you know, I was really
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thinking about this the other day when I watched the new in the Heights film that it's so
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you know tell our stories that love letter to New York that it really is this fusion of
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different people and cultures and I think that's why it's so important for today
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Yeah beautiful you've taken on so many great roles you mentioned in the Heights the movie
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is phenomenal I've seen it numerous times already now for you you did in the Heights I mean what was
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like being part of the Lin-Manuel Miranda world and that beautiful beautiful uh musical yeah
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In the Heights for me was the most incredible incredible experience in London like when In
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the Heights premiered in 2014 so we got it like a lot later than you guys did and we don't have
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that same kind of Latina community that you guys do except that it totally exists in my house
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so it was one of those things that when it sort of was coming about I was like
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I'm so ready for this and it was one of those moments where I will never forget
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sitting in a circle on day one of rehearsals and one by one we went round and we told a story about
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our heritage or we told us we told our family story and then how can we put that all together
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to create this new community and you know we were premiering in the heights in a tiny theater in
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London before the Hamilton hysteria we literally thought we were going to sell one ticket we were
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Like, no one's going to come and see us. And our first preview sold out
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And then just word of mouth travelled. And it was the most incredible, joyous experience that I never, ever wanted that show to end
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And I went back to it when it transferred. and you know I remember Lynn coming to see us and Alex Lackamore coming to see us and just
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feeling so overwhelmed to be a part of that community and yeah it it was it still remains
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maybe one of the best experiences of my professional career. Did you know the night
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that Lin-Manuel was there did they tell you beforehand? We were warned because I think
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otherwise we would have been given it carnival and I would have turned around and kind of gone like
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we actually weren't told where he was sat though so Lynn and Vanessa came along but we'd actually
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met Lynn and Vanessa they came into London just after the first run that we did because we were
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only on for such a short time again pre-Hamilton like a couple of the cast members with Lynn and
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Vanessa, we went out to just a bar in London. He was saying how he had deadlines about this new show that he was writing
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And you kind of go like, oh, great. Like, I wonder what it's going to be
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And, yeah, for then Hamilton to sort of have opened in the US
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by the time that we were finishing up in the Heights sort of for the second time
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That was an incredible, unbelievable moment. And I just thought, like, how lucky
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That night in the theatre was just electric. It was amazing. He's one of the nicest people I've ever known
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I've known Lin from the very, very beginning. Right. He's so humble
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He's the same man that I met many, many years ago. Yeah. You know, you got to do Evita
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Did you play Evita? I did. I did. I did. So what was that like, living in that world
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Wow. I mean, so sort of leading on from the In the Heights thing, really
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My mum is from Argentina. My mum was born in Buenos Aires. And, you know, that show was something that I watched the film a lot
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And, you know, my grandpa, my papa, he lived that. So, you know, my grandfather is a man of very few words
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But even to talk to him about, you know, what was it like? And he said, oh, I remember going to the post office and picking up an ice cream and a lottery ticket on Christmas Day from Ava
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and you know even just little things like that but also really interesting to know that
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the show isn't allowed in Argentina and the film was banned because of the way they depict her in
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the show versus like the murals that are like on the walls and you know I remember walking through
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La Boca and seeing like Descamisados written across you know that politics is still such a
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taboo subject in Argentina and I was able to go back and stay with a lot of my family before I
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went on the international tour and that was amazing to go back with sort of a new reason
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to be there as well to sort of like research and immerse myself in that world and I got to meet
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the incredible Hal Prince because we were doing the original production and that is something that
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I will never ever take for granted and I'm to this day so furious I didn't ask for a picture
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um but it we were so in the moment like when we had this meeting that it just felt
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you know like we were just having a conversation about the show and I just got back from Argentina
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and we were in New York and we were just chatting and that again was just such a whirlwind experience
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you don't get these opportunities very often that you're sat in Hal Prince's office talking about
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Evita and a story that is part of your family history. Like, it's crazy
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He was the greatest man in the theatre and also one of the sweetest men ever. That he was
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You went to the office. I did. The famous Hal Prince office with everything
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The famous Hal Prince office. And I think when I met him, I was also about to do Fiddler on the Roof
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And it was one of those moments where I go, I'm in Hal Prince's office
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like West Side Story Sweeney Todd Company and you know all of these Thunder on the Roof Evita that I suddenly go what is my life Like what how how is this even possible
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Yeah, so that was again, just an incredible moment. Well, being in that office with his big Follies poster
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behind his chair, right? Oh my gosh. I was gonna ask you about touring
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cause you did a lot of tours. What was it like touring around the world with these shows
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So the first two tours that I did in my career, I was very young and we were touring around the UK and Ireland
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And, you know, I would never have gone to some of these cities
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had it have not been for being on tour. And then Evita took me to some of the most incredible countries in the world
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I lived in South Africa for four months, which South Africa might be one of the most beautiful places on earth and you know we went
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to Singapore Taipei and Taiwan Hong Kong Tokyo like I was living in Tokyo for a month and
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performing that is it's so incredible where our world can take us that almost it makes me feel
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quite sad now that, you know, travel is so restricted at the moment and, you know, tourism
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and art have always fused together that I can't wait. I'm supposed to be in New York for a wedding
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in September. And I really hope that I'm able to like come and see a show that something is open
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by the time that I get there. Um, cause I miss that shared experience with people
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Yeah. When are you, when are you coming for the wedding? Which, which week in September? Is it
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the latter part of the month. Yeah. I'm there like the last week of September
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Well, a lot of things are starting September 14th. So like I said
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keep your eye on everything. Tickets are on sale for shows too
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but they're going to be back. I can't wait to sit in a Broadway house or a little theater downtown either and
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just experience all just what it was like. You know, that's why it's nice to watch a lot of these productions on Broadway HD because
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they'll spam the audience. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, Do you remember that experience when you sat in an audience and you started to
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clap or you gave a standing ovation at the end or just being with theater
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people and looking at a program or before a show started, before the curtain went up
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Oh, it's my favorite thing. My favorite part about being in a theater is hearing an orchestra warm up
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while I'm reading my program or playbill. Totally. That to me is live theater
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And I love that. I just got goosebumps listening to you say that because we all get
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We sit down, we run to the bathroom, we sit down or whatever, and you open up your program and you start to read about who's in this show
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And you hear the orchestra all tuning up below and then the lights just go out and it all begins
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But it's all going to be back. It's all going to be back very soon. I hope so
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But it's going to be one of those incredible moments for all of us. I think we'll be bringing Kleenex to the theater the first time I go and I'm sure you will too
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Oh my, I mean, I was lucky enough to see a couple of my friends and everybody's talking about Jamie a couple of weeks ago
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And it was only at 50% capacity and we were all in masks
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But I tell you, I was streaming. Just being in, like I said, in that shared experience world again and hearing, you know, live music and hearing my friends like sing out into an auditorium
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There's nothing like it. Yeah. Is there a dream role from a classic musical
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I mean, you've done a lot of them already. Like you said, Evita and Fiddler and all this stuff
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Is there a classic musical that you'd be like, oh, I eventually want to grow into that role or this is a dream role of mine
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Oh, I think. For now, I would love to get my hands on
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Julie Jordan in Carousel, Lucille Frank in Parade. I'd love to originate something because I think what I love
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especially about like how I grew up and like listening to Broadway cast albums is that that that's forever
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That I've always wanted to like originate something that someone can sort of
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one day go, Oh, Emma did that. That's the great thing about cast albums
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You realize that these shows were put together for these people or it's
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It's that melding of, you know, oh, this song was created for this artist
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Yeah. You know, but it's like, oh, you'll get there. Like I said, I looked at the shows you've done
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You've done some incredible, incredible work. And you will continue to do so
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I hope so. One of my final questions is, what was that defining moment for you when you said
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I want to be a performer and try to make a living at this? Oh, I think
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I mean look there's videos of me on holiday with my parents at three years old singing Blow Gabriel
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Blow because Patti LuPone playing Reno Sweeney might be one of my favorite things in the entire
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world that cast album pretty much made me want to go into theater but I think when I was about 13 or
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14 I said to my singing teacher at the time I was like I don't want to go to university I don't want
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to sort of stay at school past 16 I essentially want to go join the circus and my parents said
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no so I sort of finished my time at school and then I went to a performing arts university and
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I went and did a degree but yeah I would say around 13 14 I started taking it really seriously
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and I sort of said to my mum and dad this is what I'm going to do and you know for quite fairly
32:44
traditional Jewish parents they sort of went what um but I remember reading an article actually
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that Idina Menzel was uh she'd been doing an interview and it said you know growing up her
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parents really wanted her to be a doctor until she was originating Elphaba in Wicked or you know
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Maureen and Wren and then her parents went oh yeah it's a bit better than being a doctor
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so what was your first big professional show that your parents came to and they're like oh there it
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is Emma's joined the circus. Oh, professional. I mean, my first job was doing Grease, but I was
33:22
playing one of the really, really small characters. I would say in the Heights and Les Mis was
33:29
like doing Les Mis and the first time my parents saw me on as Eponine was the most full circle
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moment because again you know Leia Salonga on that 10th anniversary concert
33:42
she's all I ever wanted to be and she as an actor and a vocalist inspired me so much
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that to do that show to be in the same costume that I saw her wear
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I don't think like the entire Northwest London Jewish community couldn't believe it, let alone my parents
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So, yeah, that I would say those two shows, because they happened around the same time for me and sort of me playing two principal roles
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My parents were like, OK, we will trust it. I just love the journey you've been on already, like meeting Hal Prince and Lin-Manuel Miranda
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I mean, it's just what a fabulous story you have. And you're so young
34:31
I mean, you have your whole life ahead of you. It'll all come back. Theater's all going to come back bigger and better than ever
34:37
You know, the creative world always, they've been through pandemics before and wars and everything else
34:46
The arts is something that always perseveres somehow. It always comes back and reinvents itself
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And it's going to happen all over again for all of us. I hope so. I was doing a workshop the other week and my director
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I was working with the amazing Drew McHoney and actually Drew said to us
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this may feel like a really weird time, but art is the next step of the pandemic in that we are the healing process
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And I loved that. It was one of the first things he said when we all came into the room
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And I just thought, yeah, that's so true. because when people want to heal
35:28
they seek out catharsis and that happens through art and music. So beautifully put
35:34
We are out of time, but I want to mention to everybody once again, Brooklyn the Musical starring Emma Kingston
35:40
is streaming worldwide on Broadway HD, the premier streaming service for theater fans
35:46
Emma, this has been great to get to know you here. Yeah, you too
35:50
Thank you so much for having me. This is great. Take care, everybody. We'll see you soon
35:55
Thank you
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