[0:00] ♪ Sweet Charity ♪ [0:03] ♪ Please belong to me ♪ [0:11] - Our paths first crossed in 2001 [0:15] at the Guthrie Theater, [0:17] and it was one of the first auditions I ever went to, [0:20] and Anita was the music director. [0:22] So Anita was part of my very first [0:25] experience in theater ever. [0:28] So Anita has really been a huge role model [0:33] and a huge example for me as a musician in the theater. [0:38] - And you played out here before. [0:40] - I did. [0:41] - In the orchestra. [0:42] - I did. I was in the King and I, [0:45] which you conducted. - That's right, [0:46] you were in The King and I, yes. [0:47] - In 2010. [0:49] And then I also played in the PIT for Kiss Me, Kate [0:54] and 42nd Street. [0:55] And I do a lot of work now [0:57] in new musical theater development. [0:59] And I'm a book writer and a lyricist and a composer. [1:02] And really a lot of that is because I had the opportunity [1:05] to work on those new shows with Anita. [1:09] - Since I am been doing this for, you know, [1:12] 60 years or something like that, [1:15] I don't particularly want to sit in a rehearsal room anymore [1:18] for eight hours a day. [1:20] So the plan was that we would get somebody to do that, [1:24] and then I would conduct the show. [1:25] Sweet Charity is a really great show [1:29] and Coleman really caught, I feel, [1:32] the essence of the 60s in the music. [1:36] Great orchestration. [1:38] - The chance to work with Anita, [1:40] I didn't want to pass that up. [1:41] Anita is a titan of the Twin Cities theater scene. [1:47] What Anita brings, most of all, to the room [1:50] is a desire for us all to share our energy (chuckles) [1:57] and for us to really give 100%. [2:00] Something I've learned from Anita [2:02] is how much of the job is helping the performers [2:07] with the musical storytelling. [2:09] It's really helping people understand [2:11] why the rhythms and the notes exist [2:14] in that pattern and in that order, [2:16] and helping them to convey the thoughts [2:19] or the ideas or the emotions that are behind the music. [2:23] - That's excellent. [2:24] (Isabella laughs) [2:26] No, seriously. [2:27] Her piano playing, it certainly creates awe in me. [2:31] Because she's so musical. [2:33] The tempos are exactly the same all the time. [2:36] You know, she's very accurate with that. [2:39] I don't necessarily look at it [2:40] as a mentor-mentee relationship. [2:43] Well, no because we've known each other [2:45] for a very long time. [2:47] And Isabella as an actor and singer for a lot of that. [2:50] You know, friends. [2:52] She's a great person to have in the room. [2:55] That inspires me. [2:58] - Thanks. (chuckles) [2:59] (tender music ending) [3:04] (team clapping)