Video: Conversations with Matt Doyle

Are you ready

It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Well, Broadway World, it's our one-year anniversary of The Roundtable being here on Broadway

exclusively every single Friday. And I got like six messages last week about our guests for our one-year anniversary

The people who watched this show were like, why can't you get it

Matt Doyle. Why can't you? You know why? Because Matt Doyle is busy people. He's a Tony winning

superstar who's in a show that made me cry, who made my friend Mike cry. I got a message from

Mike's mother who cried. We all cried and laughed and cried when you see this show. I have to go

back and take my mother, who is Rose Antonia DiMeglio and I am gay. So an Italian mom and a gay son

this is the show, people. This is the show. We had Matt on during, uh

quarantine 100 years ago with the skivis and Matt then just became an international superstar

That's exactly what happened. I'm so happy, happy one year to us and here you go. Matt Doyle is back

here on the roundtable. Thank you for being here. Oh my gosh. You're so sweet. That introduction

I can't even stand it. I'm so grateful to be here. Thank you for having me. I am so excited to have you

here because we got to see your show. Yes. I can't even handle it. I didn't. I didn't

You know, hearing, you know, that you have an Italian mother and I'm half Italian. So I grew up surrounded by it, which a lot of people don't know because, you know, it says Matthew Finan Doyle is my name. It sounds very Irish. But I grew up surrounded by Italians and there is just a certain candidness and candidness and candid quality to a family like that. And you just say everything that's on your mind and you're surprised when anyone's actually offended. And, you know, it's been really just special

developing that relationship with Caroline and bringing this story to the stage

but everyone can relate to it. You, firstly, Caroline, you got to see this show and the acting

It's just the two, like, it's the two of them, people. And you don't need to sing

I'm not getting married today because you are acting over decades, you know, in a lifetime

and it is funny, and it is bittersweet, and it is, you are half Italian

I am, yes. Yes, on both sides of my family, there's Italian, and it somehow equals half in the end

But, yeah, I mean, especially my dad's mother. She was Geraldine Padula, and, you know, she had, like, JFK and the Pope on her wall and, you know, that kind of Italian

And she was amazing. And I'm just also just so enamored with this relationship, because I think there's something really special about a relationship between a mother and a gay son

I think it's an intimacy that a lot of people don't really. understand, including my own sisters, because, you know, you have to be vulnerable with your mom

at a very, very young age about things that you don't necessarily want to talk about. And that opens

up, I think, a friendship that a lot of sons don't necessarily have with their mothers. And I consider

my mom my best friend. I tell her way too much. I tell her absolutely everything. And she knows

details about my life that a lot of my best friends don't even know. And sometimes I'll catch

myself and be like, I can't believe I just told my mother that. But, you know, that's just who we are. And it's a bond that I'm really excited to be able to celebrate and bring to the

stage. And that's what drew me to the project as soon as I read it. I was just like, oh, I have to do this. I have to do this for my mom. And it's been so

special being able to do that. It is beyond special. It made me really, it makes me think of my mom. My mom is 100

Italian. My dad is Irish in Czech. So I get the divine. And when I call her every day, like a, like

a gay son would call his mother. I'm telling her about it. I can't wait to take her to see it because

I also thought of my grandmother, who is 94 years old, who is the Italian home

Yeah, absolutely. The last St. Anthony is in the backyard. We lived that life in Fortly, New Jersey

But also my friend Mike, who is not gay, but has an Italian mom who loves his mother

Found so much humor and truth. And it's not for anyone. It's for everybody. It's for everyone

And I think, you know, especially right now, after talking about my mom just now, my father, right after this crazy, fun election that we just went through, you know, just felt the devastation that we were all feeling and just looked at all of us and said, we need to reconnect right now. It needs to be about family in the next four years. We need to make sure that we're touching base with each other every single day, that we're communicating, that we're being friends in a way that we haven't been because I don't know how I'm going to get through this without you guys. And it was such a beautiful thing to say

I feel like that is the universal element of this show is it really is just about family And it about you know needing each other even through the hardest and most difficult and most impossible moments with each other

My character is, is tough. He's a difficult guy. And, you know, his life is unfolding. And he makes a lot of really irrational and passionate decisions that don't necessarily treat his mother very well

And I'm so excited to be able to humanize that and bring that kind of humanity to the stage because that's what family is

We support each other through the lowest of lows. And I feel like that we all need to do that right now

Well, Conversations Play is where you can get your tickets and you can get your tickets. And it's going to be, it's the best, fastest 90 minutes

It's going to be joy. It's so quick. You're in and you're out

You don't even have an intermission to have to wait on the long line for the bathroom. You're in and you're out

This show, when it came to you said, you're going to you said, read it and you were in. But then going to the rehearsal room, it's a play

You're not singing. And it's just the two of you. What was it like in the room to be

Your relationship together is so beautiful on stage. Oh, thank you. How did that build

How did it get there? You know, the chemistry was there immediately, which is like the biggest sigh of relief every time that I have a co-star and it just

clicks like that. And we both emailed each other after the first day and just said, oh, thank God

You know, thank God it's you. Because it was an arranged marriage. We didn't really know what we were

you were coming into. And I just immediately felt a connection with her. And we have such different

processes. You know, I approached something with a big outline and I want to color in everything

And Caroline needs specificity every single word as we go. And I felt like we actually learned a lot

from each other and were able to support each other. When Caroline was being specific, it helped

color me in. And when I was trying to look at the big picture, it really helped her step back and go

oh, we're not there yet, you know? And I think that's why our actual offstage relationship built so quickly is because

we both approached it from such, such different angles as actors that we were able to

really find common ground in the rehearsal process because it's a two-hander

And we do not stop. And if you come see our show, you'll see that, like, we have to make these big transitions

very quickly because we just take these huge jumps in age and decades

and it's a wild ride every night and very exhausting. And we need to support each other

And we need to make sure that, you know, we never drop the ball. We never lose the rhythm

And the only way to do that is to just trust each other. And I'm so grateful for her

Oh, you'll see, you want to see old Mad Doyle. You've got to go get the chance to see the show as the ages and gets older

Yes, I do. I age. No. Kudos for you for taking a role that ages because I'm already like, oh, no

I was so relieved. My boyfriend came to see it recently, and I had, like, the gray in my hair and everything

And, you know, I'm in that phase with him where I'm, like, trying to impress. And I was so nervous

And he was like, hey, you make a really, really handsome older man

And I was like, yes. It's a win. Yes, that's a win

Got it. It was funny about this show as the gay son. But I remember when you came out and after you had done Awakening and then you had done television, you put out this album, right

You put out the uncontrolled album. And then a lot of the interviews was about sexuality and who you were and the music that you put on it and you being authentically who you were

And it became a storyline and your people asked you all of the time

Yeah. And it would like come far and gone back and what, what have you learned about this

Like, why is this time, this time we are talking about these issues again? I just can't believe how far we're stepping backwards

And after just years of progress. But I think that that's that's what happens in the face of change is

that there's fear and there's hatred out there and people respond to it by lashing out and wanting to pull us backwards. But one of the things that I appreciate so much about this play is that the gay thing is not the issue. It's never the issue. She embraces him from the moment. He's a child and saying certain things that's making her go, huh, I think my son might be gay. And it's never the drama. You know, this is not about an Italian mother who has to accept her gay son. No, it's not about that. The drama is

is everything else. The drama is life. Um, but the gay element is not the problem. And I think right now

we need shows that do that, where it's not about like getting through this because it's so hard to

deal with. It's not. It's an identity. It's who I am. But it is not a problem. I can still love

I can still live. I'm still your son. And that I appreciated so much about it is there was no

there was no overcoming that. And, um, we've, we've seen that story. We know that story. It's an important

story, but this story is not about that. He's just gay. And I think that right now, we really need to

you know tell stories where people are just upfront and honest about who they are And I I need to make sure that as I move forward in my own career that I embracing those stories and I embracing

my identity and being able to share who I am on stage as well. You know, I've had a lot of

straight roles recently. And I'm like playing tough guys all of a sudden. And it's, it's wonderful

And I love being able to stretch, you know, any acting muscle. But it's also just so wonderful

to be authentically myself on stage. I love that because you are 100% right

It is not a traumatic coming out saga story. This is about love and relationships

And any Italian mother and son is going to have good drama that doesn't have to deal with their sexuality

Exactly. There's plenty in one day. Listen to you. I'm getting married in May and our wedding drama in my family to my husband is nothing to do with the fact that it's a man

It has to do with your cousin and your aunt. And this one said that. And who's coming and yeah

And who didn't get in. And I can't believe you didn't invite them. Yeah. That's the drama we need

Yep. We can follow, while we're talking, you can follow Matt on Instagram to stay up to date. You were talking about tough guys

Yeah. Like, I found some pictures of your career. I dug a little deep

Like I found, well, this, you know, we were talking about Sinatra here

Yes. As an Italian, now I know, this half Italian. Yeah, I know, right

Was that a part of your growing up? Did you listen to that music? Did you have a relative

Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. My grandmother, you know, introduced me to Frank

and I think Frank was on the wall with the Pope and JFK as well and kind of considered the same

level of hero. And I was excited to get to celebrate that and get to play a side of myself that I know

a lot of people haven't seen because, you know, I am a nervous gay man and doing something like

Jamie is wonderful because you're just like, oh good, I just get to play myself eight times a week

But yeah, but it is so fun to be able to flex that acting muscle and drop into somebody that

That's not necessarily who my center is, but I grew up knowing this guy

You know, I grew up watching this man and in my uncles and also himself, you know

on every single Sinatra film I could get my hands on as a kid

And yeah, I was very, very passionate about the role. And it was just such a dream come true to get to do that

It was exciting casting, and you sing your face off. So everyone needs, I mean, and some of these things like you just were in a little shop

living your life up there or if we go, of course, I don't know how you

all the lyrics, but you did it and you and you should have won every single award in the

entire universe. Oh, God. And old school pictures, like look at this

little, part and call or this little TV moment. Look at- I cannot. I can't. So when you look

back and now you see like that person who went, grew up in Connecticut, moved to California

studied overseas and started, I'm going to become an actor. Now when you see beyond the awards and

beyond Broadway and TV, et cetera, but a body of work and jobs and making a living as an actor

What do you, what is it, how do you feel? What is it like to look back now and see what you've built

You know, I think the thing I'm most proud of is perseverance, because that's really what this

industry is. And any, any industry that you care passionately about, it's never going to treat you fairly

you know, and it's not necessarily about that. It's not this like wild ride of, of, you know, I made it and it was great

There's no, there's no truth to that. There's no like goalposts that you're trying to reach

Like once I get there, I'm going to be happy. And so when I see stuff like that and I go back and somebody presents to me what I've done and I have images pop up like that, it's really emotional because it is, it's a tough world that I chose

And I knew that going into it. But I loved it and I do love it

And it means the world to me. And I think recognizing how much I've accomplished and and, you know, been able to

to bring to life and so many of those roles were gay that just popped up, whether it'd be

gossip girl or spring awakening, well, punchin was by. I know the fans get very intense about

that. But being able to celebrate my sexuality on stage and bring different colors of myself to people

it's just been, I feel like my roster is very diverse. And when I look back, I'm proud of that

and I like surprising people, and I'm just so grateful. At the end of the day, I'm just so, so grateful to still be here, to still be doing this

I never in a million years thought something like Jamie would happen, and then it did

And you just think, how is this real? You know, how did that land in my lap

And I'm just very, very grateful. But I tell anyone that's starting out in this world or wants to do this that, like, if you have it in you

to persevere through the hardest moments. You're going to be fine. Yeah. Yeah, and you have a lot more work for it

Matt Doyle's got so much more work to do. So many shows and things and events and albums and all I mean come on We were just getting started You so sweet I hope so I mean that what I keep telling myself

Anytime that, you know, it gets confusing or tough, I just keep telling myself, I never, ever expected any of those things to happen

The jobs that I ended up doing were never on my roster

You know, I remember before Book of Mormon going to see Andrew, it was a dear friend of mine, play that role

And just like clapping and being like, that's so great. I don't know how he does that. And then like six months later, I was replacing in that show

And it's just like, you just never know. And I think that's what's really exciting as somebody that, you know, gets bored easily

It's fun to just face the unknown constantly with this industry. And that's what's exciting

And that's why something like this show that we're talking about today, this show, conversations with mother

It's so fun. I had Norm Lewis here last week. And I was talking to him about doing it. He's going to do a play off Broadway that he's not

And we were talking about preparation and what does it feel like to not have a musical and be in a play

Is there a different preparation for you? Has it been a different process for you? It's been a very different process. Yeah. I mean, you know, I studied classical theater

So when I first came back to New York, I did not expect to fall into musical theater

I sang rock and spoke classical text. And somehow this little show called Spring Awakening was happening at the time

And it all worked out. But I think I thought I was going to come back and do a lot of Shakespeare in America

like that's a thing, you know? And I'm so grateful to get to just do a play

and not have to worry about the instrument every night. Obviously, I still care about my voice

but that's such a factor in doing a musical is caring and maintaining

especially if it's a really difficult sing. And it's wonderful to get to sink

to different sides of this and have more space for that, have more space for the technical side of the acting

and the emotion and exploring the, that and going deeper on that. There's more time for that even in the room, in the rehearsal

process. With a musical, you have to spread it all out, you know? Half of your rehearsal process

is dedicated to music and dedicated to the technicality of that. And then you're filling in quickly

the rest, you know, usually. And I've just been so grateful to be able to fully develop a role

like this and especially with such a smart actress and Caroline. I mean, I'm blown away by this

opportunity and it just kind of fell into my lap and I immediately held on to it because it was

something that I hadn't gotten to do yet and I would love to do more plays. I mean, I

I thought I was gonna. So it's really special. You're back. You got your play. You got your play a few

moments later. Well, look, the theater is beautiful. It's great. There's not a bad seat in the house

I know. It's a great house. I love it. So they're literally on stage with you. We're

We're a cancer. And you could get a ticket for less than $50 people. You can't even get a pizza in New York City for 50

You can't even get an Uber for 50 bucks. The drinks cost more in the lobby

So what's you got to do? I think so. Let's go to Conversationsplay.com

And I was thinking about it when I was there. Like if Mother's Day, Easter, you come to New York City to see your family

Like if there's a moment you're in New York and you're looking for something to do, this is it

You will call your mom after, I promise. And go see it with your mom and just cry and hug her

Totally. I get a text from my best friend, Mike. He's like, the show was brilliant. Matt is brilliant

She's brilliant. They're brilliant. And then I get home and I get a Facebook message request from Ms

Linda Melfa, Mike's mother. And she said, I'm still crying all the way back in New Jersey

It was beautiful. That's so sweet. That means so much. And I just, I think that's my favorite element of this show is that it, so many people are connecting

with it because it's just simple and wholesome and good. And, you know, it's like not everything that we go out to see has to be groundbreaking and interesting and strange

And it's just lovely. It's just lovely and it's smart and it says new things, of course

But I think that it just gives everyone in the audience a big hug

Oh, yes. And that's what theater to me and art is human relationships

And you get to examine this relationship and take a little piece of that love home with you. I was so happy to spend time with you

Thank you for doing this today with us. Thank you so much for having me. I adore you

I'm so so grateful. I adore you. People adore you. Like literally we were talking about seeing the show and people are like

bring on that. Please ask that. So you're beloved. We love you here in this community

Oh, my God. Thank you for all the love and art and joy that you've spread to us on stages and screens

And we're ready for what's ever next. Thank you. Well, it's the best part about this community, right

It's just how wonderful the fans are and how much they care. And we'll just keep you working

That's what's going to happen. Follow Matt F Doyle on Instagram so you can stay up to date and get your tickets

to conversation, play, theater 555, get a seat, bring a mom, and have a partay

Thank you so much, until next time. Thank you. Thank you so much