Video: Norm Lewis Is Prepping for His Most Heavenly Role in CHILDREN OF EDEN

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge

Up next from Manhattan Concert Productions Broadway series is the glorious Stephen Schwartz

and John Caird musical Children of Eden. It is directed in choreographed by Tony Aspect with musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby

It'll take place on February 18th at Lincoln Center's David Geffenhall with a

stellar cast that features a chorus of over 375 singers. And I caught up with one of the show's

stars, Norm Lewis. It is so great to be catching up with you. Where are you, my friend

I'm in Los Angeles. Actually, it's called Hawthorne near Manhattan Beach. And I'm staying with a

really good friend. They're twin brothers. We all have the same birthday. And they have this amazing

compound. So they're letting me stay here for a couple of days. Okay, well, you're getting ready to

start rehearsals for Manhattan. concert productions, a presentation of Children of Eden

How excited are you? Oh, my God. It's amazing. I love this show so much

and I'm just so surprised it has not made it to Broadway yet

It's been out there for so many years, and I got a chance to do a concert

years and years ago. We did it at the Riverside Church on the Upper West Side

but it's nice to revisit it. And also, Tony Yvesbeck is, directing. You know what I mean? First of all, one of the most talented men ever that can do

he's more than a triple threat. He's a quatrono, whatever you say, the quintuple threat. But now

he's decided to direct people. And I think he would be, he's going to be a fantastic leader

What's made this show so special for you, Norm, with working on this before? Well, I, you know

the thing about it, I grew up in the church. So I know the story or I know, you know, you know, some of what

the story has to talk about. Also, the fact that it's written by Stephen Schwartz, who has this amazing catalog of

great musicals and just this fantastic mind and such a great artist

It's just nice to revisit that aspect of it, but it also has some powerful messages in it

of hope and love and, you know, childhood and innocence and, you know, protection and parenting

all of those things that I think a lot of people are going to relate to. Now, talk about who you play

I play God. Doesn get any better than that does it Or as they say in the show Father And yeah you know I just going to try to embody this father who loves his children so much

And he wants to give him the best and he wants them to give him their best

And so hopefully those aspects will come out. Well, let's talk about this beautiful score that Stephen has written

What is it like singing his songs? Oh, it's great. I think one of my first audition songs was from Pippin, you know

Now I'm forgetting the song, the name of the song, but it's the one that Pippin sings

The Lover of the Sky. That's it. Thank you. I'm losing my mind. I'm so old now

But, you know, I've always loved his music and, you know, things from Godspell, things from

wicked, things from, I mean, just all of his beautiful music. And this show continues that legacy

and I cannot wait to sing, you know, the creation of the world, you know, whales and all that stuff

So it's going to be fun, for one. But then I get to sing with this amazing cast that we've, oh, I know you're probably going to ask about them

So, but yeah, this great cast. I can't wait to work with them. Oh, well, let's tell you about your cast

I mean, I just sat with Nikki Renee Daniels and David Phelps. I mean, how excited are you

Yeah, Nicky Renee Daniels, probably one of the most beautiful singers. and one of the most versatile singers that's out there

I first met her when she was doing Aida, and she was singing this gospel number

You can hear the dog. I'm in the neighborhood right now. I'll introduce you to the dog later

And then she turns around, and she has to go and sing at the New York City Opera

She has to sing Clara in Porgy and Best. And then she did our Porgy and Best

And so she's just fantastic. Besides being aesthetically beautiful, she's so amazingly gifted

and she's such a beautiful person inside. She's going to be fantastic as Eve and, you know, and this this whole journey is going to be great with her

David Phelps, great swimmer. No, I'm sorry, that's the wrong one. No

David Phelps has been, I've, even though he's much younger than me, I've idolized him ever since I've seen him on YouTube

In fact, we were talking today and I said, you have really taken up a lot of my YouTube time because I do a deep dive into your work

One of the greatest singers that's out there. And because of his Christian background

he sings with a purpose. And he's so, what we say, anointed

You know, his voice is just anointed. It is just, I can't wait to hear him live

for the first time It gonna be great And being back at MCP I mean you quite a history with them What it like doing their shows Oh it great You know you get the kids involved with it

You have that amazing chorus. It's also great for us as performers, you know, to kind of reach back and kind of talk to

them and be their guide. They want to do what we do, at least some of them do

and to just be able to talk to those fresh and innocent young people who are just waiting and willing to do anything on that stage to make it a great experience

Because this year is going to be like 375 singers behind you

Wow. Actually, I just found that out. That's going to, that's blowing me away just to know that we have that many people

Yeah, it's going to be epic. I really. feel, you know, out of the ones that I've done before have been fantastic. We've all had a really

really good time. Something about this is very special and I cannot wait to get my chops into it

Well, let's talk about how special it is for you of what MCP does. I mean, there's very few people

who do what they do as part of their Broadway series and all. What's made it so special for you

Norm? It's giving back. You know, we forget about our, you know, we get so like self-indulgent. It's

if you will, as actors. And we're trying to get that next job. You know, we're doing all we can

We're studying. We're training. We're auditioning. We're grinding. We're all of those things

But the innocence of when we first got there, wide-eyed, bushy-tail, you know, whatever the terms are, you know, I just remember

meeting Terence Mann for the first time on the street. I saw him and I recognized him in my, I was like shaking because I saw him do Les Miserab

not too long before that. And, you know, seeing, I mean, I was

So I was so green. I used to go up to a lot of people who are in the journalism world

you know, that were on channels, you know, ABC and NBC, the local stations and say

oh, my God, you're on the TV, you know, that kind of thing. So just having that, in a sense

it brings it back to loving what we do even more, if that makes sense. You sometimes forget

because you're involved in the grind of it so much, seeing their faces and knowing that this MCT is

is giving back to this. And it's always good to give back

What's also very special about what they do, MCP, is that you know these young people are here for the whole week and they watch the whole entire process You know in school you learn how to sing act and dance But here you actually watching a major production being put together for Lincoln Center

and watching all of you go through your paces and put this incredible show together

That must be a special for you too. In such an intense amount of time

Yeah, it's actually, it's crazy. But it is rewarding. You know, I do a lot of master classes and we can, I can definitely work with individual kids

it's wonderful for them to see, like you said, what we do and the amount of effort that we put into it to make it right

Why do you think this is the perfect family musical and it's so perfect for right now for MCP to do

It has a, first of all, an underlying spiritual aspect to it, you know, no matter what religion you are

even if you know the story, believe in the story, or just have heard of it, it there's there, that

aspect of it. It's just that spirituality that comes through. And it is about family, you know

it is, I'm obviously the creator, having my children and hoping that they do their best. But when

they don't, I have to, you know, let them go. And then they see the same thing. And it just kind of

follows that lineage. And so I feel like people from all aspects will get a lot from this

especially families. And an incredible musical director you have on this show, too

with Kimberly Grisbee. I mean, how exciting is that? Oh, she's great. I was working with her years ago

in the park when we did two gentlemen of Verona. And people kept coming up to me saying

was she choreographed? With her hair, right? Yeah, yeah. She was so into it. And I love working with

her. She's so giving, so patient, and so smart. So this is going to be a great reunion. I haven't

worked with her in a long time. So finally, what are you looking forward to the most, Nor

I'm with February 18th, Manhattan concert productions, Stephen Schwartz, John King, Children of Eden

directed by Tony Aspect. You just said all of what I'm looking forward to

It really is all of that, you know, Stephen Schwartz's music, Tony Aspect, directing

and working with this great cast, I'm so excited about this. And I know that there's no specific message in this

but I know that there is a message that is going to be told to everyone. Well, if I don't see you beforehand, my friend

but I'll see you the week of rehearsals, and I'll definitely see you on February 18th at David Gepin-Hall

Norm, always a pleasure, my friend. Good to see you. Good to see you, too. Happy New Year

Happy New Year