Video: Tony Nominee John-Andrew Morrison Gets Ready to Take the Stage at 54 Below
May 17, 2024
Love? Ain't it grand…and confusing. Tony Award nominee John-Andrew Morrison tries to figure it out with songs from Broadway and beyond. A funny, sassy, and heartfelt evening awaits you. Watch as he gives BroadwayWorld a special sneak peek of the concert in this video!
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0:00
Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge
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John Andrew Morrison, who received a Tony Award nomination, a Lucille Award, and an Obie Award for his work in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, A Strange Loop
0:20
is bringing his brand-new show called No, Maybe Why Not, an evening with John Andrew Morrison to 54 below, Broadway's favorite Tony Award-winning
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Supper Club on February 3rd and 4th. Please welcome John Andrew Morrison
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Well, it is great to see you again. What a world win season for you, my friend
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I mean, it's kind of crazy. It's, you know, I was talking about it with someone, and it feels like this last year
0:48
has been dreams becoming lived experience, and that's incredible and wonderful. So I'm very thrilled and excited about it
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Well, let's talk about how excited you are. you're getting ready to play your brand new show here at 54 Below
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How excited are you? I'm very excited about it. You know, Tepper is such a love
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She's such a dear. And she had actually asked me to do a show. And then this thing called the pandemic happened
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And of course, it got canceled. And so she reached out last year and was like, hey, so this show
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We doing it or not? And I was like, okay, why not
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And so my birthday is in June, so I thought I was going to do the show then
1:33
She gave me dates, and then she called me back like two days. And she said, I have this prime spot in February
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You want it? And I was that, okay, let's do it, let's do it
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So I'm very excited to be here. I was here a couple nights ago seeing a show
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It is the greatest room. It's beautiful and, yeah, excited to be here
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What's it like being on this stage performing? You know, this place actually holds a lot of very sweet memories for me
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Strange Loop had one of its most important development shows here. Tepper, again, gave us a night in which we performed songs from a Strange Loop
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And that show was a show that got us our first set of producers
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and moved us down the chain of the development line with the show
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And so every time I'm here, I remember that night, remember how exciting it was
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and that it kind of like changed all of our destinies. So this room is very, very special, very special
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And then we got to do our tiny desk concert here as well
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which was great. So yeah, I love this place. So talk about the new show
2:59
What can you tell me? So because Tepra says, you know what, let's do this show in February
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And I think it was around November when that happened. You know, I said yes
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And then, well, I have to come up with a name for this thing. And it was literally like five minutes before Curtin
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And the words, no, maybe why not came to me. And I said, I don't have time to think it
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Just write it down. And so I did. And I did the show
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And then I started to kind of like, what, no, me, what is this? What is this
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And then slowly but surely it came to me that it is a meditation, a kind of journey of someone who is a little bit dubious about this thing called love
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So in the month of love, I'm presenting someone who's a little bit like, love
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Hmm. You know, but ultimately, ultimately at the end of the day, the decision is why not choose love
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Why not choose it? You know, with all of the devastation and delight that comes with it, you know, at the end of the day, it's kind of the greatest thing
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So why not choose it, you know? I love it. What are some of the songs that be singing So surprisingly I didn know I was such a Taylor Swift fan but Taylor Swift has made it on to the roster
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There's a song from The Wild Party in there. Lizzo has made an appearance
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We got a little Sia. So it's got a lot of pop as well as Broadway
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And, you know, I'm from Kingston, Jamaica, so I had to hail up my massives in Kingston
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and there's a Jimmy Cliff song in there as well. So it's really a very eclectic set list, and I'm very excited about it
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And Richard, I must tell you, I have an original outfit that is being created by an artist named Corey Tutt
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and I got the final picture of this thing, it is worth the ticket in itself
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just the outfit. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to debuting that here
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Other instruments? Yes, we're going to have a four-piece band. So the sound is going to be absolutely full and fantastic
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but I hope people come and just are prepared to take a journey with me
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You know, I want to invite them to kind of come on a little trip, a little meditation, as it were, about love
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And as always, you know, somehow my mom makes her way in
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And so there are some things in there that are honoring her as well
5:54
Yeah, and I'm so glad that there's a live stream option because she can sit in Kingston, Jamaica, and watch
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Well, let's talk about that. No one does the live streams better than 54 below
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And I mean, it gives the opportunity. Let's talk about the importance of this live stream of reaching an audience that can't come to New York or be here on February 3rd or 4th
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Well, you know, for me, it's really, really personal. I mean, I'm very excited. And I have friends
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I know I went to Brandeis in Boston, and I already have like a whole contingent of Brandeis
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People are like, we're having a watch a party. I'm like, okay
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But for me, the live stream option really is very personal. My mom had a stroke at the beginning of the pandemic and isn't able to do what she used to and travel
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And music, though, is this thing that I can reach her with music
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And so I love that there's a live stream option. But for me, personally, I'm excited that my mom gets to see her baby boy on stage
6:57
And I know she'll be singing along to a couple of them
7:00
Yeah, so I'm very excited about that. And music is healing, too. So healing. So healing
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And it's interesting. It changes her mood, and it, you know, she has a severe brain injury
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and it just, it reaches a different part of our brain, and it is an absolutely magnificent thing
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this thing that we get to do, to be able to sing, to make people feel things
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to make people feel less lonely in the world, and make them feel human again
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And so, yeah, I'm very excited about that. Well, let's talk about a strange loop
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How life-changing was that show for you? You know, oh my gosh, it's one of those things where the show is so black, so queer, so out there that we never ever thought that it would see the light of day in a theater, right
7:53
But we all kept coming back because I'd never felt more seen by a show
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And so it was my greatest honor just to be able to develop the show
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And then, you know, I'd always dreamed about performing on Broadway. And for me, I kind of thought, well, maybe that's past
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You know what I mean? I don't, maybe that is okay. Maybe that is just not what my life path is supposed to be And so the fact that not only did that show make it to a great theater like Playwrights Horizons but that we then got to move to Broadway and get the reception
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that we got, and then I got a nomination for the Tony. It was like all of these things that
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like 18-year-old John Andrew at Brandeis in the theater department was dreaming about and thinking
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about have now become lived experiences. And so it's, yeah, I don't even know how and where to place
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it yet, because I feel like I'm still coming off of the incredible that was a strange loop
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you know. And, but forever, Broadway will be associated with my name. Tony nominee will be
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associated with my name for that show. Yesterday was Michael's birthday. And so, you know, I got to
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call him yesterday and once again just like say, I love you and I'm so grateful for you
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And thank you. Thank you for asking me back. Thank you for asking me back again and again and
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again, you know. Didn't have to, but he did. Because I was with you all on opening night. Remember
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that incredible carpet outside the theater? How magical was your Broadway debut in a strange loop
9:39
Man, that was crazy. So my debut was the day
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after everybody else's debut because I had COVID. And so I had the weird experience of watching
9:56
the very first performance from the audience. And the next day was a whirlwind they did a put-in for me
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And so it was just like, go, go, go, go, go. And then the show happened, and I was doing okay
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I was doing okay. And James Jackson, Jr. said to me, you're going to cry
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And I was like, well, if I do, you know, and I was completely and utterly fine
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And I got off the stage after the big fight scene. And I went, oh, I need a tissue
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Like, I just need to wipe some of the tears. And it was like something in my body went, weep now
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And I literally just like doubled over and started crying backstage. And I looked up and there was James Jackson and he went, I told you
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So that I will always remember about that Broadway debut. It was an incredible night to be able to go, my God, I'm now officially a Broadway performer
10:55
Yeah. This has to be a full circle moment for you, like you said, with Tepper, like starting it here, like a strange loop
11:00
And now you're doing your solo show here. And in the audience is going to be some incredible strange loop fans
11:08
Yeah, yeah. They've been the greatest. I mean, we have, there's a young man named Jordan
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I think he ended up seeing the show 40. five times. And so now we're all friends on Instagram and all of that, but they've all reached out and they're like
11:25
we have our tickets and the the loopers. I think they call themselves loopers or cheer loopers. They're all
11:33
planning to come. So yeah, it's wonderful. So finally, what are you looking forward to the most of February 3rd and February 4th here at 54 below with your brand new show
11:44
No, maybe why not? I'm excited to give this audience an experience. And I, we have some little delights in there, but really it is this journey and it is an invitation. I'm going to like really ask them, take my hand, come with me, come with me, come take this journey with me. And I hope they will. And I'm excited to give them an experience. I feel a little bit of mischief with the show. And, and I'm excited to give them an experience. I, I feel a little bit of mischief with the show
12:19
And I am, yeah, I'm excited to thrill you all a little bit
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I love that. Well, for a great night out, it's here at 54 below
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His brand new show on February 3rd and 4th is also a live stream on February 4th And for tickets just go to 54 below Now I think you going to do a number for us right Yes yes I am
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Do you want to set the number up? Well, I think it's one that everybody is going to know
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I would hope. Musical theater people, if you don't know this, naughty musical theater people
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But if you are a musical theater person, you will, okay, fine. I'm doing losing my mind
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Get ready. Losing my mind. Losing my mind. I think about you
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I want you so. It's like I'm losing my mind. The morning ends
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I think about you. And talk to friends. And think about you
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Does no one know It's like I'm losing my mind All afternoon doing every little chore
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The thought of you stays bright Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor
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Not going left, not going right. I dim the lights and think about you
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Spent sleepless nights to think about you. You said you loved me
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Oh, were you just being kind? Or am I losing my mind
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I want you so, it's like I'm losing my mind
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Does no one know? It's like I'm losing my mind
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All afternoon doing every little chore. The thought of you stays bright
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Sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor. Not going left, not going right
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I dip the lights and think about you. Spent sleepless nights to think about you
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You said you loved me. Or were you just being kind
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Or am I losing my mind
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