EPISODE two - “HOW DO YOU GET THE PUBLIC’S ATTENTION?”
This episode, Hal sits down with Rick Miramontez, press guru and President of DKC/O&M, the PR powerhouse for everything Broadway and Off Broadway. Hal and Rick chat Tony parties, strategies for any review, and identifying a show’s best asset.
Rick’s Broadway clients include Hadestown, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ain’t Too Proud, and Dear Evan Hansen. From 2011-2014, O&M Co. executed the most famous press campaign in Broadway history when it represented SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark.
For all things Broadway Biz, visit our Instagram @BroadwayBizPodcast. Have a question for Hal or a topic you'd like him to explore? Send Hal an email at broadwaybiz@halluftig.com.
transcript below!
Hal Luftig - Host:
Hi everyone. This is Hal Luftig with my Broadway Podcast Network show, Broadway Biz, where every episode I will chat with my friends, some of the top theater professionals in the business about the business of Broadway.
Hal Luftig - Host:
(singing).
Hal Luftig - Host:
My guest today is Rick Miramontez. Rick is the president of DKCOM, which represents everything public relations and press for Broadway and off Broadway, and I have to tell you a little secret, Rick throws the absolute best Tony party in New York. I can't wait to speak with Rick about all things press today on Broadway Biz.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Hal.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Hey Rick.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
I'm so glad you have the show. I will be tuning in.
Hal Luftig - Host:
So will I, so that's two listeners I have thus far. Of all my guests, Rick is sure to have the wackiest stories from behind the scenes.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Oh I completely remember the Tony Awards evening where Kinky Boots won, and what I do remember was, it wasn't to us but other people thought it was a real upset, which is the most fun. And I seem to remember we stayed up until sunrise.
Hal Luftig - Host:
You took the words out of my mouth. I was going to ask you if you remembered that I know I'm dating myself, listeners, but we stayed up until the actual print copy of the New York Times came out which had to be about four AM, and somebody brought it into the party and showed it to me, and I just, the headline was "Kinky Boots Dances it's Way to the Top." And I just burst into tears, and Billy Porter was standing right next to me, we took that famous photograph of Billy and I-
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Exactly right.
Hal Luftig - Host:
And I will tell you this, I did get in trouble when I got home because it was the last time, I assure you, that I came home after the sun had long come up. It was-
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Probably many years ago. Well I'm glad you brought that up and I wear that hell like a badge of honor.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Good, me too. Me too. It is really, it was one of the best nights of my life, and I just have to say you throw the best party. It is the party to be at, I've got to admit. So I'm always thankful and sometimes impressed that I made the list. So thank you for that.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Thank you.
Hal Luftig - Host:
So hey Rick, let's just jump right in.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Sure.
Hal Luftig - Host:
I know a lot of people who want to know, sometimes me too, what does a press agent do actually?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
You know, it's really funny, that question now, because what we do is so ephemeral. I still have family members who ask, very politely, "What is it that you do actually for a living?" So I think the technical definition of what a press agent is is the person who procures attention via the media for a production and the difference between press and advertising is what we're supposed to do is garner that attention technically for free. Advertising placement you pay for. You pay for the time on TV that your ad agency procures, or those print ads. Anything that we generate via that media is meant to be free.
Hal Luftig - Host:
But as we know, it's not always. Sometimes you get us on ABC Good Morning, or-
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Right.
Hal Luftig - Host:
[crosstalk 00:04:23] are. Sometimes you get a show into the Macy's Day Parade, things like that. Sometimes you, I know working with you, you have suggested spending a certain amount of money towards a certain event. How do those things, maybe you can clarify what some of those things are, how do those things actually impact what you have to bring to a producer and knowing that it affects somehow their budget?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Sure. Well, that's a great question because I put air quotes around the word free, because nothing in life is free. But I think I would explain those expenses, and sometimes what you just mentioned goes into the six figures. So it's very costly. But what you can not do to procure that kind of attention is buy it. It is literally priceless. It is sometimes news driven, it is a performance that you would never have in any kind of advertising arena, and even though there are costs associated with absolutely getting a production on the Colbert Show because what people don't know is, in this day in age, the production usually pays full freight for the expense of those appearances, which can be very costly between carting the cast, rehearsing the cast, and paying the cast the requisite, for example on the Tonight Show, or Steven Colbert's show, there are AFTRA fees attached to that. So the price tag is pretty high. But what I always say about anything that we, the PR office, delivers, that coverage is literally priceless because you could not buy it. You could not advertise.
Hal Luftig - Host:
I completely agree. Here's another known thing I just wanted to mention to our listeners, because you talk about free, going on the Tony Awards is absolutely not free.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
It's extremely pricey and every year it's fun to have those conversations because you're talking about well into the six figures, and the other thing that people don't realize is that you have to, on the week of the Tony Awards, besides the nerves going crazy, and nominated actors getting their dresses together, they have to do their eight shows a week, and they have to rehearse the hell out of the Tony appearance, the Tony number. So it's really fun to have those debates with our colleagues, is this really worth it? And again, I say it's absolutely worth it, because you're only up there because you are worth for a Tony Award, that's a very big message, and again, even though there is a six figure dollar amount attached to that appearance and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, that moment is literally priceless because I do think that the perch on the Tony Awards is the biggest "commercial" a show could have in the life of it's show.
Hal Luftig - Host:
It's true. Have you ever gotten, without naming names, have you ever gotten pushback from a producer or a general manager who have said to you, "I hear you, Rick, but we just don't have the money for the Tony Awards, or we don't have a snowballs chance in winning, why are we doing this?" That kind of thing?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
I think we've come close, and I think maybe I didn't succeed when a show had already closed and the books were closed, and where are we going to find that money? I think maybe if I argued in favor of appearing on the Tonys and lost, it might have been once. But there have also been occasions where the producers found that money to appear on the Tony Awards, and it was a good call. It was either for pride, it was for the legacy of the show, or even though you're not on Broadway, as you know, there's still some business stream out there for a show, and again, the Tonys, very important to participate. I'm sure though, that those appearances were very truncated and it didn't involve a complete cast.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Do you think for people who are opening shows, I'm going to say in the spring when the Tony nominations are coming up, as opposed to the fall because if you're running you can accrue money for that, but do you think that producers in the spring should actually squirrel away money or have money in their production budget specifically for those type of appearances?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Absolutely. I think it's such a competitive media landscape that when we are fortunate enough to secure appearances on national television that are going to cost money, and knock wood, lucky enough to be on the Tony Awards, I think it's incumbent on the show to put their best foot forward, and that's going to cost money, and I think that should be anticipated. Particularly in the spring when the competition is about as stiff as it can be.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Do many producers, Rick, ever confer with you or show you the production budget and ask your opinion?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yeah, more and more we are asked to submit a budget, what is our wishlist, what do we think we need to spend and it usually jibes with what the producers are thinking but I think it's a very helpful collaboration and if there are any surprises, they're discovered then in advance. And yeah, sometimes I have to say, "Guys, we need X amount of dollars more because I think this is going to happen, and when the offer comes you're going to want to be able to do it." So that's how it goes down these days, which is very effective. It wasn't always that way.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Yeah. I don't remember getting those lists from you, because usually when I do I pass out.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
But you're also the kind of producer who just has the heart to say, if we're like, "Hal, come on, we've got to do it." You're like, "I get it, absolutely, of course we've got to do it." And you'll find that money.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Yeah. [inaudible 00:11:09]. I mean one of my wackiest, and this is just to give the listeners a spectrum of what some of the things that you create and I think you're one of the most creative in that way, is on the same night and day, we had an interview on ABC with Cyndi Lauper, who took the reporter backstage, and showed her the theater and backstage, and then she said that wonderful statement about, "I've lived my whole life and it was right in my own backyard." And she started to cry a little bit. That same afternoon, you had made a deal with the Brooklyn Diner, that we were going to have a 12 inch frankfurter called the Harvey Fierstein, and of course we got the place filled and we were handing out free hotdogs, and Harvey in his inimitable way, looked right at the camera and he said, "Wow, it's been a long time since I've had 12 inches in my mouth."
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
I mean, Hal, I'm glad you remembered that. It was a magnificent day, and that's kind of when I thought, how could Kinky Boots lose? Because you've got Cyndi Lauper who was Madonna before Madonna was Madonna, basically saying the highlight of my life and my career is this moment, and I'm a New York girl, and then you have Harvey who actually during that production took a backseat so Cyndi could be the lead, which is usually not the position Harvey's in, and he still gave us the full Harvey, because as I recall it was after a Wednesday matinee, so his ladies, his 60 plus year old ladies were in that audience, and he came out and invited all those ladies to go down the street to 43rd Street and Broadway, and have the Harvey hotdog, and it was also the day if you recall where the Anthony Weiner photo thing blew up, so Harvey's five minute speech on the stage after a matinee was about as blue as blue could be, and those ladies loved it. It was an exciting moment.
Hal Luftig - Host:
How did you become a press agent? Was that something you always wanted to do? Talk a little bit how that happened.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
It's really funny, I'm in the theater, especially at a moment like this, which by the way we did not leave New York City, we're hunkered down, if anybody hasn't read Michael Schulman's great piece in the New Yorker with Fran Libowitz, everything she said I agree with. Anyway, my life's ambition was not to be in the theater, my life's ambition was to live in New York. I'm from LA, and my goal in life was to live in New York. That was it. And one year, my sweet cousin as a birthday gift gave me a subscription to New York Magazine, and on the cover one week was an advance on the Stephen Schwartz musical Working, and it was pages on people working on Working behind the scenes, jobs you didn't know about, and there was a page on the press agent of working, a very famous woman named Betty Lee Hunt, she explained what she did and I thought that is the job for me, because, and it turned out to be true, what our purview is a 360 degree view of the theater.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Ours is the only job description where you are involved with every single person having to do with the show from the producer to the director to the writers to the actors to the backstage crew to the front of house crew to the ushers to the media and to the audience. And that was very attractive to me, and it turned out to be exactly as I interpreted it from New York Magazine, whenever that was.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Wow. So let me ask you a question, having read that, what inspires you? How do you come up with what a marketing campaign will be from the obvious we're going to go on news shows or morning shows, to the wacky? To the wacky [crosstalk 00:15:24]?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
I think the overriding principle for me and it suits me and it's probably if I do something that lands in the success problem is because I'm a great audience member and I'm a fan. So I tap into the things, the tools that we have which are media opportunities, TV, news coverage, newspapers, online now, but I tap into them with the enthusiasm of a fan and I look at it from that point of view, what makes this show exciting? And it's very easy for me to represent a show and I do get this question, what about a show that's a dud? A show that you don't particularly like? It's like having a child or like having a pet, you can love all of your shows, and that's a very easy thing for me to do because I come at it with the enthusiasm of a fan and there's always somebody who loves your show.
Hal Luftig - Host:
That's true, that's true. So you raise an interesting question, can you talk to me about the process of how you look at each show, not just the ones you don't love, but even the ones you do love, and how you figure out okay this is what we're going to do, this is what will work for that particular show?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
I love that question because it's really my favorite challenge and that goes for the shows that have a lot of deficiencies as well as the shows that are obvious hits on paper. I look at and I identify what is the biggest liability that this show possesses, and my challenge and it's kind of a little game, is to make that liability the best asset for the show, and it's not a foolproof success story, but it's worked a lot. The obvious poster child of that example is Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. We took all of the negatives and we batted them back like in a fabulous tennis match at the US Open and attempted to make all of those negatives a positive and I think we succeeded more than we failed.
Hal Luftig - Host:
I agree with that. I do think, as I said at the top of the program, I thought that was one of the most brilliant, brilliant campaigns that I have seen in a very long time, because you would just think, okay this is it, this is the one that's going to nail them in the coffin, and then boom, you would come back and turn something that was so bad into a positive.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yeah, and I think what we do, I think I was good for Spider-Man and vice versa quite frankly, because Spider-Man needed what we do as PR person in the most ephemeral sense of what PR is. I really responded to that show, and my whole office, we went the distance for that show because we felt like we had to protect and support and buoy those performers who were in it because it was obviously a challenge, it was a dangerous show, it was a joke to people, but these guys were doing their show all fantastic performers, and for months, as you know, they were rehearsing one show by day, and doing their other show by night, and having to take the slings and arrows of the media, and I felt very protective of them, and I think that's we in our industry do that is really sort of not really known, and I think it's part of the job description, ephemeral though it is.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Which is hard, yeah. And do you ever get the question, again, like a Spider-Man, or a show that may be struggling, do you ever get the question of, "Rick, how can we quantify whether your campaign is actually moving the needle in terms of selling tickets?"
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yeah. There have been heated conversations at times, depending on where in the life of a show it is, because I lean on the ephemeral quality of what we do. I think the advertising agency, they have it harder than we do, because you spend X amount of dollars and they give you some statistics that quantify whether or not what they just did is happening or it's not happening. What we do cannot be quantified in a way so I think there is no measure for what we do, which is unfortunate in a way, which is why you have to really trust and have an understanding, or the producer really has to trust you because there are no metrics to measure what you're doing. You go by vibrations, because what we do is elicit a response from an audience, elicit a feeling from an audience. Now if the audience doesn't come, and Hal, as you know, I will be the first one to take credit if something goes well, so I will absolutely take the blame if the audiences aren't coming. But there's no way to measure in the same way that you do with advertising what we do in PR.
Hal Luftig - Host:
How has the digital age, how has things like the internet and chat rooms and all those kinds of things, effected what you do? There was a time that everything was either in the paper, or somehow got a piece on page six or something.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Sure. Molding a message for maximum effect, I'm not saying making something up, but just presenting it in the most savory way is something that we do. And if we don't have as much control over that, it's going to be an issue. The message is going to get watered down in chat boards and everybody being a critic and all this online euphoria can help, but much of the time it gets in the way. That's one, and number two, you have to respond instantly like you're running a political campaign. It was really fascinating that, and I'm trying to remember this sequence, but Ivo Van Hove gave an initial interview about West Side Story and let's say it was for the December issue and we were going to begin, November issue and we were giving previews in November, blah blah blah. That story by Adam Green, which was pretty good, it was a really solid Adam Green Vogue story had two tidbits that Ivo didn't even think about, he just gave him the facts, they are cutting the Somewhere Ballet and I Feel Pretty will not be in the show.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Well, in 20 minutes, that all over the world, on chat boards, and every other major media outlet picked up before I could take a shower, the notion that I feel pretty is not in the show and that became a five alarm fire instantly. That it became a five alarm fire was amusing to me, but there was, we were immediately responding to that. Or in our case, not responding but getting a little anxious over that. So that's what happens now that would normally not have happened 15 years ago.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Right. Right. That is true. Or talk a little bit if you can about a show is in it's first or second preview and before the intermission happens, people are already tweeting or on the chat board, this is great or this is awful and stuff like that, and we do know people [inaudible 00:23:38], I don't mean to minimize those things at all, people do read it and I think we live in an age now where people read things and they-
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Believe them.
Hal Luftig - Host:
[crosstalk 00:23:53] fact. I won't mention a certain person in the white house. But they read this and they say, "I read it." Where they read it doesn't matter, but I read it so it must be true. How do you as a show is being birthed, what are some of the things that you do to combat or do you do nothing? What do you do about stuff like that?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Well normally, that's a good question, normally I would say back in the day, whenever the day was, we would lay back and our campaigns would be very linear and we would let the preview period be what it was meant for, a collaboration between the audience's feedback and what's happening on stage. It takes such skill and a little magic to get your show from first preview, to frozen, to opening night. And that's a very valuable, important time, and that isn't the time for us to pile on publicity duties on the creatives, the cast, or you the producer. However, these days, because it's such a rapid response game, we have to have a whole mini campaign to respond, to sense, to taste the reaction to what people write about seeing a preview online. What the world doesn't understand is we're in a unique position, albeit sometimes an uncomfortable position, where we are valuable, we get paid by the producer to do our job, but our value I think comes from our contacts with the press, and we are valuable to the press in turn because we service them in a different way, but like we service the producers.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
So we're sort of in the middle, so we have to have a relationship, a very clean relationship with critics and editors and writers to be valuable to you and to be able to do our job for you. And yes, that's being right in the middle of something sometimes when you don't want to be.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Yeah. Do you think it would be helpful, and I'll tell you why I ask this, if critics were more involved in serving the process-
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yes. I think critics should see a show twice before they review, for starters. So yeah, I'm completely down with that. I think a critic who is not engaged in ways that we can enumerate, allows them to not be engaged with the show that they're reviewing, and let's be honest, they review a lot of plays and musicals and they're under deadlines, and if it's not their thing on that night, that's going to be reflected in the review, and I think that's unfair to the artistry that brought the piece to the stage.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Right. I've always thought that. I mean, they are human.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Absolutely.
Hal Luftig - Host:
And they go see a ton of things, how do you know that night they didn't have a headache or stomachache or have a fight with their spouse, or something that they're human, it can't not effect how they see that particular show, right?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yeah.
Hal Luftig - Host:
They should maybe sit in on a rehearsal or two so they can see how it's created, not that that's going to change their ultimate opinion of it, overall opinion of it, but I remember when we were doing Moving Out and Sylvia Gold, who was a dance critic, actually sat in on several rehearsals and watched Twyla's process, and it turned out to be incredibly informative and I wonder if you think that would be kind of something that eventually theater critics might consider doing?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Well I won't name names, but there are critics and usually it has to do with an out of town engagement, when something is just getting on it's feet, and they have to be engaged with the show more than just seeing it for it's opening night on Broadway, that's always proven to me, win, lose, or draw for us, to be really instructive because they are completely informed and even if they don't like everything they see or everything about the show, they're extremely constructive. Whatever that assignment is, I'd love that to be everybody's assignment.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Yeah. I'm with you, let's get them in. So in speaking about reviews, I'm sure it's easy, we've all been at that meeting where a day after a show opens everyone sits down in the ad agency and when everything is a rave, it's like which rave is better?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Totally.
Hal Luftig - Host:
But more often than not, the reviews or negative, or mixed to negative, and the important ones are negative. How do you as the press agent, and you're always there, you've been in meetings where you're the cheerleader because everyone else is in a state of shock, how does that effect you? How do you figure out and truthfully find a way to pull quotes that may be negative but spin them in a way that they're not?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Well let's go to the worst case scenario, and mercifully I don't remember specifically being in this situation, but we have both been in this situation, where the reviews are terrible. Let's just say terrible. I'm exaggerating. What I encourage is for the reviews to absolutely, the quotes to absolutely reflect the most energetic attributes of the show, and if the quotes aren't there then I probably have, because I would do in a meeting, encourage us to go in another direction and that other direction could be well let's make our own copy that feels exciting, that reflects the nature of the show, and doesn't rely on quotes, if the quotes are mediocre or from sources that are not your top line, because I think audiences are smart enough to know if there isn't a New York Times quote, or a media source that they trust, they can read between the lines, and that's throwing good money after bad.
Hal Luftig - Host:
From the perspective of a press agent, and I'm not fishing here, I swear to god, but if you happen to throw a couple of bones my way I won't complain. When you start working on a show, you're working the most closely with the producer. He or she I'm sure has a very strong opinion on what you should be doing and what they want to see and how come we're not getting that, Rick, and that kind of stuff. In your opinion, in that regard, what does make a good producer to work with for you?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
That's a very easy one, and I will use you as the example and I'll be very specific. I like working with the producers I have worked with before and while at the time, there may be a project that was not successful, I think it is very important that you go through the ride of life on Broadway with the producer where you of course aim for successes and you have successes and you have big successes, but you learn more from the ones that aren't successes, and I think it accrues this sense of trust where you really don't have to go through the business of are they doing this right or are they not doing this right? I don't really understand where Rick is coming from, but I trust him. And I think we have to get to this place.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
And I remember when we got to that place, because we were working on Kinky Boots and it was very early in the life of the show and I think we were in Chicago, and sales weren't great, because you have a title like Kinky Boots, and a show that is unknown, and all we had was the firm belief that this is not only a hit but a smash hit, but you needed to work it because it wasn't happening at that moment, whatever it was. And I do remember you bought me a very nice steak at The Palm, but you were nervous. So the next day, to address whatever it was that you said, and I don't remember it specifically, we came and sat down with you and Darryl and whipped up a 10 page game plan for the show. And it wasn't revelatory, but we walked you through, we've got this and this is what we're going to do from now through the opening on Broadway and into awards season, because there were months there that were dormant.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
And it was a pretty good document because we had it, we knew what the attributes of the show were and we had a game plan, and we walked you through it and you said, it was really like, "Okay, thank you for explaining. I get it. Good." And we never had a problem since and we have now used that for every show. We create a document, we create the game plan and the actual plan, we put it on paper, we meet with the producers like we did with you and Darryl in Chicago that day, and then we stick it in a drawer and we pull it out of the drawer much later and usually we have followed that plan step by step and usually it works. And I think the main thing that we got out of that was not only that you made us do that, but also that we gained your trust and you don't really doubt me. Even when I say, hell let's do this crazy damn thing, you're like, "Fine, do it." Actually you want it.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Well, that is true, because you've come up with some stuff that has made my head spin, but I've thought, you know what, why not?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Yeah. And having a producer's trust and a producer's trust is gained by the producer telling us what they need and the way that they need it, is the most crucial thing, besides working with them, because you become a family and that's always more fun, and more fun begets more fun and more success.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Yeah. That's very true. So thank you for that. I do remember I just want to be full disclosure to the listeners, I do remember after that dinner me asking you, we were staying in a hotel, the hotel windows now don't open all the way because of liability, so they open a couple of inches. I do remember asking you, "Hey Rick, how much weight do you think I need to lose so I can fit through that window."
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
That was-
Hal Luftig - Host:
And you just said a lot.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
That was a real nail biter, because it was a real old school out of town try out with a show that was an original, based on a frankly obscure but beloved movie and it could easily had worked, and it could easily have not worked, and a lot of work was required to get it into the shape that everybody knows Kinky Boots to be. So that was pretty good producing, congratulations.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Well thanks. But we did it together.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Loved it.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Well Rick, you know what, it's been so much fun talking to you today, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Hear hear.
Hal Luftig - Host:
But before I let you go, before we finish, I'm going to ask you three rapid fire questions. So I'm going to ask them and I would love for you to just say the first thing that pops into your mind, okay? Don't overthink it. So here's the first one, what is your favorite musical?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Evita. I saw the original producing coming from Los Angeles 15 times at the music center and several times on Broadway.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Great answer, I love that too, as you know. What was the wackiest moment you experienced in the theater?
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Oh, wackiest moment in the theater, it was an exciting moment, it was my very, very, very, very first any kind of job, I was Richard Kornberg's emissary in Los Angeles for the launch of Joe Papps Pirates of Penzance tour. And Pam Dawber was Mable, Andy Gibb was Fredrick, it was a great cast, but it was the final performance at the Ahmanson Theater in the summer of whenever that was, and Caroline Peyton and I forgot the other person, but the standby and the understudy, everybody is sick, Pam is sick, and everybody was panicked and I had never been around showbiz like that, the show must go on, how the hell are we going to do this kind of panicked. I wouldn't go backstage because it was way too tense there and I stood in the back of the house for that announcement, and they said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this performance, the role of Mabel usually played by Pam ... " and everybody was a Mork and Mindy fan, they were groaning and groaning, "Will be played by Ms. Linda Ronstadt."
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
She had come from Malibu to do the performance, pristine performance, and she was the queen of rock and roll then. The crowd went insane and I thought, wow this is maybe the most exciting thing I've ever experienced in my life, and god that was crazy.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Wow. Wow. That is a great story. I love it, because when that happens I know audiences can go crazy. So the last one may be a little difficult, the question is and the lesson you learned from that was ...
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
You get the show on. You come up with the solution to make the show happen. A canceled show is the most rare thing. It's the thing I love about the theater that there is always a solution and there is always a way to get the show on, and quite honestly, at the moment in which we're living and the challenges we're going to face, I feel Broadway is going to be a leader in bringing New York back to the world.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Bravo, Rick, Bravo. And you know what, the important takeaway from the sentence, Broadway will be back.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Oh, hear hear.
Hal Luftig - Host:
So I just want to take a moment to thank you, Rick. This has been so much fun and really informative.
Rick Miramontez - Guest:
Thank you. Thank you for inviting me, I'm so happy that you're doing this. As the audience knows, I love working with you.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Broadway Biz. If you have any questions about today's episode or the business of Broadway in general, let me know on Instagram, at Broadway Biz Podcast, or via email at broadwaybiz@halluftig.com. Be sure to follow me at Broadway Biz Podcast for updates on everything Broadway Biz, the business of Broadway.
Hal Luftig - Host:
Broadway Biz is part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Huge thanks to Dori Berinstein, Alan Seales, and Brittany Bigelow. This has been produced by Dylan Marie Paren and Kevin Connor, and edited by Derick Gunther. Our fabulous theme music is by Nell Benjamin and Lawrence O'Keeffe. To learn more about Broadway Biz visit bpn.fm/broadwaybiz.