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This is one on one.

I'm an equal American, just like you are.

The way we change presidents in this country is by voting.

A quartet is already a joy.

It's just the new job.

January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are.

There is always something to learn.

I mean, what other countries sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better?

People call me because they feel nobody's paying attention.

It's not all about memorizing and getting information.

It's what you do with that information.

Stars start talking right now.

That's a good question, I thought.

Steve Adubato, we kick off this one on one program, part of our Arts Connection mini series with Jeremy Jordan, Tony and Grammy Award nominee.

Currently, he is portraying Bobby Darin, the great Bobby Darin in the Broadway show Just in Time.

Jeremy.

Great to have you with us.

Thanks for having me.

You got it.

You also, we we claim you in new Jersey.

You live here in Jersey?

I do, yeah.

I'm not a native, but I've been here for almost 20 years.

Where'd you grow up?

I grew up in south Texas.

South Texas.

That's kind of like Jersey.

No, it's not at all.

I'm just saying.

Oh, no, it's not.

Let me ask you before we talk about the musical.

Just in time, the Broadway play, your passion for the arts comes when and why?

Growing up on my.

My grandma used to run the, the like youth theater program at the local community theater, and that's kind of where I got started.

I was a really shy kid, though, and I was kind of coaxed into into appearing in productions, but I was always a singer.

And so I kind of started singing in choir and stuff, and that's kind of how I built up my confidence over the years.

And, and, you know, did a few small productions, but it wasn't really until I got to, to college that I started doing, like, actual theater and, and thought maybe I could do this for my career.

Okay.

So it's interesting how you talk about confidence and you're in just in time playing Bobby Darin.

Yeah.

Who publicly for those of us.

And by the way, check out Bobby Darin and his short but important career.

He had to be out front.

You are out front playing him.

To what degree?

Because being in a chorus or a choir, imagine you're part of a group.

Yes, you're part of a group here.

But you are the star of this.

Yeah.

What is that like for you, and how do you muster the confidence to do that?

Every night and sometimes twice a day?

Yeah.

I mean, it took a long time for me to get that.

Even when I started doing theater, I, I would kind of sink into the character and as opposed to, like, really being, you know, comfortable in my own skin.

But I don't know, maybe about ten years ago, I started doing concerts, just as myself as my, you know, theater name grew.

And by doing that, I kind of learn to be a lot more comfortable in my own skin.

And speaking to audiences and getting to, you know, have one on one interactions.

I still think I'm a little bit shy, but, you know, in the show I, I start the show as myself.

And so I kind of have to bring that energy with me.

And Bobby had charisma and energy in spades.

I mean, he was the farthest from a shy kid anyone could ever have imagined.

So, you know, it's fun to step into that character and get to be a little different than who I really am.

Jeremy.

And in playing portraying Bobby Darin, to what degree did you do your own research to understand who he was, how he carried himself, why it mattered.

His career mattered.

Why Mack the Knife matters, right?

All of it.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there's a lot of there's a lot of great books written about him.

The biggest one is one written by his own son.

It's called Dream Lovers, and it's about him and Sandra Dee.

And it's a pretty, pretty telling exposé on their lives.

And I tried to grab on to the things that were not in the script, you know, because you have the script for a show and you kind of treat that as, as your, you know, your center.

And so I tried to sort of find little ends into his character outside of that, you know, watched a whole lot of videos, a lot of interviews with him just to see, you know, how he carried himself.

We're not really trying to do an impression in the show.

It's more of a, you know, a something that honors him.

And, and so I tried to find where I connected with him.

You know, he's got a lot of, sort of frenetic energy, which is something that I had a lot when I was younger.

And so I kind of, I kind of tapped into that.

And, you know, he his, his main driving force is that he was told he was going to die as a really young age.

And so he lived every moment as if like, this could be it, much to the detriment of the people around him.

He kind of left a a a wake in his presence.

But that was how he got so big, so fast.

Jeremy, hold on one second.

Why was he told that he would not live long?

He had a lot of heart problems.

And as a as a young kid, he had, Oh, I say a. I have a line in this show that says what it is, but he had he had a bunch of heart issues, like, you never can remember your lines out of the context of the show.

But he had a heart.

He had a fever.

He had a romantic fever a lot of times as a kid.

And the doctor basically said, he's not going to live past 16.

And so, you know, by the time he hit 16, he was like, well, I'm on borrowed time.

So I got to use it and I got to make the most of it.

How long?

How long did he.

When did he die?

What age?

He was 37.

When he died.

Yeah.

He got 20 plus more years than.

Than they thought he would.

And honestly, he would have lived longer.

You know, medicine was continuing to develop, but he just pushed himself probably past the breaking point.

And now was he would have been fine.

But back in the 60s, 70s and so was his family.

I'm sorry for interrupting.

Jeremy.

Who was his family?

His family?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, he he was married to Sandra Dee, and they had a had a kid, but his his mom, her name was poorly.

She was a vaudeville performer.

Although, spoiler alert, the whole controversy in his life was that she was actually his grandma.

And his sister had him when she was underage, and they kind of played it off without him even knowing for most of his life that his sister was actually his mom.

So he had a little bit of a family drama.

He never knew his dad.

But yeah, he, he, he lived a really interesting life.

He he was one of those people that was an enigma to a lot of people around him, but, like, just drew everyone in.

There was some crazy story about him after recording session going out into the streets of New York and just dancing the streets wildly, and then he got in a passing truck and like, just got in and showed up three days later.

Like he just disappeared.

Like he just had this in crazy presence.

Before you performed on Broadway, you did a lot of work at Paper Mill.

Paper mill?

Yeah, yeah, I've done a couple of shows at Paper Mill.

It's like little home away from home, which is nice because it's right down the street.

I don't think you had to.

Millburn, new Jersey.

You should check it out.

I don't think I don't know if people appreciate or understand how important theater is.

The arts are in a state like new Jersey.

Was that surprising to you, Jeremy?

How important theater is in Jersey or how significant it is?

I mean, the shadow of Broadway, I think.

I don't think it was surprising to me.

I mean, I I've been lucky enough to work in some regional theater around the country.

And, you know, obviously new Jersey is so close to New York City that they're able to get a lot of Broadway talent, really easily.

And so, you know, they especially Papermill puts on some of the best productions you're going to find outside of Broadway, and which is one of the reasons they use it a lot for, you know, pre-Broadway runs both shows that I did at Papermill, went on to Broadway, which is pretty cool.

Which one's Newsies back in 2000?

Well, I did a paper mill in 2011, and and then and then, The Great Gatsby I did back in 2024 at Paper Mill and went into Broadway the next year.

I'm curious about 2023 Paper Mill.

Yeah.

Okay.

So so you're you're working in, by the way, Jeremy Jordan, Tony and Grammy award winning nominee currently playing portraying Bobby Darin and just in time on Broadway circle and square.

So so your work you play this out.

Hopefully it's a big hit.

To what degree?

Do you have to prepare yourself?

Talked about confidence before, but I imagine in the media business there's a fair amount of rejection.

I've experienced it, but in yours it's ten times more because you're up.

You're up all the time.

You're competing, you're auditioning.

Not to be negative, but I'm to be realistic.

You don't know what happens after this to much.

To what degree does that?

Is it something you think about, or is it you'll deal with it when you deal with it?

You know, in my career it was it was really it was really hard because, you know, I had nothing except for what I was auditioning for.

You know, and, and you just hope you get the next gig and hope and get the next gig.

I've been lucky enough, as I've gotten older to have built a bigger career for myself.

So I do a lot of concerts, outside of theater.

So I, I'm able to sort of support myself between gigs that way.

And, you know, I, I've been lucky.

This is my ninth Broadway show.

I've been lucky enough to to be working very consistently.

You know, but I'm still I'm still trying to expand my horizons.

You know, I, I've done some TV and film, but I would love to do some more of that.

You know, the Broadway schedule is pretty grueling.

And I have a seven year old kid at home, and I'm gone most nights.

And and so, you know, it would be nice to to switch it up for, for a while.

But yeah, it's it's, it's, it's a toss up, you know, and you try to try to save as much as you can and you try to try to be responsible, but you know emotionally it can it can really take its toll on you.

And so many of my friends and people that I went to school with and, and people that I love, you know, they, they burn out of the industry because of all the rejection.

And, you have to have a thick skin for it and you have to try not to take it personally.

But at the same time, if you can kind of carve your own path, that's that's usually the best method towards success, you know.

Well, that's what you're doing every day.

And it's interesting to say you have it and don't take it personally.

11 people say don't take it personally, but it affects you, even though it may not be personal.

Yeah, in decisions people make, but it does affect us personally.

It does.

And and go check out Jeremy Jordan, who's currently portraying Bobby Darin, who passed the 37.

But boy, there was a 37 impactful years.

The Broadway show is just in time.

I cannot thank you enough for joining us.

Wish you all the best.

Thanks, Steve, with the play and to your family as well.

Thank you.

Take care.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

You got to stay with us.

Right back to watch more one on one with Steve Adubato.

Find us online and follow us on social media.

Hi, Jackie here, senior correspondent for One on One.

And joining us now are the dancers and choreographers behind the creative duo.

Costa mayor is Austin and Meredith.

It's so great to have you with us.

Thanks for having us.

We're so excited.

Me too.

Because I want to start at the beginning.

Because your story starts right here in new Jersey.

Yeah, I love it.

I got to talk about the new Jersey roots right off the bat.

Most of our programing airing on NJPW.

So awesome.

Why don't you tell us about how in New Merritt, you and Meredith met at a Six Flags here in new Jersey?

Yes.

We met doing a Halloween show at Six Flags.

It was the Halloween show called Dead Man's Party.

And our very first time meeting was I came to the front door, and I, I, I showed up a few days late, later than the cat was living in a house together.

Yeah, well, that gets into quick.

Yeah, it sure does.

Spending a lot of time together.

And I came a few days late because I was coming from another job, and I knocked on the door and lo and behold, Meredith was the one who answered.

And she was in her wiener dog pajama shorts and her oversize t shirt.

And the rest is history.

The rest is history.

You had him with those shorts.

I mean, what can I say?

So you both started dancing together with this group, and then a little bit after that time.

Right.

The pandemic hits, and we're all kind of in this situation where it's like, what do you do?

Where do you go?

Who do you hunker down with?

And you two decided to stick together.

You headed out and we're hanging out in North Carolina.

Right.

And social media.

Right.

During that time, people were stuck in their houses, and we were using social media to just be able to voice what we were doing and put content out there.

And you started putting content out there together.

So many of us are content, went nowhere but yours.

And then millions and millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram.

What do you think it was at that time that really resonated with people that that it clicked for people and they were jumping into what you were, what you were sharing with them.

Oh my gosh, I wish I knew the I want to know the answer to this question too, right?

We all need the answer, right?

I know if I had the answer, I would just be cranking out that video that made it work.

I think that we just wanted to have a really good time.

I mean, I we always say our like slogan internally is that we take silly very seriously.

Like we make ridiculous videos, but with the utmost professional approach.

And so I think that people love to see silly taken seriously.

I think it's the dance and media and on TV can all can come across very serious a lot of the times.

And so to see people take a very comedic approach to dancing that's literally just made for the sake of making people smile, making people happy was something that maybe people hadn't experienced a lot of before.

Yeah, and we love to commit to a bit like we love a good bit.

And when you just like fully full send the bit, it's like it just makes for a great time between us and then it hopefully it's translating to the audience as well.

It definitely is one of those bits that I love watching.

Or when you make up dances to sounds that we don't know what they are, but then you reveal them.

I mean, that's just one of those fun things that get people entertained, but also engage with your content.

So the name Costume Mayor I know was an inside joke.

Talk about Salinas.

That kind of stuck with you and became your brand.

Talk about some of the lessons you've learned so far in moving this brand forward from having, like I said, I think at 7.5 million viewers on TikTok right now or followers on TikTok right now, and so many more on Instagram.

How were you able to get to that level and again, how what were some of the lessons learned when you've been really creating this brand together?

You know, I we always, when we're telling our story, never have a pinpoint for a moment that everything sort of clicked and went viral.

I think everything has been a very steady incline, and I'm so grateful for that because I think, like I was saying earlier, like if one video was the secret sauce, I think that we would have gotten too stuck in saying, oh my gosh, will I have to recreate this magic?

Because this is what people know me for.

And I think because we had that steady growth, it gave us the room to try so many different things.

We've tried so many different formats and and series and, and things that you'd watch now and be like, that was a cost of everybody.

That's insane.

But I think that the biggest lesson I've learned is that you just have to try.

And you, you're never going to know what resonates deeply with people and what becomes an awesome series.

And what you think is an awesome series totally doesn't resonate.

Like, you just have to keep trying and keep trying and keep reinventing yourself.

And I think that people have really welcomed that from us, which I'm very grateful for.

And that's the beauty of social media, too.

Like, we have so much power to just hit post, like we're in charge of that.

We're in control of the things that we want to create and try and put out there, and it's just hitting post.

It gave us a lot of permission to have those failures.

And I mean, I don't want to call them failures because we've learned so much from them.

And just because of video has low views, I don't think it's a failure, but I think that there's so much, you know, coming from traditional entertainment.

There's so much pressure when you make something for it to be perfect and great and for you to deliver.

And I don't really feel that on social media and polish too.

I think we also give such a peek into the the beats of how we come up with things, and that is not polished.

We are just out there figuring it out together and just making the most fun of it.

Yeah, it's something you did have to polish.

Was your show maybe not polish all the way because part of it is.

So yeah, like maybe not fully polished, but you you really did bring your talents to Off-Broadway in 11 to Midnight and it closed recently, which I'm so sad about, but I'm hoping there's a revival of some kind.

Maybe in the works down the line.

But tell us about the concept of that, because it was so unique and really so many people were getting behind this movement and, and how you created this really unique piece of art.

We always have had a huge passion for dance, being in the forefront of storytelling.

We try to do that on our page in a small way, and I think that 11 to Midnight was us bringing it to life in a bigger way.

I think a lot of times you see dance, as you know, the ensemble behind the lead or the dancers behind the artist, and usually you're not seeing dance as this forefront media of like what you're coming to see.

And we wanted to do that with 11 and Midnight.

We wanted to put dance at the center of it, and I really am so proud that we pulled that off in a huge way and that it was so well received, but it was the wildest adventure ever.

We learned some unique people into it too, right?

Every couple of weeks there was a new, maybe kind of celebrity that jumped in and was a part of the was a part of the whole ensemble.

Yes.

We brought in Heather Morris, Nia Sue, Connor Levitt, who's about the stars.

I'm so excited.

We we had a lot of people come in.

It was amazing to see that as the show was getting momentum.

So many people were interested in joining us and we would actually something that was unique about the show is that we would change it every single time we would introduce a new person.

So it wasn't so traditional in the sense that new persons coming in and learning the exact old track to a tee, we would sort of change it to fit them.

So like Heather Morris was such a talented actress.

So we of more acting beats, Connor knows all these magic tricks.

And so we were like, okay, we'll put in some magic.

And it was it was so fun to get to play to people's strengths and have fun with them on stage.

We had a blast.

It sounds super collaborative at the same time to, I want to talk to you about I heard there's some exciting news to share.

What's kind of next for the two of you?

What should we see coming down the pipeline?

Oh my gosh.

So we're.

Well, we're launching a dance company called the Ordinaries.

We we really want to.

Sometimes we're filming ads.

We love to film ads so much.

I know, that's so weird.

I feel like ads are the bane of the existence on the internet.

Not to us.

We love it.

Also, if I come across your ad, I'm not skipping it.

I'm watching the whole thing.

We just have an affinity for storytelling with brands attached and and helping brands bring that to life.

And I think we've gotten really good at it.

We've got a good knack for it.

And sometimes we're shooting ads and we're like, this would be so cool if we had 20 more people.

And I think we're in such a unique moment with, like, you're seeing GAAP make all these dance videos and, and Zara and, and these amazing like back on 74.

The music video is so beautiful and we are really in a moment where I think people are dance fans in a big way.

And I think that brands are seeing the value of storytelling through dance, which is so in alignment with what we do.

And so we are really just trying to make 20 more of us so that we can tell stories in a bigger way.

And I am excited that with the ordinaries that'll become possible, and it's such an extension of what we're already doing to like, we already have the love for it and to just put that love and that creativity on.

Like she said, 20 more dancers for a brand to help them tell their story and, you know, push their narrative narrative forward, I think would be so cool.

Finally, before I let both of you go, obviously the art we talk about the arts and the importance of the arts for especially our youth.

And I wanted to hear quickly from both of you how important you see the arts playing a role in young people, and how it really played such a role in your young life that led you to this part of your career?

My gosh man, what a question.

I feel like imagination has been the most important skill I've used in my whole career, and I realize that sounds like, okay, well, you're a dancer and choreographer, obviously.

Maybe you're maybe imagination is what you need.

But I really think that, like, creativity in general is such a valuable skill and getting.

And arts education is what brought me to valuing that skill, not just in creating and choreographing, but in literally every, every single facet of my life.

I think the word that comes to mind for me is discovery.

I think the arts lets you discover so much.

When when I first moved to New York, I was super passionate about just being a dancer performer.

I had no interest in choreography or creative direction or any of the things we're doing now.

But once we met and we started choreographing together and started telling these stories, I was like, wait, I really like being on the other side of things.

And I never knew that.

I never would have, you know, been able to try that out if it weren't for, you know, the, the inspiration that she brings to me every single day.

And so I think letting yourself discover new things through any kind of art form is super important.

And even more discovery through when we were doing 11 to midnight.

You know, I when we're reinventing these characters over and over, the the empathy too, that you really explore through kind of trying to step into other people's perspectives and a character that's unlike yourself.

Like, I think that has broadened my emotional capacity so much.

And, I mean, we could go on for hours.

I mean, and always our message is support arts education for our young people.

It is just so, so important.

Meredith in Austin, thank you so much for joining us and for telling us more about what you're up to next.

Can't wait to see what you do with the Ordinaries.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for having us.

We appreciate it.

Thank you for Steve Adubato and myself.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

One on One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by the new Jersey Economic Development Authority.

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