Be Our Guest with Ella Olesen

Today's episode is brought to you by Musical Theater Radio's merch store. Looking for that perfect gift for someone or just want to treat yourself to some great musical theater themed merch? Head to musicaltheatreradio.com and click on the all things theater button on the home page. And check out all the different designs available. And now, today's interview. Welcome back to another episode of B.R. Guest here on Musical Theater Radio. I am your host as always, Jean Paul Yulvinov. It is the dream of so many people out there to move to New York City and find their way onto the stage. Well, today's guest, El Olsen, has done just that. Let's learn more about her, her career, how she made it to and in New York and what interests me most is the view of the city from the perspective of a Canadian. If that would further ado, let's welcome Ella to the show. Hello, Ella. Hello, Jean Paul. That was amazing. I felt like I was in the wings and you were on stage doing the pre-show speech and now the show has begun. The curtain is up. The lights are up. It's your solo show. It's a one-woman show now. Awesome. You're right. Awesome. Okay. So let's get to know you. I always asked for a 30-second bio at the beginning to get to another person. So my question is who is Ella in 30 seconds? Here we go. Clock is going. I am from Vancouver Island, the city of Nanaimo, which is off the coast of Vancouver, different from Vancouver in Canada. I grew up dancing from the age of six and I took a musical theater class concurrently. I would do one musical theater show every year until I was 15. Then I started singing lessons, took a couple years of singing lessons in high school, decided I wasn't quite finished experimenting and learning about singing yet, decided I would try college, somehow gotten to the University of Michigan in America, moved to America, spent four magical years in Ann Arbor, then moved to New York. And I've been in and out of New York since then. Very nice. So I guess you were always in the musical theater growing up. I guess I was. I never thought I would go into musical theater, but I did do it all the way from childhood. Okay. Is your family that of artists and things? Are you the black sheep in the arts in singing? My mom was a dancer as well growing up, but she did not go into the arts. She and my dad are both dentists. My sister and I both grew up dancing, though, and we would always be working. We would go to our studio late at night and my mom would come with us and we would practice our solos, practice our dance numbers. So she was a huge influence. She is the reason I'm here today, but my sister did not go into dance. She's pursuing dentistry like my mom now. So I guess I am the black sheep of the family, I am the only person pursuing arts in my family. Did you ever think about being a dentist, since you have a woman? I did. Yeah, I always thought I was going to be a dentist until the end of high school when I was like, I am not quite finished with this yet. I will do two years max finishing for colleges and if I don't get in, that is a sign from the universe that I am supposed to go into sciences and I will happily be a dentist. It's funny. Kids usually either they totally follow because you always see families like cops, cops, or lawyers, lawyers, or whatever, whatever, whatever, or your kids just go the complete opposite because they look at your life and go, I don't want that. So true. Yeah, in a funny way, growing up with my sister, I think everyone in my family thought that she would be the one to go into the arts, but maybe because I went to the arts, I went into the arts. She was the one who said, I don't want to do what my sister was doing. I'm going to go into dentistry, but I did think I thought I was going to be, I'm continuing the family line of dentistry. My kids went in complete opposite when it became a librarian and airline engine repair. So as far from the arts as they can get, like they saw Daddy and being poor and they went, nope. What's literally the farthest in either direction, exactly, they appreciate the arts, but no, they do not want to see live my life. Very cool. So you're in the NIMO, which I have not been to the island. I've been to Vancouver and I love the west coast. It's gorgeous. Tell our listeners what it's like out there because a lot of people around the world have just never experienced B.C. and what it's like out there. If you picture Seattle and Pacific Northwest, it's giving that or above there. The island is, I say it's an island, it is the same square mileage, I think is the state of Maryland, if that's a useful comparison. So it's quite big. I grew up in a town in the middle of the island, so the ferry from Vancouver docks in the NIMO and goes back and forth between those two cities. But it's giving lots of pine trees, lots of mountains, ocean, I really miss the ocean and I'm so excited, I just landed in Miami. I'm about to do a contract here for a couple months and I'm so excited to be near beach again because I miss swimming in the ocean so much, but lots of nature, lots of rain. Yes. Yeah, it was great, but also very artistically rich, though. I was never the star of any shows because there are so many talented people growing up in the NIMO and very supported by great teachers in the NIMO and around B.C. in Vancouver as well. I did a lot of singing and dancing in Vancouver, especially during the summers when I wasn't in school and have amazing memories from learning from people there. Now, you said you started mostly as a dancer. When did you think you transitioned to more musical theater based? Was there an impetus for something that you thought you saw or anything like that? I, two answers to this question, one, when I was 15 and I had just started taking singing lessons, I discovered the Phantom of the Opera and I watched the movie and then fell in love with the 25th anniversary recording with Sierra, Bogus, and Rameen Karimlouz, I hope you say his last name. Incredible. Love that so much. That made me want to sing those songs and maybe try going into this. Part two answer is, I would do these dance solos where I would lip-sync a song. From a Broadway cast recording and do a dance number to them. And I would compete with these solos and my sister would do them too and we even did a duet once. And I would play men, always men. Would I play these roles now? Absolutely not. I'll say this to you in your listeners. I played Al Dolfo from the drowsy chaperone and the truth is coming up. My donkey from Shrek and Mr. Schneeblee from School of Rock. Wow. I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever even think of doing those now but I will say looking back at those. It was so much fun to just step into something so wildly different from me and to learn how to make people laugh, to explore. We went so deep into what would Al Dolfo smell like. I had this perfume that I would put on when I would go and stage me at age like 16. We were like maybe he wears one diamond earring, maybe he, we drew on a butch and drew on like a widow's peak. It was so fun and yeah, to learn to embody something like that that was so different to make people laugh. I think it was the making people laugh that really maybe want to perform and turn my focus from. I loved contemporary dance and I always took ballet growing up because that is the base. And like we need that. We need the base. Oh yeah. But I think I discovered doing those solos that musical theater was where the passion was. Nice. All right. So now you've, you've discovered Ella has discovered musical theater and she's going to go to college somewhere. She's going to go to post-secondary. How did you, how did you end up in Michigan? You know, there's, there's lots of choices out there. Did you apply to a lot of places? Um, tell us about that experience. I applied to maybe four schools, including Sheridan, which you went to, right? That's my love. Yup. Amazing. I remember googling what are the top musical theater programs and the University of Michigan came up and I was like, okay, well, I guess I'll apply. I don't know. I remember reading that they not only offered like top training and singing and acting, but they, they would also, I had read, would continue to advance my dance training. Dance was the thing I felt most confident in and I really wanted to keep improving in that area, but I felt weaker in singing and dancing. So I felt like something about this sounds like a fit. Did I ever think I would even pass the pre-screen absolutely not? I remember jumping for joy around my living room, just receiving the, I passed the pre-screen email because I had never been to Michigan before. I never thought I would ever go to Michigan. So I went and did the audition in person. It was really cold. It was really nervous. I remember there were like 50 other blonde girls in the lobby on the day that I auditioned and me and my mom walked in and we were like, there's no way I'm getting in here. Like we just didn't know what the level was in America. I had no sense. anything. Yeah. Somehow they saw something in me, I guess, and miraculously, I was granted a place in the class of 2022. Wow, that's crazy. So now you have to move from the west coast, the beautiful pine trees and the ocean to Ann Arbor. And Michigan, what was that transition like? It's now you're not just you're not just moving away from home. You're moving to a completely different country and a little bit of everything. What was what was that like moving there? Tell us about that. That's a great question. I haven't thought about this in a long time. Honestly, it was a hard transition. The first year was very hard and I'm sure everybody goes through this adjusting to college. It was my first time living away from home for more than two weeks. And I think I was really homesick for those mountains and the ocean and being around my family. I'm really close with my family. But the musical theater department at Michigan is magical. The people are incredible. The town is so cute and unique and colorful and cool. And I guess I found solace in the work itself and the people and learning from the people. It was also scary though because the 2021 other people in my class are incredible artists and to be surrounded by them as my peers was the most intimidating thing ever. And I think sometimes people can look at a class or people from say the University of Michigan or another big name school like that and think that everybody is really confident. But I graduated feeling really not confident because the level is so high. So I was not expecting that. But I learned so much and that's and that's the thing you build a family and a community within your year of where I had the same thing it shared. And we all stuck together and we bonded and you become a certain type of group with these people. You really do. Yeah. Before each other and you help each other. And it's not always competition. There might be other blogs in there. There might be other people. But you always bring this unique something that that nobody else does. That's true. I didn't realize that until graduating because it's cool. You're auditioning for the same roles. But when you graduate, you're like, oh, we're all so different. We're literally not competing against each other. Yeah. And I think we forget that sometimes. We always think it's a competition. And you know what? Oh, I see another blonde. I see another bald guy. I see another whatever XYZ. And you go, but reality is no, you are completely different. And you will grow. So and we I don't think we realize that sometimes we forget. Yeah. Yeah. Are you still close with people from your class? A few. Yeah. But you know, life gets life starts. Absolutely. But it's been like 30 years for me since I graduated. So I'm amazing. I'm yeah, I don't keep a touch as much. But yeah, some of them. Yeah. I want to see a friend in a show in a couple of weeks. So yeah, it's awesome. You keep it because there's a bond there, right? You this experience of this school, no one else in the world can experience. They can experience that, but not what you did. Yes. And every year is different. When I was a sophomore, the pandemic hit. So I spent a year at home during the pandemic. And that is something that is unique to the four groups of classes that were there while I was there. Yeah. But he bonded us in a special way. So you're you're in a big university now. The universe. Just the university Michigan stadium hold more people than your town. I need to look up the population of my town. I think the most I've ever seen in that stadium is like 112,000. They suggest the numbers during every day. I will never forget walking through the archway into the stadium for the first time. It felt like a green screen. Like I was like, there's no way that the people on the other side of that stadium are actual people. I don't know. It's like the biggest space I've ever been in. Yeah, I've seen pictures of it. I can't even imagine seeing 112,000 people. Like I've been into the dome in Toronto. That's what he 50,000 and it looks so much. Wow. It's crazy. I can't believe how big it is. Say my brother is at the University of Michigan now, not from musical theater. He's in the business department, but he's also in the cheerleading team. So he gets to be on the field during the games. And I am so curious what that feels like to be looked at by that many people and to I don't know the pressure of that. It's actually I used to work for pizza pizza if you know the company. Yes. Amazing. So I was their mascot. So I got to go to every J's game. And I would go on the field and do the seventh inning stretch. So I know what it's like to stand in a 50,000 person thing. It's crazy. Just a look around. Wow. Yep. Everyone can see me right now. This is my job. Nobody knows who I am. But yes, they can see me. That's cool. That's cool. Maybe a little less pressure. I have no one. Exactly. No one will change. I can do whatever I want. But it is crazy. It's crazy with that many people. We kind of got off topic. But so what? That's that's theater. Yeah, we're rolling with the punches. Exactly. So when you were there, what was what some of the shows you did? What did you learn? How was what was it like to go to the University of Michigan's musical theater program? Shows I did. I'll go there first and then and then I'll go lessons. I did Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party as a senior. I played May. It was great. It was really fun. It was hard and new and scary. It was the first time I had to make out with somebody on stage. Yeah. We want to fantastic intimacy coach, though. And she, I remember she came in and was like, okay, we're going to choreograph this directly. So there is no weird emotion thing that it's it's a dance. We're going to go in on like one, two, three. We're going to go heads to the right for one gorilla, two gorilla, or back and forth. And we're going to count this and then we're going to separate. And that was such a nice way to because I was so scared because I've never done anything like that before and to have to do that on stage at the end of a song in front of a room full of people, an auditorium full of people. Terrifying. But she was great. I did I did Fiddler on the roof with it was a collaboration between our school, the Ann Arbor. I think it's called the University Musical Society. I might have messed up the title. UMS is their acronym and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I did this when we were a senior. And I will say I am not Jewish and there were a lot of conversations about how are we going to cast this and the casting decisions were they wanted to build a cast. I remember them talking about Jewish identity is a religion, a culture, and/or an ethnicity. So they wanted to create something that felt really anybody can be Jewish regardless of whether they quote look Jewish, whatever that means. Will I ever get to do Fiddler on the roof again? Maybe not. Probably not. Who knows. But I loved that musical so much and we did it with Andy Einhorn was our musical director and Sarnan Lapine directed. They were both guests who came in and there were guest artists who came in to be part of the cast to Chuck Cooper. Amazing, amazing artist who came in and I got to play Ciddle and we traveled on our spring break to Philadelphia and performed. It was the first time John Williams's orchestrations from the movie had ever been performed live because the movie orchestrations are different from the musical. I wept all the time during the process. It was so beautiful and moving and to hear Diego Rodriguez who is now a star. He was two years below me in school. He played model and I just got to listen to him sing miracles every night. I would just weep. So that was a magical experience. That was the last musical I did in school. Lessons from the University of Michigan. Perhaps surprisingly the biggest lesson I learned while I was there comes from our founder of the program, Professor Brent Wagner. In the Intro to Musical Theatre class, he gives a lecture on gratitude and and thank you notes and there is a question on exams on what are the three keys to writing a thank you note. And the answer if I could remember this is the test. Specificity, sincerity and I can't remember the last one. I have to go through my notes. I apologize, Professor Brent Wagner, but I remember him talking about the importance of time and and what warrants writing a thank you note when somebody gives you their time. Time he would say is perhaps the most valuable thing someone can give because it's finite. Yes. And a thank you note might be warranted if somebody exceeds the expectations of a relationship. So, same. Someone's a teacher their job is to teach you but if they give you extra time if they went out of their way to say let's me for coffee I want to sit down with you and go through your essays I think you're doing something really great here and I want to lift you that my warrant to thank you co and thank you No, so professor Brent Wagner changed my life gratitude is like central to everything It is the way I see the world and that's thanks to him and the University of Michigan Nice, yeah, and that's the thing you sometimes we forget how important is just to say thank you Someone and and and what they've done because you know Don't burn bridges. It's so easy just to say thank you Like in society. I think maybe it's I don't know. It's maybe I'm just old, but it's getting worse I think people just don't say please they don't say thank you. There's no no acknowledgement. It's just a Societies all just now now now and that's of any age of any people It's just everything's sped up and sometimes we forget to just slow down and say hey, thanks You made a difference in my life. Thank you Yeah, and it makes us feel good and hopefully makes the receiver feel good Exactly, so we so you you've now graduated from the University of Michigan You've got all your lessons. You know how to say thank you to people. You've got backstage there was New York your next goal was was that the whole the whole concept was let's get to New York and do that or Was that just let's see what happens. What was I think it was I think that was the goal I think I remember in high school after exploring phantom of the opera I was like I want to be on Broadway. Let's go to New York But I was not ready to graduate high school and go to New York. I needed to make a pit stop halfway across the Continent for four years before I could even be close to Having any semblance of okay, now we're gonna take on the big city Well, let's be honest moving to New York City couldn't be that much. I believe in a NIMO is the New York City of Vancouver Island, right? Honestly, yeah, NIMO and maybe Victoria at the bottom. Yeah, but I didn't spend a lot of time in Victoria So for me, the NIMO is my New York City exactly I grew up in the country. So yeah, it's the same thing. You know, I grew up with cow and corn for neighbors I didn't know a lot of people and then all of a sudden yet you move to something bigger and you're like oh, hey Yeah, yeah, so let me tell you tell me about that when you move to New York City you get in there What was that experience like getting there fresh face trying to figure out what to do? We my class had the privilege of graduating and doing a showcase in May The year that I graduated. So I was lucky enough to I think most of us in our class got meetings with amazing agents And I signed with an agent before I moved to the city Which was wonderful and I'm so grateful and I'm still with the same team. They're fantastic That I think helped the transition because even before I officially moved there they started sending me self tapes So I felt like I was starting to dip my toes in the water of the big pool before touching down Once again, though, it was a hard transition to go to the city Things are hard in New York harder than Michigan. I got to live two minutes away from all of my closest friends in New York It is a commitment You are going to see people. We all live very far apart. I am lucky to live with two other UMish MTs and we're very close and we support each other and we get to tape with each other We get to do self tapes with each other in our apartment, which is great So sometimes I don't need to leave the house But I think it took a long time to and I'm still learning to figure out Who do I want to be in this world? What do I want to do at the beginning? I said yes to every opportunity and I still say yes to most opportunities But I'm starting to become a little bit more selective as The path becomes clearer where I want to go I don't know it's it's been a journey and like lots of learning I also remember graduating and being like I have all the tools. I need I will never take another class in my life I've done with school and This year I was like no it's time to take some more classes So I started taking some TV film classes which opened up a whole other world for me I love it so much they changed the whole taping process for me the best way and I'm having so much more fun with my tapes now Um, it's making me think of the play that I'm doing right now in Miami I just finished day two of rehearsals. Yeah, I submitted the craziest audition for that I never the the theater just leaked it on Instagram. So there's clips on that if anyone's interested But I never would have submitted something so bold when I first graduated and I guess in the four years out I've gained more skills and more courage. I guess to be silly and have fun and be crazy Take risks and and just again go off of the tangent you know You said you took a film and TV classes. Yes, it's funny because you think acting is acting But it's not exactly the same thing. It's there's the same but it's not Yes, yes so true. It is weird. It is weird. It's different between mediums the core of it I would say is the same the presence is the same But the the way that you move and the way that you embody your character is totally gonna be different from being on state And being on stage in different venues is different too if you're playing to a 50,000 Stadium versus a 40 seat house. That's a different performance versus It is you and me in the camera and that's it different Yeah, it's yeah, it's sometimes you forget that that it is different but the same and I remember doing a friend's film once And I was just being on stage But I was I because I've never done it before. I was still being who I was Not realizing that you have to be okay. You don't have to do that anymore Yeah, that's been a process for me and I'm still learning how to do it like trusting that the camera Picks up what you're doing and picks up your thoughts and you don't need to move as much and the power of If I'm looking on one side of the camera and I've made the left side of the camera my eye line If I then cross my eyes to the other side of the camera on the right That looks like a huge shift on camera between different characters, but me the actor Yeah, it feels like nothing So to trust that what you're feeling yeah, as the actor actually is not relevant sometimes to what the audience is receiving I have to learn not to project I think whenever it's like like whenever I felt you don't need to talk that loud dude Okay, yeah, that's making me think I'm probably talking so loud right now. Sorry anybody if I've blown out the years Using my musical theater voice. They're used to me. So it's okay So now you're in New York City. You've got yourself a place. You're established Do what was the first show you got you obviously had to do lots of auditions and things like that What was that first show in New York City the first show I got came at the In I think I got it in just um no October After being in the city after graduating in May and it was the importance of being earnest at the Florida Repertory Theater which is funny because I'm back in Florida now And I got the call from my agents as I was walking through time square walking out of the museum of Broadway Which was brand new at the time this was at the end of 2022 And I looked up at all the billboards and was like I cannot believe this is my life I am a working actor in New York City It was amazing and that project turned out to be phenomenal I didn't realize how special it was at the time because it was my first contract All the people were phenomenal. It was so funny The audiences were exceptional every night so much laughter like I had I I texted a professor from the University of Michigan During the process of the show Because I couldn't stop laughing on stage and it was becoming a problem because all of the actors were so funny And I was like how do I hold myself together and he said you need to remember What your scene partner needs from you in the scene Stay present in the moment. Don't let yourself replay that funny moment over and again keep moving forward And that really helped but it was an issue. It was too much fun. It was literally too much fun Oh, that's not what an awful life in your job is just so much fun, right? I can't stop laughing Damn So bad you get that as a dentist, you know, I'll laugh in all the time. No, right? Laughing ass Okay, dude, if somebody's high on that I don't know My parents run a fun clinic My dad just scooter up and down the halls because there's a long haul. There's a lot of That's funny So it is fun, I guess Does he ever act like Steve Martin in a little shop? I hope not Okay, good just check it. I hope not. I'll double check with them I'll say dad you need to rewatch this video. I'm just checking in. Yeah, are you okay? Are your patients okay? If you're like this, seek help Yes, check in with someone So since we are a musical theater station, let's jump into the world premiere of Welcome to the Big Dipper Tell us about that experience and being a part of something new and just take us through that It was so cool. It was also my off Broadway debut. So it was and it was my first time and to this day my only time thus far understudying So it was a big learning process. It felt like a level up. There were so many creative people in the room and so many artists working together to put this amazing new project on stage. There were changes happening all the way up to opening. So that was a process, one, to be tracking what my two and then three characters were doing. But to also keep track of oh this change today either blocking wise or literally the lyrics or mostly like dialogue would change. So I learned how to what worked from me during that process in terms of writing down blocking. I got like a pack of cue card things and would write down hey this is the first scene these are all the props that I need to remember from this scene and this was advice I'd received from a classmate of mine. Mika Martin who was on tour with Les Mizz cover swinging 10 tracks. I think it was 10. I don't know how she did that. I don't I don't know how that's humanly possible but she's a star and this was her advice to make cue cards and track. These are the props I need. This is the line changes here. This is what I need to remember going in. These are the costumes. I was ready to go on for two tracks towards I think after the show opened it became clear that there was another track in the show who somebody on stage covered. But the demands of that track that this other person covered were different from the skill set that her current cover had. So the theater decided we I think we need somebody else in case this actor ever calls out and everybody was like she's never going to call out she is a warrior. You probably know where the story is going. They asked me to take on her track. I was like yeah of course yes I will sure I can take it on. I'll probably never have to go on. So I start casually starting to track what she's doing at night from the house I would watch the show from the front every night. Then this warrior incredible triple threat amazing actress Jennifer Bern gets deathly ill with a plague. She calls out of the show. There was no way we could do the show that night. I had not had a single rehearsal so the show that night was canceled. The next day we rehearsed. No the show was canceled that night and we rehearsed that night instead to prepare for tomorrow in case she wasn't well enough to go on. The next day I get a text in the morning. I also was in rehearsals for something else at this time so I was not on my phone all morning was skipping to rehearsals had an amazing Shakespeare rehearsal was playing Pock in a mid-summer night streams. I was super playful having fun. I get out of that rehearsal 84 messages on my phone. What going on the stage manager welcome to the victim has called me. I was suddenly shocked scared terrified. I didn't even have my script with me. I think it was at the theater. I had my computer with me so I went to the whole foods opened up my computer and started going through the whole show. I didn't know her music. I didn't like I didn't I didn't know what I was doing. So I do that until I'm called for rehearsal. I get to rehearsal. We rehearse it some more. I have a rehearsal with the music director and luckily this track the woman was a real estate agent. I think she was yes. So she had a lot of paperwork in her wheelhouse. So they let me go on stage with a clip forward. And the backstage team was so good. Every time I would go off stage they would take out the pages I just had put in the new pages and every time I went off stage there was a costume change. I had never worn this woman's costume change or worn this woman's costume before or her shoes. Luckily we were about the same size and the quick change team were phenomenal. They gave me so much love and they were so calm and they were a lot we got you. So they I would come off stage. They would I would just stand there. They would tell me what to do and they would put on the new costume and I would go back out with my clipboard and do the next scene. And it was a whirlwind. She had a solo number two where she would belt and like do like high kicks and like dance by herself on stage. Just her. She also there were a lot of tracks in that show where the characters played multiple parts. Maybe similar to something like come from away. Like it was a very ensemble driven show. So I played another character as part of this girl's track where I was doing like an interpretive dance number. So not only was I belting and singing but doing the dance was the easiest part for me and people came off and they were like I can't believe that you made it through the dance and I was like the dance actually. I wasn't worried about that. It was the song and all the lines and the rest of that I was scary. But I made it to the end of show and like I don't actually remember doing that first performance. I ended up doing two more the next day and like finally got to settle in and then Jen was finally better and came back on the Sunday and I never had to do it again. But I'm so grateful for it because I got to make my onstage off Broadway debut and after that first whirlwind performance this production happened at the York Theater which is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I live on the West Side up in Washington Heights. So my commute home every night was I would walk across the park. After walk across the park I just liked walking across the park to unwind. It was safe I promise. I would walk across the park and after I debuted I'm walking across the park. It was a really cold winter night. One of those clear skies with the moon. I think it was like a full moon or the day after a full moon or something. Sky full of stars and I look up and I saw a shooting star. I can't make this up for the first time in my life. I've never seen one since. And I was like I guess this was all meant to happen. I think I'm on the right path and then I went home and had the best sleep of my life. Whoever does multiple tracks, they're incredible people. Like I don't know. I will never in a million years do that. I can barely remember my one thing. I didn't have to do my other two tracks and I was more ready to do those and I would have been curious to see how those felt compared with the world wouldn't have having like 24 hours to prepare but so much respect to everyone who covers multiple tracks who covers any tracks who has like one track and covers another any track. Any track that you don't get to do on stage night after night is amazing because it's crazy. You learn all this stuff and you may never need it. You may never go on stage and do it but it's there and it's crazy. It's but it's insurance. Yeah, it is insurance. They take out insurance and I love the fact that audience have no idea the panic and insanity that is going on backstage because all they see is the beauty that is on there and backstage it's chaos. That is so true. We didn't know that you were an understudy until we saw your name in the program. I never would have known. I was like how could you not know? Did you not see the fear in my eyes? That feral look. I know. They're right. They don't even know. It's amazing. Magic theater. Yeah. And that's and then no offense to film and TV. That's what I love about theater. It is just do it now. It screws up. It screws up and that's the magic of it. The rest of the cast. There was a couple moments that night or one of those three performances where they would just please and we just kept rolling and the audience saw that but yeah that wouldn't happen in TV film. Let's do it again. Yeah. Yeah. It's exhilarating. Yeah. Oh, I know. And that's why I just I'd rather do theater because if maybe I'm as massacred as I want something to go wrong so I can figure it out. Yeah, it keeps their fun and fresh and alive. And I think the audience can feel when it's alive. Yeah. Truly alive. For sure. They can feel something is special. Yeah, they're probably could feel an energy from you that night that like because you are just probably just shaking. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. I really love everything. So I love talking a little bit more about the process of the putting together a new show because like you said, you know, you get new notes or change of lyrics or change of dialogue. And that must be frustrating but exciting all at the same time. What was it like for you to that experience of doing something new because it was the first time, right? It's a world premiere. Yeah, it was the world premiere. I think they'd done a couple workshops before but I wasn't part of those. I guess it was interesting to see. Oh, this part of the story was not working before. Like it helped me zoom out and see we are all cogs in the wheel of this story. It's not about one person or another person but making sure the story is at the forefront. So when they would change things, I would see, oh, it's because this wasn't working. And now this new or different line clarifies the story. And interestingly enough, the play that I'm doing right now, I just received an updated version of this script too. And the same thing is happening. I'm going through it and I'm going, oh, yeah, that actually clarifies the timeline of events here or this strengthens a relationship that was a little bit murky before. So I guess it makes me just, yeah, story, story, everything is story. It's so different. Yeah, you come in with something established like the importance of being an artist or midslide. or something, it's not changing. You know exactly what it gonna happen. And then for you, when you're working on something new, you're like, oh, okay, let's figure this out. And you're putting your own spin on sometimes the first time, right? This is yours now, like. - Yeah, I remember the stage manager saying to me when I went on, she said this is yours now, which was lovely and really freeing because all I wanted to do was satisfy what Jennifer Burns insane track, what she had created but to receive that freedom from the stage manager allowed me to be like, oh, if something comes out differently, that's great, this is an original piece. The writers were in the house too. And maybe they, I think they said afterwards, we got to see a new version of the story. I think they were happy. I don't know, just to see new things. - Yeah, I directed a show on my, I met a minor theater company up at York University here in Toronto. And we did a world premiere of a new musical. I saw them, I met them at NYU. I loved their show, I brought there. They got to see it for the first time on its feet. And for everybody involved, it was just so exciting to see the first time and the changes and the mistakes that need to be fixed. And the students, my God, they were so happy and excited because they were the first ones on stage to ever embody these characters. And no matter where it goes from the future on, they were the first ones. I know there were workshops, but this is the first production. And it's such, it's so exhilarating. It means the director going, no one's going to do it like this ever again. - Yeah. - That's good, maybe that's bad. That doesn't matter. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's, do you know something new is exciting and scary and crazy. And yeah, wonderful at the same time. - It really is, I agree. - Yeah, I'm really, really grateful to have been part of that process. That was the biggest world premiere show I have ever done. I've like, workshops some other pieces but have never gotten to see them through their big full scale production. - That's awesome. - Yeah, there is still time. There is definitely still time. Speaking of still time, anything in the pipeline that you can talk about, anything that you want to. Yeah. - So I mentioned, I'm in Miami now, just finished day two rehearsals for a one-person play called Weather Girl. It is by Brian Watkins. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I think at 2024. So right before I went into rehearsals, we're welcome to the Big Dipper. Then it played, I think, on the West End and then played off Broadway at St. Anne's Warehouse. And we're one of the first productions to happen since. And it's terrifying and huge challenge. Like, I'm the show. I am responsible for the whole story. So I think I have a lot of learning in front of me but the script is amazing. It's funny, it's dark, it's glamorous, it's raw. And it goes somewhere really unexpected. Like a journey from start to finish is so big. Like, divinely big. So it feels like an enormous gift and an enormous responsibility. It's playing at the Gable Stage Theater in Coral Gables from I think September 25th to October 18th. And I can't wait. The team is amazing. We did our first read through on Tuesday. And there were like 25 other people in the room, which blew my mind because, yes, there's one person on stage, but there is a whole village of people supporting and building the piece behind the scenes. It really takes a village to do any and every piece of theater. It's so true. And again, the audience sees you on stage but they don't realize that, yes, the web of people behind the scenes that don't get the accolades that they deserve. And it's unfortunate, but I think the people backstage don't mind it. They're not the ones looking for it. You might be right. Yeah, it's a different kind of fulfillment, maybe. I don't need to go. You never see the assistant stage manager going stage-doring and signing their name, which they should. Damn it, they should. They should. Yes. Yes, some of the kind of smartest people I've ever met are stage managers and assistant stage managers. Their job is massive. Exactly. But nobody's out there with their brochure going, sign my name. They should be. You should start this. I know. I would love that to happen. Me too. It's not. But I think they'd be like, no, no, no, no. They're going to back away and hide from that. Yeah. Awesome. Well, congratulations on the show down in Florida. That's awesome for you. Thank you so much. Maybe this is the most important question of the interview. How do people learn more about you? Website, socials, tickets for this show, all that fun stuff. How do they have to get a hold of you and follow along with your career? Thank you for asking that. My website is Ella Olsen.com, E-L-L-A-O-L-E-S-E-N.com. And my Instagram is Ella.Alson spelled the same. Tickets for Weather Girl, I think, are on the Gable Stage Theater Company website. It's really awesome. Well, congratulations on everything. Actually, before we go, this was a question. What from the West Coast? What from Canada would you want to bring to New York? What is missing? Is it a food? Is it an atmosphere? Is it a weather? Is it-- what would you love if you could bring something to New York City and go, New York City? This is what you're missing here. NiniMo has a dessert named after it. It's called the NiniMo Bar. You and I know this. I didn't want to get any of the notes. Yes, yes. I would also bring the nature. Nature is something that I really miss being in New York. New York has amazing nature. I just find I have to consciously seek it out. In New York versus, I can step out into my backyard in NiniMo and touch grass, climb a tree, swim in the ocean, walk in the woods. And in New York, I have to-- OK, this is a day trip. We're going to do this, or I'm taking the subway, and I'm going to go to Central Park. It's a different experience. Yes, exactly. It's all great, but I do miss. I'm biased, of course, because I grew up. And I miss the Pacific Northwest vibes at a NiniMo Bar's nature. OK, well, you need to bring some NiniMo bars to the people in New York and get the-- You're right. They need to experience those. Yeah, they do. Congratulations, Ella, on everything. And I look forward to seeing where you go in the future. And if you get another musical that you want to promote, come back on. Let me know and follow along and let the world know what is happening with Ella. I absolutely will. Thank you so much, Sean Paul. No problem. All right, so yeah, we were just speaking about Ella, about New York City, new musicals, just the life of a person in the theater and the craziness that you have to go through with all the tracks and the learning and still learning and going back to classism and everything like that. So again, thanks, Ella. And it has been a great time just talking to somebody about their life and what they've been doing. Thank you so much. Right back, that's you. So that's it for this week. Tune in next time as we speak with another guest or guest about their life, love, and passion. That is musical theater. I am your host as always. Sean Paul, you open off. And until next time, I'll see you when I see you.