Hello world. I'm June. What do you want somebody?
Welcome to WFHR's Director's Cut for this June 9th, 2024 session 46. Your host and
program director here, James, with my partner and art, our head of production, Seth Habagger,
Seth, the Mike Seraal, let's roll. I have a said good morning. What show are we doing now,
I agree? We do a lot of shows. We do a lot of shows. We ask the best listeners and radio to
welcome to the WFHR stage. From stage to soaps, the Academy Awards to deep space, our next guest,
Joel Goodness Joel. They're so good to have you with us again. Hello world. What
said baby June says from Gypsy? Hello, girl. We missed you, man. It's good to have you. Joel is
here with us in our second of our actor series where we kind of a part two of this, if you will.
We're going to talk with Joel about a couple of things. It's working with Nicholas Cage and
the commercial you did. You're dancing at the Academy Awards, but I want to kick things off
because selfishly, I have not gotten to talk to you or see you in a while. How are you? How have
you been, sir? I have been great. The world win in the past was it two years? Has it been?
Not quite. Not quite two years. Almost. Yeah, just about. Yeah. Well, I bought a house in
Appleton. Nice. I helped a family member who was in separation. They needed to get out of the
house. And then I was staying with my sister who was renting a home in Appleton for four days.
And then three days back here. And I just said, you know what? This is a ridiculous gas
back and forth. We decided to buy the house. So we have the house there. House in Rapids.
And I come back here. It's my little getaway from all the craziness from from my sister.
Love you. Love you. Hey, too. No. So it's it's been nice to have that. My father just turned 98. Wow.
He moved over to Appleton in December. Oh, wow. We were dealing with some esophagus cancer
and had radiation for him. And then remodel the house, got, you know, toilets replaced. All that
good stuff that happens. And then walk and shower put in. And then he came over. And it has been
a pleasure to have him there nonstop. Very good. He got better and took off for Florida for a month
and was down there visiting family down there and came back. And now we're just
plugging through for the summer, getting plans for the deck putting on in the backyard
in Appleton. And life is good. So good. Yeah. And the best news here. And then about your death.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Fantastic. It's incredible. 98. That's awesome. That's awesome.
I was surprised. I made it to 35. I got stories. We do have to talk about Joseph first. Joseph
and the amazing technical dream code is being premiering the 19th of this month, June 19th.
I'll have a show on the 20th, 21st and 22nd. This is happening in the Stevens Point area.
Joel, I thought first this is one of the more popular shows. It is of the Andrew Lloyd Webber did.
Yes. And Tim Rice actually. Is this a show that you have done before? Is it one that you
have wanted to do? It is actually a show that I've never done. And it is something that I always
wanted to do. I had a auditioned actually for the the first national touring company that was
sitting in Chicago back in the 80s. And I was probably 18 or 19 just so green. And I went there
to audition. And I got called back. And then I never heard from them again. And it was one of
those things where I went, okay, you're good, but you're not good enough. And so I just took that
and went on. And I'd never done it. So now this is exciting because it is a great group of people,
the playhouse theater group. They are a group of young talented people that get together,
great director and Tori Fletcher-Schultz. I want to make sure I get her name correct.
That's right. It's good by Tori. And she is incredible. She has this group of kids and it's like
they have this training ground and they bring them in and very young and they build it up and
build it up, build it up. Now we have got college guys and gals that are truly a force to be
reckoned with talent. They don't do this normally. This is just get together for fun. And these
male dancers, which I'm really impressed because I started at 18 and then went from there.
These guys have been doing this since they were 14, 13, you know, on. And they're so quick,
it's so good. I picked things up and I went to rehearsal last night and they were amazing to watch
the whole group and especially the guys because most guys, you know, they don't start until
later on. And the girls have started very, very young. And it was really nice to see that this whole
group has been nurturing each other and it's a free judge, judge free area in group and it's so
nice to have that. And especially for Pride Month speaking up. So Joseph the Amazing Technicolor
Dream Coat, it's all about acceptance and love. And that's what this group is all about,
which is really nice. I mean, and there's a rainbow and I mean, yes, exactly. You got all the colors
of the world. But I'm so glad you touched on that. I couldn't think of a better time to be
performing this and have a show go in the gay Pride Month. Yes. And that's what it's all about,
acceptance and that's all I can say on that. And there's so much to about theater that I think
has always been a home for that for so many of us outsiders, for so many of us that feel that we
don't fit in anywhere. And I would put a plug in for Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater because
they have a great trading program now with the Children's Theater led by Stephanie and she's
doing a great job. She's doing a great job and has been doing it from from the start and she,
I believe she started that. And now the Executive Director of the theater group also is very good
at getting the younger people involved. And we have a great lineup for shows this next season,
which I'm really impressed. So Ye Kudos Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater. I can't wait to come back
and hopefully you'll have me back. So we'll see. The only thing I ask is that you don't know
audition for Mortimer and Arsenic because I don't know if I can beat you and I need that role. I need
that. We're looking forward to another great season. I've already lost it. We're looking forward
to that and looking forward to this show, man. Who are you going to be playing in, Joseph? I am playing
the Pharaoh. Who is the reason that Joseph gets to where he is because Pharaoh has these dreams
and it's AKA Elvis impersonator. I guess you could say he has a little Elvis flair to him and so
come on out. See me in a skirt. They call it tunic. Some people me like it. Some people.
I can't imagine how many roles you've done if you look at every single part you've ever played
from small to big or anything. But I know your approach is going to change with every one of these.
How has your been approached with this character? Well, I've been watching a lot of Elvis and
I'll be doing the Vegas or the Blue Hawaii Elvis. He's gained a few pounds because I'm definitely
not the younger Elvis anymore. The moves are a little bit more sublime. They're not so
hips-way in as much as the younger one was. But we do what we can. I won't have a walker with me,
but I will be definitely the older Elvis. When it comes to this show, to me, this has always been one
of those shows that it doesn't matter who you are. You're going to be able to take in this show
and enjoy it. Is there something to you that spoke to you about wanting to audition for it? You
certainly mentioned earlier and then the kind of tie in there and almost a full circle moment for
you with it. But at this age where being real, you don't have to work, but you want to work.
I love you. Is there something in particular that made you want to be a part of this show?
It's the passion, first of all. I love creating these characters. Secondly, when you're with a younger
group of people, you have this energy that keeps me younger, at least in mind. That's what's nice.
I'm not able to keep up with the dance that some of them can do, but at least the energy is there.
And I feel like a kid again, and that's the beauty of it, is that I find joy in seeing other
kids find this their sense of themselves and flower. It's incredible to see how just the simple
choreography brings out these shy children or young adults and they find their the imagination
of the flowers. And it's incredible to see that and especially with today's world with the
technology that's going on with phones and everything. The imagination is lost because everything
is on that phone. And I think we're talking a little bit earlier about the drive and what happens
with the passion. And I think a lot of that is lost nowadays because of everyone's on their phones.
They don't have that imagination. Everything is on the phone. So to have them get out of their comfort
zone and really have that imagination. Flourish is really incredible to see them watch.
I want to piggyback on that a little bit later and get into more of that with you.
With this show in particular, is there is there something that you that stands out that you're
looking forward to doing more than anything else in the show? Well, because I only come on for that
one number. I will be watching everybody else from the sidelines and enjoying their performances.
We have Mayor Mike Weezah. Steven's point mayor is actually playing Jacob in the show.
He's got a big role. So it has been fun. I saw him for the first time last night where
the rehearsals. And we have a lot of adults playing different roles, which is very fun to have this
balance of kids, high school, college kids, and then adults all playing different roles. And
that's what I love about it. So you have the children's choir. You have the teenagers,
college kids, and then the adults. And the adults too, they want to come out and have fun and play.
I mean, they haven't done it. We have, you know, our jobs that we go and we work nine to five,
so we come home. We have the wife, kids, family, all that good stuff. And we don't have that fun time
to explore and enjoy and create. And that's kind of what this is all about. So great group,
great fun to be with CWACT as well as Playhouse Theatre Group. And Wisconsin Rapids Community
Theatre, this whole area is booming with great creativity. And that's what I love about
Center Wisconsin. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you on this. It's something that we as much as I think I
have a handle on that. We sat and I a little while ago, we didn't interview with the Walsaw Community
Theatre. No, their coal porter production, anything goes. And I had a couple of the cast members on.
I have not met before and incredibly talented. Yes, incredible. You have Sarah? Yes. I think
Sarah was one. Oh, I remember. Yeah, Sarah was when we did CWACT Crazy Few, which was my show.
I did 30 years ago. We did that. And I played Zangler. And Sarah was Polly Baker. And she was
phenomenal, talented, talented, and just a sweetheart and could dance, could sing, and a very beautiful
person. Love her dearly. There's just so much talent, so much, so many great shows, so many
good things to take in in this area. I'm encouraging you to take this one and everybody. Joseph
and the amazing technical and dream co premiere in July 19th got shows going on to the 22nd,
7 p.m. start time nightly. And this all takes place at the splash theater and Stephens Point.
If people want to get tickets, I have Stephens Point area dot com that I can send them to, Joel.
Do you have a playhouse presents dot com as well? Okay, yeah, thank you guys there. Yes, it's
going to be a fun show, bring your kids family, grandparents, everybody. We are going to be doing
our best to talk about it on our morning show. So make sure you guys got a great crowd coming up
for it. And we also want to make sure to people keep in mind, too, as we're talking about this.
One of the things the purpose of this conversation is to encourage many, many more people to be a
part of community theater. Exactly. Wherever you're listening to us, there's probably a community
theater. And there may be don't feel comfortable on stage. There's stuff to do behind the scenes.
There's always other jobs that you can volunteer to be a part of.
There's a great line from Greece. If you can't be an athlete, then you can be an athletic
supporter. That's a great one. That's a good one. That's so good. We're speaking with Joel
goodness right now in part of our actor series here at Directors Cut. We're going to take a
quick break. We'll come back with Joel and we're going to talk a little Nick Cage dancing
at the academies. And I want to talk a little bit about actually, I'm going to mention Pat
Sejak for a reason. I'm going to tie into that. We'll get there. We'll get there. Coming up on WFHR's
Directors Cut. Welcome back to WFHR's Directors Cut. Seth and James here with you and we're
talking with our great friend Joel goodness. We just got done talking about Joseph and the
Technicolor Dream Coat. We'll mention that again before we wrap up and how you can get tickets
and take in the show. But we want to kind of go back to episode one with Joel here where we never
really got a chance to kind of get follow ups on a couple things. One of them, you did a commercial
with Nicholas Cage and I've been on the air and I mentioned a number of times. He's one of the actors
I've studied a little bit not so much for his craft. I think he's a very solid actor. But I think
Nicholas, saying he's solid actor is under selling him. He's going to be a whore. He's a Coppola.
But this the thing I was like to mention about him that he got his break off not off his name
necessarily and how impressed I think that is when I hear of that happening.
That Nicholas Cage is also one of the examples I use for my actors where you can be a great actor
but you got to have a good director. If you notice in his movies when he kind of goes crazy
Nick Cage goes at a 15 or whatever. He's usually working with a director that is not that solidified
or really has a great relationship with him. But if you put him with a good director and you put
him with somebody that you got a good relationship with, that's where you get Nicholas Cage.
That's where you get that leaving Las Vegas Nick Cage and stuff. What was it like working with him?
How did this happen? Well, I had a friend who I had met through dance in Chicago at Gus Jardinels.
Jimmy Locus is his name. He's still working great. He's dancing all over the place choreographing.
He was one of the dancers in coming to America which was a great great funny funny movie.
And those guys played the different characters. But Jimmy was this little man that could dance like
crazy. He had this incredible leap or jump which he got really high up in the air for being a
smaller build. He could fly and it was incredible watching him and he was with the company and
later on in life I went out to Los Angeles after New York and I had seen him in New York. He'd come
out and was trying to dance in New York but he had danced with Paul Abdul. He had danced with Michael
Jackson, Janet Jackson in one of his many of Janet Jackson's videos. So very well known dancer
for his time and he started choreographing and I had gone to auditions or for this and we saw
each other and that's kind of how it came up. He said you don't have to come to call backs.
You're in and I went okay. It was nice. Oh yes. Yeah. And so it was great. We were out in the desert.
And 110. It was crazy. We had these tents set up and we learned the choreography in the studio
in Los Angeles and then we went out to the desert to shoot for three days. We stayed at hotels.
But during the day we were literally out in the desert doing this dance and the
funny thing was we were in these hot, hot, hot, silver uniforms with silver helmets that we
could not see out of. And then we had to keep our our blocking and our staging and some people had
heat exhaustion and they were dropping like flies basically. And so we had the air condition tent
that we would walk into in between breaks and cool down and then we got back out again and then
we filmed certain things. But Nicholas came in and it was kind of funny because he was in this trailer.
As he should be. And it was for this Japanese video game. I want to say I forget now what is
named but you can google it and you can see and we are all these silver aliens dancing next to him
and he comes out and just does this one little line and that was it. But he was very very friendly,
very nice. And again we had to do certain takes and then other things were just group shots.
And so that was that was my little claim of fame with a dancing with Nicholas Cage. That's awesome.
That's awesome. I have a commercial. I have. Yes. We touched on this a little bit the first time.
I was doing in Florida. I did a lot of beer commercials for some reason because the rights
to work states for commercials. You didn't have to be in unions. And because of that a lot of
commercials were shot there because the cost was lower for production. Correct. So polar beer I've
done probably two or three polar beer commercials. I was the leading man getting out of the Lamborghini
and with my black tuxedo on and getting the girl and red out of the car and we'd go into this night
club and it was all about my polar beer. And then in Los Angeles of all places I was cast
for a Milwaukee best commercial. So here we are in Los Angeles and the boost. And then you can
see that commercial were coming out of the crazy. The beast didn't refrigerators opening and we
have to have that beer. I was a head model for what was it for? Heineken, European market. I did a
lot of Latin commercial markets. Polar beer, LeBots beer out of Canada and trying to think
else but a lot of beer commercials. And then for some reason I've got that beer face.
Your face makes me think it makes me want to drink beer. You make me want to drink Joe.
Yes, you make me want to drink. Well my family will say that too.
But I did a centurion Roman centurion for centrum vitamins. I did a lot of videos in New York for
when the step aerobics first came out. I was a demonstrator for the beginners intermediate and
advanced. Yes, that was quite exciting. And a lot of videos, music videos for bands that were
coming up. Of course MTV was big back then. And yeah, that was my time. When I was a kid, first
like seven, eight years old, studying acting, looking at acting and everything. I'm thinking okay,
there's theater acting and there's acting on camera. As you get older and you start to see more
and more mediums and more and more things, you start to see oh well there's commercial work.
Yes, there's theater. There's these different things. Do you find yourself preparing differently
for a commercial that's like 30 seconds to a minute compared to a play that you're playing
a deeper character? Oh yes, yeah. For a commercial, there's end for film. There's less movement.
You're not being big like you would be on stage. You want to remember your lines of course.
They have a card off the side, but it's all about the intent of promoting that product that
they're advertising for. And the more you can, and it depends on what you're doing. If you're
doing a spokesperson, where you're speaking about a product, or if you're just a member in the commercial,
like I did, I did a GI associate's commercial here in Hwasa Green Bay area where I've done several
commercials for them. And Fleet Farm, of course, did a few of those. It was an auto mechanic. I was a
home repair guy. Different things I've done for Fleet Farm Hunter. So I appreciate you
can replace the bills. Yeah, and that's what it's all about. You find anything and everything
to be in the business. You do commercial work. You sing and dance, you act. If you can do a film
or a movie in between, you know, you get those figured in. You're always auditioning for your
next part or for your next paycheck, so to speak. And in New York, I would go to three or four
auditions a day and then go to my bread and butter job at night, which was catering. And that was
either at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Opera House or A.V. Fisher Hall. All those
different venues that I was working for catering companies we'd go in and cater at night.
And then the next day I'd get up, look at the backstage or call my agents or whatever.
And I'd have all these other auditions going on, plan for that and then take off. So Lusted,
Los Angeles was pretty much a feast or famine. You were either doing a lot of things at once
or you were fired between. And then you're trying to do other things to do that. And then sometimes
your work got so involved that you didn't have time to go do the things that you wanted to do,
which was acting or doing all those things. So it was a great, great time. Yeah.
And but Los Angeles, I had some great times. I guess that's all I can say on that.
I have to admit to the audience, I was teeing you up a little bit. I know your career. I've
started it pretty good. So but I do bring it up for a point because the difference of being a
struggling artist or struggling actor and a surviving actor. I think there's a big difference.
And one of the things that I love to these conversations to be able to do is give young creatives
out there, young actors, musicians, whatever you're doing, that insight that only experienced
people can give. When I was 13, there was not that there was no way in the world I wasn't going
to get my big break doing Shakespeare in the park or something like that. I'm never going to play
any stereotypical characters or anything like that. By the time I was 18, I'm like, I'll play
Vinny, the pizza guy. I'll do whatever. Exactly. Just get me my foot in the door. And from there,
I can go and I can maybe get a little picky if I wanted at some point. But the majority of actors
were working to work. We're working for that next gig. Any time to note that I think is always
really helpful, especially from somebody who has a established career. Well, you want to be
as versatile as possible. You want to be able to create those characters. And if they need Vinny,
the pizza guy, you do that. If they need a meat butcher or a real estate agent or a priest
and a nun or whatever the case is, you're playing those parts. And you want to be believable in all that.
And that's what acting is all about. However, you can't just be an actor. You can't just be a dancer.
You can't just be a singer at first. If you want to work, I mean, there are some incredible
talents and shows and platforms where people right now can get out and perform as we've got talent.
The star shows all those different places where you can showcase your talent. We didn't have
that back then. So we had to go out and audition every day. And hopefully we were seen by an agent
or a talent scout of some sort or somebody was doing a show. And that's kind of how L.A. happened
for me. I was literally bartending at Atlas Supper Club, which was an incredible place
at the Wiltson Theatre Complex, beautiful 1940s art deco building. And it's still there. And this
was a supper club, Atlas Supper Club, Martini Bar and Dining. And it was an incredible place
because all the venues that, all the music venues that performed at the Wiltson Theatre Complex,
Dave Matthews Band, all these other groups that would come in and play, we got to see them because
during that time we could walk over and see because it was dead at the bar or they would come over
after the show and have dinner. And we got to meet a lot of those people. So it was really a great
way to be in the business, but that still pay the bills with bartending. It was the bar manager.
And so I met a lot of people. One of the things that we were talking about earlier is how
that happened was I was bartending one night. And these two ladies were at the bar and I was making
drinks for them. And there was a show, a little review that was going on. And we were talking. And I was
saying, you know, what this is all about. And she says, well, I'm the husband of the music director.
And the other one said, well, I'm the wife of the music director. And I'm the wife of the
choreographer, whatever the case was. And so I went, okay, great. Well, I was on Broadway. I did
this show and I was doing that. Now I'm here in LA and they were asking me questions. And she says,
you know, we want to meet my husband. And I went, well, that would be great. And so she did. She
introduced me to both men. One was the music director for the Jeff Fox where they show. And he says,
hey, we're actually looking for some singers. And we're doing this episode where Jeff Foxworthy,
the anniversary show, taking his wife out to the anniversary dinner and they get in a fight. And he
takes his buddy Bill and they go and we are the waiters who sing happy anniversary. So I had to go
in audition for that. They booked me then. And I was doing that with Hinton Battle. Hinton battle just
passed away recently about maybe two months ago. But he was a Tony Award winner for Tap Dance Kid.
He was a Tony Award winner for Miss Saigon. And also for Dreamgirls. And Maurice and Gregory both.
And so they and Maurice just passed away as well. And Maurice was another choreographer that I worked
with for when I was supposed to go to Michael Jackson tour. And I wasn't able to do that. So that's
another story. Yeah. So getting back to that, the other, the other, the other man that was meeting
was the choreographer, Otis Salade, who choreographed the Academy Awards. And he said, okay, come on in.
You don't have to go to the preliminary auditions. Just come on into callbacks. And I went into callbacks.
I danced. And I got the job. And that was an incredible job. So it's not only do you have to have
talent, but you also have to be your own manager. You have to make those connections. And when you are
in those areas, you can't be a snob. You can't be a rude. You have to be very outgoing and conversational.
Because these are those things that people want. They want to work with somebody that's not only
talented, but also a nice person so that they make their enjoyable, their experience enjoyable as
well. And that's what it's all about. It's it's a group of people that come together that are
creating art that are having fun and are still respecting each other's boundaries. And that's what's
what's nice about it. Yeah. Speaking with Joel Goodness, a part of our actor series. And Joel,
you mentioned dancing at the Academy's. I want to touch on that. How did that happen? How great
was that experience? It was incredible. It really was. Here I am, this kid from Wisconsin,
Rapids, Wisconsin. Dancing on the Academy Awards and meeting Billy Crystal, Kevin Spacey,
all these famous people that you always see on TV and movies, you know, big screen. And here they
are right in front of you. And that's what was exciting about that. We, I was hired to do this show.
And it was the musical movie that thing that you do with Tom Hanks. Oh, yeah. Okay. So there's
a song that thing that you do that was recorded by I want to say, I forget the band group and I
should know that, but I don't offhand. You guys can Google that. Yeah. All right. But it was
a nominated song for the Academy Awards. And so each nominated song was presenting that
here, their number. And they would do a dance montage. And so we rehearsed for, I want to say,
six weeks to two months at the studios on the Paramount Studios. And we would go in and dance
each day, rehearse, change things out, do all that, and just got it really clean and fine-tuned
for that night. And then we would go to the rehearsals the day before, a couple days before maybe,
and rehearse. And this was at the old place where they had the Academy Awards. And I forget now,
which, which I know what you mean, but I can't remember at the top. I can't even search it.
Another search for you. I believe it was 1997 maybe. That sounds about right. Yeah, the Academy Awards.
And so here I was. Two tickets. If I wanted to go, tickets for the nosebleed seats. But we were
backstage tour. Backstage passes to get back there. And we had our dressing rooms. And we'd come out
and do our number. And then we'd take off. And we'd go see the rest of the show if we wanted to.
So we were invited to Academy parties, different things. And it was fun to see those. And experience
those. And then, yeah, it's been great. It was some like that. I mean, there's doing Broadway,
there's doing live work and some of these things. But in a awards show, a little
alone, you can make the argument the biggest award show there is. How often did you get to rehearse?
How often did you get to really even talk with other actors or anything? Or is it just kind of show
up and do it? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, we had, as I said earlier, we had the rehearsal for six weeks,
six, eight weeks at the studios, Paramount Studios. And then we did that. But we were in,
we were in our studio rehearsing our number with other actors and dancers, I should say.
And then we would have lunch. We'd go to the commissary. And of course, then you'd see a lot of
actors there. A lot of personalities that were at the commissary or walking past or whatever the
case was. And then that night of the show, we would get in, get ready to do our number. And then
they had to get those dressing rooms cleared out from the next group. So we pretty much went in
there and had our costumes, yeah, get our number and then got out. And that's why they gave us
two tickets. So we wanted to go see the show. We could do that. And, and so I think after that,
I think I was just the high, the high of performing on the Academy Awards and the excitement and,
and trying to get out away from all that because there were tons of cars and traffic. We just
wanted to get home and enjoy the rest of the night. But we went to a few parties. We went back
and got cleaned up. And then we went to a few Academy parties. And just a lot. Oh, there is
tons of parties in LA. Yeah. And I maintain the reason they still do award shows is because of
the parties. They work hard. They want to celebrate. Yeah. That's that's what it's about because you
are literally working, you know, 10 to 12, 15 hours a day. Some of these guys that are doing these
movies and, and they want to relax and enjoy their revel in their laurels. So I guess. Yeah,
you know, I've always thought of award shows. It's great for anybody who's enjoys an award show.
But to me, the ratings or any of that stuff, it's here. They're creatives enjoy this stuff.
And many, much to the point of what you're saying there, whether we can, even if you don't work
in the industry, you can appreciate the work that goes into it. And to me, especially the
sack awards for me is my favorite award show. That one is one where you really get to see people.
Yeah, I let their hair down, but they seem calm. They seem to relax a little bit more. They're
able to actually be in the moment and enjoy things because it's amongst our peers. And that's what
sack awards is. It's it's voted by the peers, their actors, fellow actors that vote for them.
It's not ticket sales or it's not box office. Or the majority of public is their fellow peers
that are voting for them. And that becomes a little bit more relaxed, I guess. The wonders,
the wonders. I remember thinking about this because I believe it was the late Adam Slesinger
who wrote the song, who is with the band found to win. And later later had a hit with Stacey's mom
and a couple other things. So I believe he was also involved in a lot of TV and and movie music as
well. So but sadly passed away during COVID, if I remember correctly. So yeah. And that was known
as the one hit wonders because they had that one song. Yeah, that's right. And that's what even
in the movie, Tom Hanks, that's what it was all about. It was that year from the 1960s group that
was on their way up with the one big song. And how the beat of the bands and the different
conflicts that arise, the personality of dynamics. Thank you. Happened and how one falls in love.
And the other ones, you know, it doesn't. And it's just crazy. And the band falls apart and they
have this big hit. And that's kind of the story of Tom Hanks's first director film. That's right.
Good. That is right. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's fun little movie. It's good. It's great actor and
there. And that have gone on to do great things. Yeah. There's two that I remember that I just
can't remember the name. That's what I think is going on to do. He's a good stuff too. He's all right.
Okay. He's done. He's done Hanks. Tom Hanks. Tom is Hank. So we're talking with our favorite
actor Joel goodness right now. We'll be back with more fun here on Directors Cut.
Welcome back to WFHR's Directors Cut. Seth and James here with one of our favorite people,
Joel goodness and our actor series. And one of the things that has come up recently for me as
a teacher and I last year teaching really, I've come across a handful of actors that haven't
necessarily had the hunger that I would like to see. And that's a personal thing. And I try
to put the project that on them. But even some of my fellow teachers and actually had a student's
parents come in and talked to us about it and seeing if they're seeing the same thing we are.
And I this morning I came across the news of Pat St. Jack has his when we're airing recording
this Pat St. Jack's has his last wheel of fortune appearance coming up. And a lot of people are
curious what's Pat going to do next and right away community theater. He's doing community theater.
He's in a show and he's actually in a show right now. He's rehearsing.
Where he lives in Hawaii. He works at that community theater a lot. He's done the odd couple
there. He's done a couple of other shows over the years. And now he can actually just really do
the fun and enjoy it. The hunger is still there for him. Pat St. Jack does not have to work.
Pat St. Jack doesn't have to do this. But he wants to. He has a desire to a hunger too.
How you keep that hunger alive is always been a question that I've gotten from people,
especially from younger people. And for me, I don't think about it. It's just there. It's eternal.
And when I say that to the students oftentimes, there's almost a look at disappointment on their
face. Like, oh, I should have that. And if they don't. And the idea of handling like everybody handles
this approaches this craft differently. I'm curious for you to me. You got, I'm sure you're still
just as hungry. You've got such a solid career, man. It's such an amazing career. And yet,
here you are doing Joseph. Here you are still doing community theater. I'm practically breaking
your neck, driving back and forth to be able to do this and everything. And you were not paid
millions of dollars to do this. You were not necessarily doing this for the awards or something
like that. You're doing it because it's free. I don't get paid. No, I do it. And I guess getting
back to that is the hunger. I think people are afraid about the W-O-R-K word work. It takes
work. And nowadays, I think society, unfortunately, is instant gratification with their phones.
They want something, boom, boom, boom, on their phone. And so I think I don't want to make that as
an excuse or what's going on. But this is the way the world is going these days. And we either
embrace it or we don't. But it is the new way. And I find that we have to accept that. But at the
same time, my father always said, if you love something, it's not going to be work. It's going to
be something that you love to do. So find something that you love to do and you'll never have to
work a day in your life. And if you love doing theater, if you love doing radio, whatever your
area it is, you find a way to make money from it. And because we do have to pay the bills. And
at this time, you know, I'm still selling furniture and W-G-R-Furniture and Apples in Wisconsin.
Come on down. You need new beds or whatever. Come see me. And so you have to pay the bills. But at
the same time, you want to nurture your creativity and you want to find outlets to do that. And that's
what's beautiful about community theater is that you can you can do all these great roles. You don't
have to be a world renowned actor. You can be a car cleaner. You can be a car salesman. You can be
whatever you want to be. And then come in to the community theater. And that's what's great about
theater is that you can create these different characters. You can be whoever you want to be.
And that's the beauty of acting. And so that's what I love about community theater is because there's
no, you know, there's no, there's no one looking at you going, well, you know, you're not really
Broadway material. You're not Academy Award material. Well, this is all about having fun and
enjoying and creating. And that's what life is all about. It's a journey. And if we're not having
fun, then we're doing something wrong because that's what it's all about. New experiences, new people
experiences and finding what's going on in our lives. And I guess stretching those possibilities
in our life because so many people just go from nine at five job and they don't do anything else.
Some will be a basket weaver and some will have gardening going on and some will do this or that.
And those are those creative outlets. But that's what's great about acting is you can be a different
person each different show. And that's what's kind of great about that. I've mentioned at an annoying
level that it was seven. I wanted to do this. And the audience knows me well enough to know by
now that I'm way too serious. So I was that kid at seven trying to do this and thinking that I
could. And I would say it was it was during the pandemic when we weren't able to do Cabaret.
Correct. That something happened for me where I wasn't able to finish the project. And that's
never happened to me before. And I was stuck. And I kept on finding myself going over lines
for a show that was never going to happen and things. And I realized in that where I've always
been with acting that I just never saw. I it's weird for me to actually have an hard time saying
this out loud. I just as hungry as I've ever been. But if you told me you know future me tells me
hey James you're going to live to this age. And all you're ever going to do is community theater.
I'm good. Yeah. I'm cool. Like that's all right. Yeah. Like I never like seven-year-old me would never
think that. No, you've got to you've got to fight forever. You've got to you've got to get as big
as you can get. You've got to be the best. You have to do these things and stuff. And I had this
approach to it where I and care about fame or money or any of that stuff. What I wanted was
to be able to work with the greats. And you're going to get to that level to be able to do that.
Do you find as you get older the more and more people you work with? Like I do and I think
even Seth has talked about this before. They become so much more not so much about the people
are not the talent that you're working with but working like enjoying to perform. And that's
where the real true love is about this. There are times that I get freaked out because I've
got to have to I have to go do the rehearsal right now. And I was so busy with work that I was
unable to really work on my lines. But again, you're trying to have fun and that's what it's all
about. Yes, we can go for being the I guess the key is to be the best that we can possibly be and do
all that we can do to make that great do your homework and do your research. I think reading
more than anything knowledge is power and when it comes to a character. If you don't know
what happened in in you know during the depression or the crash. How can you do the great
Gatsby or anything like that? So or if you don't know anything about art deco or or these
different eras and times, then you can't do grapes of wrath or you can't do all these other
plays. So the more knowledge is more you can read and find things about that era of that time.
The more about your character do research right now. I'm looking at Elvis videos
and other Joseph videos that Farrell and looking to see how they did the makeup and trying to get
the Elvis character and some of the hand movements. And so that's research and it's fun. It's not
like I have to do this. I'm not getting paid to do this. I'm having fun and that's what's nice is
that I have the luxury now to relax and not feel like I have to be on point because I am getting paid
and if I don't do my job I might get fired or replaced. This is all about me having fun
and experiencing other people having fun and that's what it's great about community.
Well and that's you know as the the non-professional actor in the group here. I do want to speak to
that a little bit because it's really great to hear you guys say that because that's basically what
I go for too when I want it to be in a show or whatever. I want to be with people. I want to
you know it's the fun doing the character or I got to direct this last year and I got to direct
to play too and that was a great experience. You remember I've never done that before?
What play was it? A Glass-Managerie. Oh beautiful. Yeah great things about that was amazing.
It was really good. And that was I mean just being able to do that it's the something I don't want
to be a professional director but getting to be able to do that experience was wow that's great.
It was so much fun and it was great learning experience and and that's what I get out of it. I
am not interested in becoming a professional actor doing for a living but it is a sideline you know
as a thing and the fact that you guys say the same things. Yep. It's really cool that it's like no
it's not just about you know doing it for a living it's like we love this and this is what we want
to do. Yeah something you touched on there Joel that I so serendipitous in a way my daughter
am I able to start a brief sent me a video yesterday not knowing we were doing this interview but
sent me an interview with Alan Rickman where he's talking about so younger actors going to him
and asking him hey I really want to get better I really want to get as good as you what classes should
I take what would school should I go to a then right away Alan Rickman none none of them like
what I encourage young actor or young actors especially when he get into your 20s or something
like that he was saying taking some art taking some theater taking some books get some edgy you know
get some cultural education and everything so that when the role does develop it does is
therefore you have something to excel on you have a personality said you can put to this I'd
never heard advice like that before I've never heard another actor like I think maybe I haven't
I just didn't hear it as well or that voice I think the way I love so much about
Alan was incredible I mean I loved him in and of course the Harry Potter but then he also
played the evil sheriff in Robin it's probably the only love that come on it's all Christmas
it's so good I can watch it every year every year I've heard recently I was into a podcast that
apparently they published his diaries from shows that he did and it's an amazing it's an amazing
collection of his thoughts and feelings about what he's going through and it was I mean it was so
I mean the person who was doing was getting emotional reading some of it because of you know who
doesn't like Alan Rickman you know one of those like it was a thing about Galaxy Quest by the way
and that's I was just going to say Galaxy Quest one of my the favorite movies of all time the
humor behind that he was an actor and he was a consummate actor and and he's playing the stupid
alien from the stupid show and just the humor that comes from that it's almost an underrated movie
it really is it's so good it's going to weave her it is David does see her enough like the whole cast
I know we're digress in here but David mammoth said it's one of four perfect movies yep I believe
that yeah I'm with them on that yeah that's a good one that is yep yep as we're wrapping up I
did you have some jolt that was good say travel travel to the more you travel you get to see
other cultures other people we in America don't travel enough to other countries we we have this
idea that we are better than everybody at times and and we want to the more we can travel and
experience other cultures we're going to see how great we have it here and not to take those
things for granted because those freedoms that we take for granted have a good chance of
slipping away at times and we want to travel and experience other cultures and see what they have
and what they don't have because sometimes they have things that are even better than ours that we
could be better and I will leave it at that we can always be better well like like the days why haven't
we what's what's up with every every everyone I've heard but as one is like it's life-changing
yeah why don't they say there's a Morgan's Tushia I think they have this I keep getting on my emails
all the time it's like it's like anything from this interview yeah we we wrap up uh Joel already
answered our question our big famous we're making for that we're not gonna make it we wrapped up
washed up we do want to promote Joseph in the amazing technical dream coat June 19 through the
22nd 7 p.m. start times at the splash theater and Steven's point uh get your tickets at playhouse
presents dot com playhouse presents dot com support local by local everybody um I didn't want to wrap
up with a quote from mr. Rickman since we were talking about him so much there actors are agents of
change a film a piece of theater a piece of music or a book can make a difference it can change the
world amen amen thank you Joel we appreciate you thank you guys very much for having me again
and maybe we do channel three um episode three episode three sorry you'll be able to find
that channel three you'll start something else up there too you might be on some there but
yes we are going to have you back there will be a part three uh thank you we'll be back with
another directors cut next week here at WFHR