Jonathan Groff

0:00Tonight's meal, tilapia surprise with boiled cabbage. Begin cooking steps 1-50 now. Are you kidding me? Making dinner shouldn't feel like doing a thousand-piece puzzle. With Blue Apron's new one-pan assemble-and-bake meals, the hard part's already done. Pre-chopped ingredients. Zero stress. Just assemble, bake, and enjoy. No complicated steps. No mountain of dishes. Try assemble-and-bake today. Get 20 % off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com slash terms for more. The market's uncertain. Revenue's tight and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving.

0:38Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change, You really only need one good reason. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons. Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction.

1:18But there's only one Zinn. Check out Zinn.com slash find to find Zinn at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

1:36Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with Mum. And we are in a suite today at the Standard Highline. And it's very sweet. It's got a round bed. It's got a round bathtub. Yeah. It's got a round dinner table. Around everything, darling. We've got the view of the Statue of Liberty right out there on another sunny day in New York. The windows in every room are enormous. So you have the best view of the city I've ever seen. The skyline is just magnificent. I'm so excited to be in New York again. Yeah, the Cosmopolitans are better here. There's a lot of dogs. The blossom is out.

2:12Yeah, the blossom is killing me. And the weather is gorgeous. It's been fabulous. It's been the best. And also, we went last night to something really fantastic. Well, the guest that we have on today is our friend Jonathan Groff, who we went to see his opening night last night. Just in time. He's playing Bobby Darin. Bobby Darin, if you don't know who Bobby Darin is, he was a very famous... Yeah, but like a lot of people... A lot of people... Well, they need to mug up on their bloody American history. Okay, listen, listen, Jake Cohen is in the room because he's helped us with letting us use his kitchen today and also done the sweets.

2:47So, Jake, come on the mic for a second. Have you heard of Bobby Darin? I have no idea. Exactly. But you'd know, dream lover... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not Mariah. Matt the Knife. Splish, splash, I was taking a bet No, no, Matt the Knife Somewhere beyond the sea Yes, of course, of course, of course Okay, so he was like a crooner Oh, the shark has You got me on that one song I'll take the L on the rest So Jonathan Groff plays Bobby Darin He's absolutely fantastic in it Who was an amazing crooner Sang jazz classics And really was famous By the time he was 20 But died very, very early A for 37. But let's talk about the menu whilst you're here.

3:33Thank you very much for providing your kitchen, but also a delicious sweet. So for Savory, we've done the Zuni Cafe, which probably feels quite blasphemous because we're in New York, and it's synonymous with San Francisco. Zuni Cafe. God forbid you do a Waldorf salad. God forbid. God, that would have been a good idea. So I've done the roast chicken and bread salad. with currants and pine nuts and spring onions. And it's delicious. It smells really good. And then you've done a very simple pud. We appreciate it. I love that you use pud. I love it. Just any time I'm around you, everything is pud.

4:14These are really fun. It's just you stuff dates with halva and then cover them with dark chocolate and flaky sea salt. Delicious. Oh my goodness. A little sweet, a little salty, a little nutty. Do you keep them in the freezer? I keep them in the fridge. Okay. Freezer. Lenny will definitely lose a tooth if we keep it. My veneers, darling. He's considering my veneers. Yes. No, the fridge is perfect. See, I've done dates with peanut butter, but the halva is really, it feels slightly more luxurious. A little bit. Did you make it into a paste? No, I just crumble it and just like shove it in. There you go.

4:48As the actress said to the bishop. That's my other, those are my two things that I've taken away from the two of you this week. It's like everything is put and the actress said to me. The Bishop. The actress said to the Bishop. It's kind of, that's what she said. I know, I know. It's going to be on my tombstone. Do you think you'll be using, as the actress said to the Bishop, at the clubs this weekend? Yes, with a fake British accent. Okay, fine. Thank you for your services today. Thank you for everything. And honour to serve. So for people that don't know who Jonathan Joff is, well, how dare you?

5:18But he is probably one of the most beloved Broadway stars. You may have heard his voice in Frozen, because he plays Christoph in Frozen. He also was in the first cast of Spring Awakening. He was also in Glee. He's been in every kind of very important musical theatre moment in the past decade. Hamilton, he played King George. Merrily We Roll Along. Merrily We Roll Along, he won his first Tony. I first heard of him because your sister had an incestuous relationship with him when he played her brother in the TV series Boss. Yes. and she said I've met this adorable wonderful actor Jonathan and then you got to know him and he then used your song in looking yeah we became friends I think my record first record haven't even come out so we've been friends for about 15 years I think she was mad and he's just a fabulous human being he's gorgeous he's brilliant he's so talented and I can't actually believe he's coming over after his opening night to come on Table Manners, but here we are.

6:23Jonathan Groff coming up on Table Manners.

6:41Cheers. Cheers. Jonathan Groff on Table Manners. Finally. Cheers. I'm so excited to be here. You're the hardest guy to get, Jonathan. Oh, come. You are. You're always on the stage. You're winning Tonys and shit. Yeah, congratulations. I'm always in the theater. You are, darling. Can we just say last night. Oh. That was fantastic. My kid was breathtaking. Oh, thank you so much. It was so wonderful. I spotted you, top of act two. Dream lover. I'm looking for my dream lover. And then I was like, there they are. And you gave me the cutest, like. Yeah. It was a little peck. It was a little peck. It was really cute.

7:17Okay, good. Fine. good you were sitting really close I know it was so close whoa we're doing all the clapping sadly I didn't get any spit though you didn't no I'm sad about that we've got all morning I could spit we're in this hotel room how how are you this was an opening night last night last night it was fantastic just in time you're playing Bobby Darin yes you are so fantastic in the role thank you But it's also, it's like a night with Jonathan Groff and Bobby Darrow. It's in the basement of Wicked, which is so bonkers to me. A beautiful theatre there. But you've made it like the Copa. Gorgeous.

8:01The Circle in the Square, yeah. We've been developing this show for eight years. So how am I feeling? It's like, it's eight years in the making. Right. Like a couple hours before we started last night, I was just like weeping. Really? I was like openly weeping. At one point I was just standing in the center of the dressing room about a half an hour before the show. And my door was open and I was just like. And David, one of our stage runners, was like, are you just in here crying? I was like, yeah. It's like this is eight years of wishing and wanting and working and trying to make this happen.

8:36And this conceit because I was asked to do this night of Bobby Darin music at the 92nd Street Y here in Manhattan. Right. and this amazing director Alex Timbers came on to direct it and we were reading about Bobby Darren and Oscar nominated actor Grammy Oscar nominated for Captain Newman MD was this the one that he was in with Sandra Day no that was that was come September which was his like sort of first first movie but he he was like he actually wanted to be an actor first before a singer but he He won Grammys and music producer, prolific career. But by all accounts, his magic, he was at the height of his powers at the center of a nightclub floor.

9:19And he was best known for this relationship with the audience. Sammy Davis Jr. famously said, the only person I won't follow is Bobby Darrow. Wow. Partially because of this electricity he had with the audience. So eight years ago, we're reading all this stuff about him and I offered up, I'd love it if I could start the show as myself. Because even if I'm playing the character of Bobby Darin, there's like the artifice of character between me and the audience. If I could start as myself and create that, connect that like thread between us. It's an intimacy as well. There's intimacy, yeah. start with that and then we can collectively go back and experience the story of Bobby Darin together could we do that and and then we brought on these amazing writers Warren Light and my dear friend Isaac Oliver and they like cracked it they found the way to write me as me and then transition us into Bobby Darin and so it ends up being kind of this like super intimate experience between the performers and the audience and I thought it was really beautiful how at the beginning you are Jonathan Groff you you talk about it you you take us into the world of Bobby but at the end it's like you and Bobby are the same person yeah when you when you speak at the end and you say you know this is a gift and like and you're on you were right by your dad at this point when you said this line I don't know I'm gonna cry now and it was so powerful and you could just see how much joy you were having as Jonathan but also it was beautiful oh my god Not a very powerful.

10:53We were crying. Oh, my God. I was crying in the audience. It was really musical. Oh, my God. And people, when we went to the bathroom at halftime, people were saying I cried right the way through it. It was one of the things. I love that you call it halftime because that's what my dad calls it too. It's like a sports thing. It's a really special show, and I don't want to reduce it to, it feels like by reducing it to calling it a jukebox musical, which I don't know why that's the, do you know what I mean? Why do they call it, though? Because it's songs that we all know. Were there any original songs in there?

11:19So he wrote like half of those songs Bobby Darin did. Like he wrote Dream Lover. He wrote Splish Splash. He wrote Things. He wrote Rainin. So it's and he wrote 18 Yellow Roses about sending Sandra Dee's mother and then Sandra Dee, A.T. So weirdly, it's like in some ways as we were through the years developing, we were like, wow, it's like he he was writing such autobiographical material. I think that's partially why it doesn't just feel like a jukebox musical because they are the hits of his career and of his life, but they also were coming from his soul and they were coming from his life story.

11:56And he was such a kind of an enigmatic performer. So there's like this energy about him and his life that it is a bio-musical and we're using the hits of his life, but there is something about his artistry that connects all of those dots in a really unique, specific way. So your parents were sitting behind us. Oh my God. And they were so proud. I asked your mom if she could sing. What did she say? She said, well, not like that. Not like that. Oh, interesting answer, Jules. Your dad didn't confirm that he could sing. No, he famously says, like, I don't sing. His dad, my grandfather, who died on my 10th birthday, was a Mennonite preacher and wanted to be an opera singer but had to do the dairy farmer thing.

12:42But he would, like, shake the rafters in the church. That's so interesting. my grandfather was in synagogue and never got to really do it because they wanted him to be an officer yeah no way there's that interesting thing of like religion and performance and like Jesus versus Judy kind of energy of like that's Sherry Renee Scott who's half Mennonite she's a Broadway performer and in her one woman show she was like growing up it was always like Jesus versus Judy like I wanted to be a performer but I was also told to be humble and not step out of, you know, to like not be front and center. Can we talk about the dinner table?

13:23Growing up, Pennsylvania, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Were you on a farm? Sort of, yeah. So like the house that I grew up in is surrounded by cornfields. So it's all Amish farms around us. You're kidding. Yeah, like horse and buggy, no electricity. I mean, we had electricity, but it's like, you know, videos of my brother and I like running through the cornfields. And there was our house in the middle of those cornfields. And then my dad trained and raised his horses for a living. And so he had a horse farm like 20 minutes from where our home was that we would like play on as kids. How many horses?

14:03Well, so he had like, I mean, at the height of his career, it would be like 50 horses on this horse farm. Now it's four. He's 72. He's still training the horses and going to the races. My dream is to turn his horse farm into an artist retreat. And I'm going to build a house on his horse farm this year. And I want to turn the barns into creative spaces. Because growing up there as a kid, that's where we put on the Wizard of Oz when I was four. And I was Dorothy. And my brother was the Tin Man. And every time I go home, I feel that fertile, creative. And there's something about the Amish farmland because it's like impeccable.

14:46The cornfields and the tobacco fields, it's like really like beautiful. And it's like honoring nature, but it's also the respectful touch of the human hand. And it's like tractors, but it's like with horses, horse drawn. It's old fashioned. Yeah, there's something really kind of primal and fertile about the land there that makes me feel really creative. Did you live off the land then? Not at all, no. Yeah, we were like, I was also scared of the horses. Oh, so do you not ride? I learned how to ride for a movie. And I invited my dad to the set the day that I was riding the horse because I was so proud.

15:25But growing up, we were shoveling the horse shit out of the stalls. and I was scared the horses were going to kick me and our mom put the fear of God on us about getting hurt by the horses and when you're scared of horses they're really sensitive I love them from afar but did your dad wear a cowboy outfit and chaps and things? I just wonder because of his riding horses and training them why does he need to wear chaps? because I thought they did when they were riding on horses with saddles. They do. No, you're right. Like cowboys. Yes. They do. We wear jockeys. It's not just on OnlyFans, Jessie.

16:07They wear jockeys. I'm telling you. Lenny. Lenny. The sass. Honestly, every gay man wants Lenny to live with them in New York City. I believe it. It's like, Jake Owen's like, don't worry, Lenny's staying with us next time. So did he wear a cowboy hat? So I'm not describing it well enough because it's like he trained and races horses, but it's harness racing. So he's not on the back of the horse. He's in the cart behind the horse. So he had an outfit, like a jockey outfit that was like a onesie, like a onesie, but not like he's not on a saddle on the riding a horse. So he was training the horses to do this kind of chariot kind of cart racing.

16:56exactly which they still do that's quite niche yeah but where did they do this racing where are they doing this i mean like gladiator just came out so like they did it in that maybe i know it's a really niche and and with the onslaught of off-track betting and uh what is this called are you like you bet oh yeah oh wow this was complex now i'm in yeah yeah right Yeah. And this was complex for my dad because he grew up Mennonite and with the father who's the Mennonite preacher. Can you explain what Mennonite is? Mennonite is like watered down Amish. Okay. What a crikey. I know. Yeah. So they can ride, they can drive cars.

17:39It's almost like Footloose where like there's no, it's a kind of religious and there's no dancing and you wear kind of plain clothes. My grandmother had a little covering. Do you celebrate birthdays and things? You celebrate birthdays, but it's like. Christmas? you celebrate Christmas but it's like it's like more religious focused and and very humble like kind of farm humble you know no one that it's like it's it's just like um kind of basic so growing up gay yeah was that a conflict within your world of yeah like your community yeah it's interesting so my so my dad was Mennonite my mom grew up Methodist when my so my dad was supposed to take over the dairy farm and be and like do the cows but he didn't like cows and his his passion became horses which was then horse racing which is betting and gambling which is not so like accepted in the mennonite church so he married my mom and then he started going to the methodist church which is what i was raised in which is more kind of like it's a little less little less like conservative right um a little looser but still like still quite but still religious yeah and I remember being 10 years old and the with a preacher talking about like gay being wrong and all of that and my my parents never said like being gay is wrong we never really talked about it but it was always in the air obviously there was in church they were talking about it and it was just the culture like it wasn't until will and grace came out that i started to see like oh wow okay maybe there maybe there's that was a huge sort of like touchstone for me or when i started doing community theater in pennsylvania and started meeting gay people i started to understand like oh you can be gay and be happy and not and not die of aids it was like gay gay meant like to me growing up wrong and it meant like death and it meant like something to be afraid of but you know and I didn't come out until I was 23 and I didn't really I had no sex during high school I was sort of asexual I wasn't I didn't have girlfriends but I was just really into theater and very focused on my craft of acting.

20:11And then I moved to New York and I had my first boyfriend, who was my roommate, and we were together for three and a half years in the closet the whole time, all during Spring Awakening, even though I was in New York and surrounded by people that were out. And still I wasn't quite ready. And it wasn't until I left Spring Awakening that I came out to my parents and my friends and then started living my life. But it took a while to kind of come to terms with it. And it really wasn't until looking, actually, that I was working on that show and living in San Francisco that I really felt that I fully started to embrace who I was.

20:49When I came out when I was 23, I was like, okay, I'm going to come out, but I still feel a lot of shame and I still wish that I wasn't gay. I still wish, like, if I could change this, I would. but at this point I know that I can't so I'm gonna come out because it feels insane to be 23 years old and hiding who I am so I I came out but it wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I really started to love that part of myself so so you have this kind of this pull for New York you move to New York quite young don't you and Will and Grace New York all of this but then you still have this affinity with Pennsylvania yeah you what do you love about your memories of childhood and and particularly around food you know because obviously you haven't completely shunned that world you you love it and yeah and you're nostalgic for it and all of that and inspired by it it's such an interesting thing because I feel like I there's there's like videos of like my parents my mom let me dress up as Mary Poppins when I was three years old for Halloween and there's a video of me with lipstick and a carpet bag that my mom obviously helped facilitate this three year old being in full kind of impeccable drag on my grandparents' Mennonite farmhouse she drove me over there before we went trick or treating and Wade my grandfather's going oh Mary Mary and I'm there and he doesn't understand how funny it is Mary and I'm going to be gay I feel like if they had thought in any way, there was like just this beautiful kind of like ignorance that they had that my parents had of like.

22:34Oh, innocence. Innocence. Yeah. Innocence. Exactly. Thank you. That's a good. That's a more generous way of putting it. It's like this is just what Jonathan wants to do. So we're going to do it. They weren't. It would never have occurred to them that this was going to be a reflection of my sexuality in any way whatsoever. so there was this freedom that I had if they had if my if my mom if someone had told her like he's gonna be gay this will like be a pathway to that she might not have because that homophobia and that racism and all of that is very just embedded in the culture there it's a very kind of you know conservative area there's not a lot of outside people in in the place where they live It's just sort of like innocent, an innocent pocket of Pennsylvania.

23:22And so I sort of, so what I love about Pennsylvania is my first memories are like oxygen of freedom and creativity and being Dorothy in my dad's barn. And like all of that, when I go home, I still feel that. And then right next to that, I also feel the I see the Trump flags and all of the kind of like staunch conservatism and the and the homophobia and the racism and the and they're both they're both sitting there. and I think part of me needed to leave and come to New York like on the surface it was because I wanted to come here to make a dream come true and this is what I wanted to do and I love it here and I feel very at home here.

24:15Is this your home? Yes. More than L.A.? Yeah, I don't live in L.A. Ever? I was there like for five years or so but New York is my home and also Pennsylvania in 2019 I went back and bought a house in Pennsylvania because I felt like once I came here and I sort of was able to become who I was, then I felt like I was ready to go back home and be who I was there. Could I be who I was there? And can you? It's not easy, but yes. And it takes a lot of presence of mind to go home with love and acceptance. Like, for example, in March of last year, there was a drag queen story hour in our local library in Lancaster that got bomb threats, and they had to cancel it.

25:10And my friends that still live there reached out to me, and they were like, Jonathan, this fucked up thing is happening. And I was doing Merrily, We Roll Along at the time. But I made a date in the autumn in September of last year to go there and host the Drag Queen Story Hour, to make it happen there. And so we did the Drag Queen Story Hour, and then we did a Pride event that night. Hundreds of people at this Pride event, and these drag queens that live in Lancaster, and this trans couple that have been married for 25 years, and this trans woman has just transitioned and came out five years ago and they live in Lancaster.

25:56And I'm meeting all of these incredible people in this conservative town that I didn't know they were there when I was there. And it's so cool to go back now and find my tribe there and still be there with my family. And so it's been a really fascinating five or so years of integrating back and trying to reach back in a way and redefine what that area means. Part of why I want to make that artist retreat on my dad's farm is to bring that energy because I was kind of afraid to go back. But then I realized, no, I belong here too. And it's actually essential that I go back and I stick my pride flag in the cornfields of Pennsylvania.

26:47But it's heated. It's also heated. can you tell us about a memorable dish from your childhood yes okay so it's you and your brother your mom and your dad who was cooking so it's the pumpkin pie uh the pumpkin pie yeah my mom's as i salivate as i think about it are you hungry now i'm always hungry okay great this is the other thing it is yeah this is the yeah okay yeah great okay amazing right oh it's here oh my god you just Oh my, we're not just having fries, but that is a great... But that's a great... Thank you, my darling. Whilst you talk about your memorable dish, I'm going to fix the salad and you can shove a fry in your mouth.

27:26Oh my God, okay, great. Look at that mountain of fries. I know. So does your mum make pumpkin pie just for Thanksgiving or on special occasions? Literally salivating as you're saying it. Yes, she does. It's always for Thanksgiving and then occasionally also for Christmas, but it's always for Thanksgiving. and it's her the secret to her pumpkin pie is that she uses squash not pumpkin not pumpkin yeah so it's like a squash pumpkin pie and it's got a kind of kind of like thick consistency it's like it's like in not in any way mushy there's like a it's like a solid it's almost like a like a cheesecake like a really thick cheesecake level of solidness but you'd have pumpkin pie with your savory or with your dessert?

28:17That's the dessert. Does she put marshmallows or anything? She brings out the Cool Whip. It's so basic. Cool Whip. I never have it with the Cool Whip because I like just the pumpkin pie itself. It's a homemade crust with the pumpkin pie and then everyone else is usually spreading Cool Whip on top and that's how they eat. Is that a neutral flavor or do you have flavored Cool Whip? Is it white? The way that you say it. I don't know. You don't know what Cool Whip is? No. Okay. Oh, yeah. I guess it's maybe like an American thing. Is it kind of like imitation cream? Yeah. Yeah. Am I grossing you out right now?

28:58No, no, no. I kind of like that. You know what? That's synthetic-y caked. Yes, yes. The stuff they put on cake. Well, it's like a little bit more. It's like whipped cream. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a whipped cream. Is it slightly sweet? It is. Yeah. Yeah. So what would be Thanksgiving dinner? Turkey. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. From a local farm. Yes. Turkey from like the local grocery store. Corn fed, obviously. I mean, come on. Yellow. I'm corn fed. You're corn fed, darling. Yeah, absolutely. Corn fed boy. It would be the turkey that she's putting in the oven. It would be the mashed potatoes that she's making.

29:40She also does a really intense applesauce that my dad does not like because she puts a lot of cinnamon in the applesauce. Yeah, salivating again. And then my aunt will bring, this actually might be my favorite thing, is baked carrots with so much cheese in the carrots. And this breadcrumb thing. I never thought of doing that with carrots. Oh my God, it's so good. Is it delicious? It's so good. It's like a cream and a cheese mixed with the carrots that are chopped up like this. And then there's the bread. You know, sometimes on mac and cheese. It's almost like mac and cheese, but with carrots. How fabulous.

30:25Yeah, that one's really good. Look at this gorgeous plate of food. Hey, listen. You've been slaving away. It looks great. I would have liked a little bit more chicken juice on it, but it's the Zuni Cafe. Oh, like San Francisco, Zuni Cafe. Do you remember the Zuni Cafe? Did you have a go? Of course. Chicken and bread salad. It's a recreation of that, which actually, now I think about it, was quite perfect for this. But you may break your veneers on the thing. I won't. Wait, that they do at the... At the cafe, but I wanted more chicken juice. No, but who made this right now? I did. You made this.

31:00No, it's come from Upper East Side. You made this and brought this to this hotel. Yes, so it's not perfect, but it will kind of, it's the best we can do in a situation. I am completely blown away right now. It may need some more dressing or it may need less. May I have your plate to give you some of this? Yeah, just a little, thanks. I'll be mother. Isn't that a saying in England when you pour the milk into the tea? Is that a thing? I'll be mother. I don't know. I've never heard that expression. Jessie, I know I'll be mother and you don't know I'll be mother? I don't know I'll be mother. You don't know I'll be mother?

31:35I know, mother! I don't know. I'll be mother. That's pouring the tea, darling. God, this is so many fun. I'll be mother. That's like, yeah, when it's like, I mean, I'm sort of like not using it in the correct way because I don't think it works for dishing food, but maybe it does.

31:59The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today. If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

32:39Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zinn. Check out Zinn.com slash find to find Zinn at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

33:06This is so good and it's so healthy. Well, I thought about you with your voice because I'm so impressed because you were like, no dietries. And I'm like, he's on Broadway tonight. And here's you with an Aperol. Your seconds will be the Negroni. You're the easiest customer. Let's see if I make it to that. I'm hoping. I have high homes. Great, good. I'm glad. I'm sad for the audience tonight. I think this is a great recipe. It is a great recipe, but I've done it before, and there's a little bit more jus. Delicious. I don't think it needs any more beoyling. I agree. I'm not wanting more sauce. So we ask all our guests what their last supper would be.

33:49Yes, okay. Starter, main, pud, drink. Okay, so the first thing that's coming up for me, I'm 19 years old. I feel like I'm in therapy with you. I do too. Thank you very much. Okay, great. I like this. I'm 19 years old. I'm waiting tables at the Chelsea Grill of Hell's Kitchen on 9th Avenue between 46 and 47th Street. And my staff meal, which you would get one for every shift. The family meal, did they call that? Yeah, exactly. You could pick whatever you wanted off the menu. Oh, okay. And so I, yeah, it wasn't like they were making it and handing it out. It was like you get to pick one thing. and I would eat the penne alla vodka with chicken.

34:33With chicken? I know, yeah. I've never had penne alla vodka with chicken. Was chicken on the side? No, in it. Like mixed up in it. Was it delicious? Obviously. It's my last supper. It's my last supper and it's not even necessarily the, I think what it would bring back for me if I was eating it as my last supper is that feeling of like,

34:58bone exhaustion of waiting tables and like that was all I ate all day where you're where you're like that's just the that's like the meal and there was something about I'm salivating as I think about the the like vodka sauce that was in this particular the way that the chef would do it It was just, it made me feel so comforted. In a time when you move to the city and you're like, what am I doing here? And the constant rejection of auditions and waiting tables and an array of like kind people and rude people and tipping and not tipping. And I would sit with that pasta and that chicken and it would like make me feel home or like comforted.

35:45there's like a great comfort in eating that meal so that would be my last supper did you get rejected a lot I don't feel like I don't believe yeah I don't oh my god oh yeah oh yeah hundreds of auditions I would go to open calls you know I moved here when I was 19 and I would I would go yeah I would sometimes I would go because like at the regional theaters they'll do like days for for um dancers and then the next day it's at the singer call and there's the callbacks and some days I would, one day I would go to like the dancer call and I would get cut and then I would call myself back to sing and go to the singer call for the same theater.

36:21Me again? Yeah. Oh my God. Did it ever work out? Not, it didn't work out a lot. And the job I got my equity card on, I waited for over two days to be seen for the show, Fame the Musical at North Shore Music Theater. I waited all day on Saturday. I waited all day on Sunday. and then at the very end they were seeing people that weren't in the union and I brought my trumpet because there was a character that played the trumpet and I played the trumpet when I was in middle school. And so I was like pounding the pavement like they say, trying to get jobs. And now you have things written for you and developed for you.

37:00Like Just in Time. How far you've come, Grogh. 20 years later. Are you still going to be Kristoff if they make another film? I hope so. Yeah, of course. Have you started doing the... Frozen 3. I've heard it's happening. They've announced it. They said it's happening. But I haven't seen the script or I don't know anything about it yet. Jennifer Lee, who directed, co-directed and co-wrote Frozen 1 and 2 is a dear friend. I set her up with her husband. Well then you have to be in the third. That was a very good move. Yeah. Yeah, well done, John. Very good. forget about the trumpet just match me forget about the yeah that was my that was my first of three marriages that I saw oh so are you single but you're single I'm so single what's going on then Jonathan yeah what is going on I don't know I don't know it just hasn't worked out how could someone with the most gorgeous face and eyes sit there on his own that's so sweet of you to say that it just hasn't worked out But you're fine.

38:12It will. I enjoy being alone. I love being in love. But it just hasn't panned out. Yeah, but it's not like you've never been in a relationship. No, no. I've had great relationships, yeah. Yeah, it's just one of those things. I feel like timing is such a big part of relationships. And the last couple that I've sort of like had, there was something about it just like wasn't the right time. But you also working every night because you're in the theater. Yeah, that's part of it too. It's difficult, don't you think? I also really like, I love what I do so much. Yeah. And it's a huge. More consuming.

39:01Yeah, it's just a big passion. Yeah. And finding someone that understands that and can like exist with that with me has been challenging. It's tough. Yeah. And it's going to be all lunch dates at the end, isn't it? That's exactly right. Because he's out every night. That's exactly right. Maybe you need to find some really good lunch spot. Romantic lunch spot. Where are some of your lunch spots in New York? Oh my God. Great question.

39:40Well, Westville is a chain in the city that I like. I'm such a basic queen. Westville is like a chain in New York that I often order from or go to lunch to. It's just sort of like basic protein, vegetables, whatever, healthy, clean eating. since February since the beginning of February when we started rehearsal for Just In Time for the first time I did a meal delivery service so for the last three months I've had breakfast lunch and dinner delivered in a little cardboard thing I'm so sorry Jonathan so depressing the meal's in a cardboard box I don't know have you got a good one though? it's so good it's called Daily Dose they like it's it tastes amazing daily dose yeah i also am such a like basic person i i love a great meal but i can eat anything anything rubbish yeah were you gonna say no but which which protein would you have which would be your god you are so cute they do the protein thing which i don't understand literally just chicken fish yeah yeah but which would be your steak um steak oh no which we've been wearing chicken because you're lean and you're a gay man and you're on stage and you have to be in your bathroom and a vodka soda just gay water and chicken we call it a skinny bitch skinny bitch yeah i know my drink is whiskey that's like that's the one that's my like go-to you're surprising me well during the day i mean i'm kind of a garbage pail alcohol drink i will literally drink anything during the day it's more this fine in the evening i'll go for a negroni but sure L 'chaim L 'chaim we open the show what's your what's your whiskey okay so I'm I am I am a very basic queen as well and then I'm obsessed with Beyonce I would say that Beyonce is my I'm wearing a Beyonce shirt right now every gay man obsessed with Beyonce beyond yes I would say that Beyonce is the closest thing to religion that I have for myself.

41:55I'm so deeply obsessed. Have you met her? She came to see Hamilton. And it was. What did you do? Did you meet her?

42:09Did you freak out? You couldn't even speak. I couldn't speak. I couldn't speak. So many famous people came to see Hamilton. And it was amazing. It was an amazing show. it was an amazing experience and you had this comedy role yes yes it was not the main role but you made every second it was fantastic you were king george king george yes amazing and like famous people would come and he would be like which 10 from the from politics from music from film from theater it was like from every walk of the of the of every industry it was like all all these people were coming to see Hamilton. And two times, and so after the show, it was like 50 people on stage, the whole cast, and whatever, it was every single night.

42:53So many people, it was so strange. It was the hottest ticket. Yeah, it was crazy. And when you were performing, if you looked out, could you spot them? No, couldn't see anything. Is that good? It was good for me, yeah. The lights couldn't see anything. Unlike just the time where I could literally see them. You like kissing me with your mouth, which was heaven. And now I'm learning to love all of that. Two times, two people came on stage and everyone was silent. And it was when Obama came to see Hamilton and was on stage and you could hear a pin drop. And when Beyonce and Jay-Z came to see Hamilton and they were on stage.

43:32When you say on stage, it means after the show. After the show. They come and meet you on stage. Exactly. They didn't do a number. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Barack is coming and doing like. He's so fierce. shut yeah he's not gonna do that yeah okay and Beyonce was there and I was kind of hanging back letting everybody talk to Beyonce that chic of you well you know like you said a minute for nine minutes like the white guy from Hamilton is not who like Beyonce and JC are trying to meet so I'm like letting it all happen and she was speaking to Pippa and Jasmine and Renee who were playing the Schuyler sisters and then they kind of walked away and there was this moment where she was like okay it was kind of like a transitional moment and I went in there and I was like hi I'm Jonathan I'm such a huge fan and she took my hand and she said were you the king?

44:33and I said yes and then she said I'm going to steal your walk and she backed up like six feet and did an impression of the way that I walked onto the stage. She washed your whole body. And yes, and then I was like, and then she said, and when you exited and you moved your shoulders but not your head, you were your own turntable. There was a turntable on the stage. And I was like, I went, I just moaned. And then she looked me up and down and said, I sell everything. And the next night, and I knew when she did the impression of the walk out, I kind of knew what she was talking about. That was something I was conscious of.

45:28But the next night I was on stage, I was doing it, and I was leaving the stage. I was like, oh, my God, I didn't even consciously know. I would do this thing where I would turn my body and I would keep my head forward and I would find one head because I couldn't quite see faces and look them up and down and then exit was something that it was like I was doing as the character, but I wasn't consciously thinking. And it's it's a nanosecond of a moment. And that, I was like, Beyonce's eye, that she spotted that and collected it and then delivered it back to me was so mind-blowing. It was mind-blowing.

46:09That's a great Beyonce story. We need to get back to your last supper. Okay, yeah. Oh, right. We got your main. Hell's Kitchen. Peniela Vodka with Chicken. Chelsea Grill. Yeah. What's your starter? The salad? at Gemma. What's it called? It's like an Italian name, but it's got, it's like, I'm salivating. You salivate a lot. I'm a wet man. You are a wet man. The fluids come. What can I say?

46:43It's got like anchovies on it. It's got kale. It's got, it's got, I want to say like pomegranate maybe in it. There's like a fruit element and like a cheese on it as well. I can't remember the name of it, but it's a starter salad at Gemma. That would be my starter. So you've got starter at Gemma. Leading into the panella vodka, that's going to be so good. Fabulous. Then we're going for the pudding. Is it going to be your mom's pumpkin pie? Yeah. And what drink are we going for? Whiskey? Ooh. I can only have one drink with all of this. No, you can have whatever you want. Keep going all day. I would if I were going on a death attack That's what Lenny's been doing all week Quite honestly yeah Whatever gets you through darling Whatever gets you through we'll talk about it I think I would Start with An Aperol spritz I would move to like A full body red For the Penela vodka with chicken And then I would go To like a

47:49Boulevardier. What's that? Which is like a, it's almost like a Negroni with whiskey. Ooh. Have you heard of this? No. I think it's Campari and whiskey and sweet vermouth. That's a bit of me. Where have you drunk this? Salivating again. Oh my God. Salivating for the Boulevardier. That was the COVID, the drink I learned about in COVID. I also do love a paper plane. What's a paper plane though? Paper Plane is like a whiskey Aperol drink. Well, you like a shit mix, don't you? So Anna Wintour was in the audience last night. Are you getting an invite to the Met? You must be going. Was she just saying how you looked in a suit?

48:32She's a huge, she's at every opening night, by the way. I mean, I'm honored that she was there, but it wasn't just for our show. She is such a theater queen and theater supporter. And she goes to every opening night. And she supports and loves the theater. And her daughter, Bea. Who was with her, I think. Was she with her? Well, she had a daughter with long dark hair. Yeah, that's Bea. Yes, it was her daughter. Okay, I love Bea. Bea, I've known, we're around the same age. I sang at Bea's wedding. Oh, wow. And Bea came to see our Bobby Darin night at the 92nd Street Y seven years ago. And Bea was one of the first people that said, this needs to be a Broadway show.

49:17She was very smiley. Yeah, she smiled throughout. I have to say, Jonathan, I don't think many performers could do what you did last night. And yes, the cast is incredible. but that ease that you put everyone in when they watch you perform it's you're untouchable in that sense like it's just it's a joy to watch you and it's an amazing joy you and to see you enjoying yourself and it's just but I think you make such an amazing connection people feel connected with you I just love it so much and I I really love the audience I love the audience I love the sleeping audience member I love the coughing audience member I love the audience member where the cell phone's going off they're there they're there and I remember feeling this a lot during merrily like the more I do it and the more experiences I have on Broadway the more I love them and the more I I like respect them and the more gratitude I feel more gratitude now than I than I ever have.

50:27For them, it's like to spend money to buy a ticket. You know, it's like with all of that, with our phones and our computers and everything to go, and I'm sure you feel this way too when you do a concert. It's like these people are coming out to have a live experience and it's just so, it's such rare air in our culture and in our world. Not in New York. I mean, you're right. No, it's Broadway. It is. It's a part of this city. It always has been. But in just like where we're moving with AI and with, you know, just even the time that we were in the pandemic and we got really attached to how we can survive with our screens.

51:09There's just there's this magic about the live experience. And like some nights I dance with the audience and a couple of times people refuse to dance with me. Oh, so how do you deal with that? And I love them, too. So I just sit next to them and I put my arm around them and sing them a song. It's like, to me, the audience can do no wrong. And it's like the love, like surprisingly, I'm sort of surprised by it, just gets deeper and bigger. It's such a cool. It's because you respect your audience. Exactly. What you're talking about is respect. Exactly. And they feel it. Exactly. And appreciate it.

51:46And maybe it's because I also, I love being in the audience. I love being in the audience as much as I love being on stage. So we're going to give you some pudding now. Well, dessert, pud. Jake is. Jake is. Jake, get on the mic and tell us. Tell Jonathan what it is, please. Talk about it, Jake. Squeeze. Get on the mic. I'm going to sit on Lenny's lap. Yes. We've got halva stuffed dates covered in chocolate, little flaky salt. A little easy, quick. Wait, say it again. Halva stuffed dates. Halva? Halva. Do you know what that is? Like the sesame candy. I have no idea what halva is. Beautiful. Oh, my God.

52:21So imagine like cotton candy, but made with sesame. So like pretty much like blend sesame. Let's go. Come on. What can you get on there? Oh, we're all going to have one. They look beautiful. Thank you. Okay, here we go. Mmm. My God. It's always the first bite. Thank you, Jake. That was good. My pleasure. So good. Jonathan, once you'd done looking and you kind of were more out as a gay man, did you think that would alter people's perspective and that you wouldn't be able to play straight parts? Was that a worry? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I when I when I came out publicly, I came out of the closet publicly when I was 23 or 24.

53:16And I was dating this actor who just passed last year named Gavin Creole.

53:24And he was leading this March on Washington for gay marriage. He co-founded this organization called Broadway Impact, and he took all these buses from New York to Washington, D.C. for this part of this march. And we were dating each other at the time, and I was so in love with him. And I was out to my friends and family, but the occasion to come out publicly had not happened yet. And then there it presented itself in Washington, D.C. in that moment in an interview. and I remember the moment of like looking over at him and he had a bullhorn like he was like like crowd control over here he orchestrated this whole thing and I remember feeling like the love that I feel for him is so much deeper than any job I could ever wish to have and making the choice I'm going to choose love over whatever idea of what I would want my career to be I'm going to come out of the closet because it did feel like in in 2008 or 9 that that was the case at that time that you that you were making a choice to either be in the closet and have more opportunities in your career or come out and have a and have less opportunities and I I made that decision with love and I was like I'm not going to be in film and television and I'm okay with that I'd rather be in love and be myself and so I made that choice then and then looking happened of like five years later and when that opportunity came up I thought wow okay I'm really driving the nail into the coffin here of like ever playing anything anything other than gay yeah and I felt like yeah because it's one thing to be out of the closet and then it's one thing to like anally douche on film for all to see.

55:17To really sear it into people's minds that I am a homosexual. And I thought, I really, Andrew Haig, who directed the movie Weekend, I just loved his movie so much. And Michael Lannan, who created that show, I just really believed in what they were doing. And I felt like this means more to me than some idea of what could be. And really thought, I'm okay with it. I'll just be gay and everything. It's fine. And then these opportunities in the last 10 years that have happened, like Mindhunter and the Matrix movie, and even playing in Merrily We Roll Along, this straight, even though it's a musical, a Sennheiser musical written by Kaze, this like straight leading man character.

56:01And now Bobby Darin never would have imagined that I would get these opportunities. And so it's like, it speaks to the time that we're in. in 2025, like there's still so much more to go, obviously, but there has been this wave of progress that's allowed me to have this career. And it's, it's total timing, luck of timing. But I really was, was consciously making the choice to be myself and make the sacrifice as the, or not even make the sacrifice, but just you choose your path. And I, these, these opportunities that have come after making those choices have been a total surprise to me. Before we let you go to stage, can you give us a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere, happy or sad?

56:56Okay, it's black raspberry ice cream at the creamery on Main Street in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Where I was like, that was like the, I can imagine, I can smell the waffle cone. This is like I'm maybe three, four, or five years old. I can smell the waffle cone, and I can see, it was also my dad's favorite flavor of ice cream. So I can see the purple was also my favorite color as a kid. so I can see the cartoon of the black raspberry purple thing in the waffle cone. I can smell the cones being made in the creamery and then having the cone with my dad, the taste of the black raspberry ice cream, kind of like pure childhood memory.

57:52Jonathan Groff, I don't want to let you go. No. But we must let you get to your adorning family. But in a profound way, you're never letting me go. because we're lifers. Yeah, we are. We're lifers. Thank you for doing the podcast. Thank you for having me. What an honor. You can come again whenever you want. Oh my gosh, please. And best of luck for the rest of the run. Thank you. It's so fantastic. And we can't wait for you to win that Tony Hoard for this. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure to sit and chat with you. Thank you so much for coming to Opening Night and the world to have you there.

58:23I loved it.

58:38I love Jonathan Groff so much. Me too. He's heaven. Absolutely gorgeous. I think he's so generous when he talks and he tells you things about himself in a very honest way. I feel like regardless of if you're a musical theatre fan or not, Like to be able to watch Jonathan Groff on stage, he's a legend already on stage. If you get the chance to come and see him as Bobby Darin in Just In Time, you really should. It's a really, not that he needed a career defining performance, but this is just, it's completely charming and brilliant and an exciting production. And you can just see how much fun they're having with it.

59:21And I actually really think I'm going to come back and see it again. Can I come? Yes. Yes, you can. Jade wants me back. No, I know. I know, and that's the reason I won't be allowed in the apartment unless you're on with Lenny. Please go and see Just In Time. It's at the Circle in the Square on Broadway, and it's absolutely brilliant. It's a gorgeous theatre as well. Yeah, it's fab. Thank you for listening. We'll be back with another New York special next week. Da, da, da, da, da. Da, da, da, da, da. Da, da, da, da, da, da. Start spreading the news.

1:00:25One good reason. But with Zinn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons. Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction. But there's only one Zinn. Check out Zinn.com slash find to find Zinn at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.