'Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' at First Stage November 21-December 27

Welcome back everybody. One of Christmas's most iconic villains coming to First Stage. Jeff Frank is here from First Stage with Finley Rose Brown, who plays a pretty well-known who in this year's performance. Let me guess here. Cindy Lou Who? There you go. Wow. And you've been performing since you were seven years old. Is that correct? What's it like getting a role like Cindy Lou Who in The Grinch? I love playing Cindy Lou Who. I can really relate to her. She's very sweet and empathetic to people. And she's the one, too, who really kind of sees the good in the Grinch, right? Because there's good in everybody. What do you think? Audiences can take away from her character in particular. Well, like, she always wants the Grinch to feel like he belongs and for the Who's to see that he does belong. So I think people should take that. Thank you. Everyone should include people and see the best in people during the Christmas holidays. I like that. Jeff, you get to see the best in the kids as well as the actors. You know, this has been something you've been doing for... Three decades. Yeah. How does this year compare to previous years of pulling this off? Well, it's our first time getting to work on The Grinch, so that's exciting. I mean, I got there in 1996, came to First Stage, and at that point, the first production of Grinch had happened in 94. So for 30 years, we've been hoping to get the rights to do it, but it was really limited to a couple specific theaters and a national tour, so we're excited to finally embark on that challenge, and audiences are responding. Tickets are going really fast. I'm going to ask the Production team, the design team that we have on this is incredible. The scenic design by Kristen Ellard is amazing. We've got Josh Schmidt on sound and Jason Fassel on lights. Amazing costumes by Teresa Hamm, which are an homage to the illustrations and the style of Dr. Seuss. Very colorful, very bright. Oh, 100%, yeah. So what do you think, because people are familiar with this story, right? It's beloved. It's a Christmas classic, at least for me at this point. I guess, how do you kind of bring your own... flavor to it because I can imagine that would be a challenge to make sure that this is something that people have not seen before that's special. Yeah and I think the best thing for that we bring to it is bringing this epic tale into our smaller space right so I think the intimacy of the story is there and actually better served than some of the national tour in these really large productions so the heart of the piece rings out and one other interesting thing that we're doing is old Max who sort of tells the story it's Max the dog grown up is telling the story and that's the role is played played by Paul Helm, is also playing the piano. He's telling the story, but he's also bringing it to musical life as he's telling the story. So it's just, again, another approach to how the story comes to life. For you, what is your favorite part about being in a performance that a lot of people know? Is it the acting part, or is it being with all, basically, your friends and the rest of the cast? I love, like, being in the community of everybody, and they're always, like, so nice and talented. So, like, I love that part, and I also love acting and singing. Yeah. Well, seemingly, you're going to be an actor. Right. Watch out, Hollywood. We knew her when. I want to ask you, because obviously you're busy, right? You're in school, I can imagine. You've got a lot going on. How do you balance it all? Like, what's the time commitment look like for you leading up to a big performance like this? Well, I usually... If it's a late night, I sometimes sleep in and then I go to school because I still have to do work at school. Or sometimes, like, if it's a really long day, I skip school. But that's very rare sometimes. Very rare. But, yeah, that's... It's no joke. I mean, because you have to find time to balance that, like you guys said. How do you guys do that, knowing that these kids are still young? Because, Finley, you're at, what, 11? Ten. 10 years old, only fifth grade, right? So all of our shows are double cast. So Finley is one of... to Cindy Lou Who's. Okay. So share that role with Eloise. So the rehearsal time is split and then the performances are split. Okay. So they miss less school. But we do talk about it. They have to work with the schools. They have to coordinate homework, other sort of things. It is taking on really another full-time job. But we work to make sure that there's support as much as we can and really have clear communication with the parents so that we take care of the young people knowing the enormity of the task that they're taking on. Yeah. I love that you said that. It's kind of a second job because it really is. I think there's one thing about, you know, being in a school performance. This is different. This is really at a professional level. Definitely. Okay, so this is The Grinch, right? And you've never been in this role before as Cindy Lou Who. What's your dream role? My dream role is Matilda. Matilda's like, I watched that movie and that's what wanted me to act because I thought it was really cool. That's a really fun movie, too. I've heard the magic that she can do. Yeah, that was a wonderful movie. Incredible musical. Yeah. Now, Jeff, obviously, this is something that's going on soon. Is it November 21st that you guys are kicking off? Correct. Yeah, we open then, and we run through December 26th. Got it. And like I said, tickets are going fast, so go to firststage.org, get your tickets. It's, it's, it's. Yeah, it's... I feel safe in saying it's going to be the highest grossing show in the history of First Stage at this point, given where sales are. And obviously, that does a lot to support your programs and what you do. And guess what you want people to know about? When they go to a show at First Stage, it's about so much more than just your ticket. Definitely. For me, it's about community coming together, as Finley's talked about, and about the generations of folks coming together. That's my favorite thing to do now. I come and I watch the show, but I watch the people watch the show. That's where a lot of my joy comes from, just seeing families come together and share. Share this experience. Okay. And do you have a favorite part of the show? Oh, my favorite part is singing my song Santa for a Day to the Grinch. I think it's a very heartwarming and meaningful song. Oh, well, she's got all the good writing. Thank you. Well, you were very thoughtful, young lady. Thank you so much. You're a better person. Thanks, guys. For more information, one more time on where people can find information, tickets, showtimes. FirstAge.org. Alright. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Finley. We will be right back with more of Real Milwaukee after this short break. Stay with us.