CIFA_EP37

AUDIO	VIDEO	
		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Hi, everyone. I'm Steffi D. 	Lisa and Steffi appear in different chat windows on screen	
LISA HUMBER: And I'm Lisa H. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: And welcome to Check In from Away. 		
LISA HUMBER: This week we are checking in with Emily and Jim Walton who are starring in the Apple TV Plus film version of Come From Away. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Thanks for joining us.		
	CREDITS SEQUENCE
TEXT: Check In From Away with Steffi D. and Lisa H.
Steffi and Lisa’s windows slide together and they mime clinking their mugs together.	
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Hey, Lisa, guess what. 		
LISA HUMBER: What? 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: We got some pretty exciting news a couple of weeks ago. It looks like Come From Away Toronto we'll be back on the Royal Alexandra Stage on December 7. 		
[CHEERS] 		
LISA HUMBER: Feels unreal, the news is huge. And to get us into the mood there is a film version of comfort way that will be premiering on Apple TV Plus September 10th. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: And Lisa, today we are speaking to Uncle and Niece duo, Emily Walton and Jim Walton. We're going to talk about their experience filming the show. 		
LISA HUMBER: I'm so excited, I can't wait to chat with them, share the memories. Let's jump right in. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Let's do it. 		
[CHEERS] 		
SPEAKER 1: On the Northeast tip of North America is a town called Gander. 		
SPEAKER 2: September 11, 2001. 		
SPEAKER 3: Over 200 planes getting diverted. 		
SPEAKER 4: There shortage of to hotels in town. We've got no room. 		
SPEAKER 2: With thousands of passengers arriving at any minute, the town is asking for help with, well, anything you can do. 		
SPEAKER 5: We barely know where we are. 		
SPEAKER 6: Just freaking out. I wish I was home. 		
SPEAKER 2: Thank you for shopping at Walmart. Would you like to come back to my house for a shower? 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
SPEAKER 7: Hello, Yes, it's me. 		
SPEAKER 5: Dad, I'm OK. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
		
SPEAKER 1: We honor what was lost, but we also commemorate what we found. 		
		
[CHEERS] 		
		
EMILY WALTON: Hi, I'm Emily Walton. I played Janice on the North American Tour of Come From Away. And I currently or am about to be in the Broadway Company of Come From Away playing Janice and others. And I'm also in the Apple TV Plus version that's coming out in like a week and a half. So that's really cool. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: You and I, we go way back. Janice and others Toronto, Canada. Janice and others tour Broadway Apple TV Plus, we go way back, I actually saw you perform in Come From Away in Ottawa, Ontario, which is my hometown. Like way back, what years, a couple of years ago. I can't remember when it was. 		
EMILY WALTON: Two years ago, I think maybe like exactly two years ago. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: It happened two years ago. We had a cup of tea before the show. We had a couple drinks together after the show. You were brilliant. We got to hang out. We made some really funny Instagram stories together. 		
EMILY WALTON: We sure did. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Welcome to the Janice off. I'm going to do a line from Toronto Janice. And then Emily from the Tour Janice is going do it. 		
EMILY WALTON: OK, here we go. 		
JIM WALTON: Well, hello there. Checking in from away, I am Jim Walton. I like Nick Doug and others in Come From Away, the Broadway Company and also a part of the upcoming live capture version. And I'm thrilled to be with you. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: We got to tell our viewers that you actually interpreted one of Ron Jacobson songs called Coat It With. We have to play a clip. You were brilliant in it. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
Drop down and come try it on it. And everyone would became a star on it. 		
And what a great dancer you are. 		
JIM WALTON: Well, thank you. I don't think I danced in Patrice's feast, did I? No. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: You have a little tap. You were like tapping a little. 		
JIM WALTON: I did, I don't remember that. it seems like 10 years ago. Although, it was only one year ago. Pandemic time, we all became dogs. It's been seven years. 		
LISA HUMBER: Exactly. Speaking of 7 years or maybe a few more than that, you actually spent some time at the Royal Alex where Steffi and I are performing Come From Away Toronto. You want to tell us a little bit about what you were doing in Toronto? 		
JIM WALTON: Yes, I had the great good fortune of playing Bobby child in Come From Away. I do that a lot. They both start with CF words, come from, crazy for. It's called Crazy For You at the Royal Alex in 1994. 		
LISA HUMBER: Wow. 		
JIM WALTON: And, yeah, with the British organization of course, it was a great time. I was there for a year, then I came home for a year, then I went back for the last three months. So I did it for about 15 months. And I just had the greatest memories of Toronto and still have friends including Ron Jacobson and friends there. 		
So I just have the greatest love for you all and your country and Toronto. 		
EMILY WALTON: Hi, my name is Emily Walton. And I'm playing Janice on the North American Tour [INAUDIBLE]. 		
JIM WALTON: Hey, you. 		
EMILY WALTON: Uncle Jim. 		
JIM WALTON: Emily. 		
EMILY WALTON: Welcome to the family. 		
JIM WALTON: Emily, what do you mean? You just called me Uncle Jim. 		
EMILY WALTON: Uncle Jim, I don't mean that family. I mean you come from a great family. 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, the away family. 		
EMILY WALTON: Yes. 		
JIM WALTON: I'll be going to the Broadway production on November 13 in the role of Nick. 		
EMILY WALTON: Yes, you will. 		
JIM WALTON: And so you'll see me here. 		
EMILY WALTON: And you will see me here. We're very lucky the Walton's. 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, very lucky to-- 		
EMILY WALTON: Lucky to do it together. 		
JIM WALTON: Maybe. 		
EMILY WALTON: Yeah. Who do we talk to about that? I remember when I heard that Alex Fink who played Janice on Broadway was leaving and I knew my uncle was in the production and I knew that I was leaving tour, I was like, is there a way that this could work out for us? But it felt like such a pipe dream. It didn't feel realistic. 		
And yeah, when we found out it was actually happening, it was like, I think both of us, our whole family was just giddy about. Like it's the fact that two people out of a 12 person cast are related. It's just that we ended up in a show together in a show on Broadway in a show that is such a small cast, that's such an ensemble show. It's really kind of surreal. 		
And the added thing which I like to mention is that he and I spent a few hours of the day on 9/11 together in the city. I was in high school. He lives in midtown Manhattan and we kind of linked up at one point on that day. So the fact that there's this added thing of like, we're doing the show and we're up there on the stage, yeah, recalling this, singing, about these events and he and I had a shared experience. 		
So it's like a lot of layers of profound. 		
JIM WALTON: It's a long story. She auditioned for the tour and booked it. And was rehearsing it around the time I auditioned to replace Canadian Lee McDougall in the Broadway version company. And then when I booked it, I thought, well, this is weird. I'm doing the show with her like at the very same moment, but she's maybe in Seattle or Chicago or LA. And I'm in New York doing it. 		
So it was a weird thrill to know that. And then when our Janice and others left and they brought Emily in, I thought, well, this is insane. We're going to be on a Broadway stage together? She's going to say, would you like to come to my house and take a shower today? 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
This isn't right, but it's so right. And then when she went on, I mean, she's so good. I did I watched and the whole show was fraught with emotion. And so a few times I'm like, I realized, Oh I'm weeping. That's OK, whatever. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
So it was just a thrill. She's so good as I'm sure you are, Steffi. The show was so awesome. It's hard not to be good, but she's so wonderful in it. 		
EMILY WALTON: There are so many favorite memories. This is one that I thought about the other day is just the first time performing the show when we were on tour on September 11. So it was September 11, 2019. And actually I think we might have been in East Lansing, Michigan just doing my first time performing the show on that day for an audience. 		
There was just such an energy. There was just such like a palpable feeling like I could feel us all at various points throughout the show thinking about the fact that this was an anniversary of these events. And I don't know, that just felt very like electric and also my first performance on Broadway with my uncle. Like that was just an insane night and like hard to wrap my head around. 		
Here's a memory, it doesn't have to do with performing the show live necessarily, but getting back together to film the live capture. That was like being in the room together for the first time in over a year singing through the score, weeping through singing the score. That experience, those three weeks were packed with a lot of big memories big experiences and feelings. 		
JIM WALTON: It would really have to be opening night making it to the curtain call. And it all just added up that, OK, I did it. I made it. And I know I started weeping again, crying through bows, which happened many times as you probably know, as you both probably know. Sometimes the emotion of the piece just can really catch you off guard. 		
I think I liked those moments where the emotion would just kind of catch me. And I would go, Oh, wow. And it would happen and stop the world once in a while. I would think, OK, you're not supposed to cry through this. So just chill out man. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
But opening night, making it to bows, and then walking outside to the stage door line. And the people as you, I'll probably say it 100 times, both know the response from the people. It's so palpable and they want to hug you, shake your hand, and have you sign something. 		
And they want to tell you their story. And to me, that's really yes. Meeting the people afterwards, , it's such a thrill. 		
EMILY WALTON: On tour, Harder, who played Oz, plays Oz. Something, there was a miss hap with the fish being set off stage before the show. All I know is when we're supposed to turn up and look at him, and then they brought the cod. And you know he's got the fish and he's doing all that and we're looking up. I look up stage and he's just no fish and he's just a big man standing on a chair going like this. 		
And we were like-- 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
--what's happening. And then he's supposed to sneak up behind Kevin Jay and scare him with the fish, but he just kind of like got really close to him almost like he was going to kiss him. I don't know. It was so intense. And I'm so unprofessional. I was just laughing like I wasn't even trying to help fill in the gaps. I was just like-- 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
Because then I thought-- eventually the fish got on stage, thank God. But like it made me laugh imagining that there was just this guy in town who everyone like let pretend he was a fish. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
And that was what the process was, just here he goes. Like just go with it. He's going to pretend he's a fish. We're humoring him. So there was one night on tour too where my tongue's for hot towel, hot towel were not in the little pocket. For whatever reason, that had never happened before. But I reached in and there were no tongues. And I was like,oh. 		
And I just like did this with my fingers, like made them tongs. And as I looked past Kevin Carolyn who plays the mayor on tour, I walked past him. And I'm not even supposed to interact with him but he just saw me doing this and he went under his breath what the-- 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
I'm like dude, now I'm laughing. I'm trying to make this work here. And he just-- it really [INAUDIBLE] because also. [INAUDIBLE] 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: That happened a couple of times to me too where I didn't have the tongs, but I guess like just took them with my hands I guess. But this would have been better. 		
EMILY WALTON: No, it wouldn't have. It looks-- look at this, that looks like you're dancing on your-- like when people like dance with their fingers. 		
JIM WALTON: Actually it was my first night again. I was really, really nervous. And I'm usually not that nervous to perform it. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten more nervous. And as you know, there are a lot of no props, chairs, moves. You got to hit your mark, your light. It's extraordinarily technical show. 		
And I had the flashlight before when we all start speaking [NON-ENGLISH] where we all talk to the-- where all the captains or whatever, the pilots talking to the flight. But I realized I think I put it in my the wrong pocket or it was upside down and in my pocket. And I knew this while I'm for the first time going, there's only supposed to be two air traffic controllers on, but instead this 14. 		
My kind of big paragraph is Nick under Doug really. And I just kind of stammered through that the first night. And I got it out, but it was like what did he say? 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: We've all had those moments on stage, especially in Come From Away because it is deceivingly simple kind of show, deceivingly simple. 		
JIM WALTON: Yes, it looks simple. It looks fluid, liquid, effortless, but it's not until learning it. Its hard show to learn. And I don't want to say easy to do, but compare it to learning it, doing it is a breeze. Once you know it, you know. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Yeah. 		
EMILY WALTON: I learned the other day that it's going to be streamable in all in 100 countries, which just I didn't even know. I didn't have that number in my mind. And that is I can't really wrap my head around that. But the process of filming it, of preparing of rehearsing for the live capture was really intense as I mentioned, really fun. 		
Initially, I knew the lines and the things were still like vaguely in my body in my brain, but it took a minute, especially Steffi, you understand this. Like the time stamps, I was like I don't know. Like they're always 347, how am I going to remember 347? 		
So I would just, in rehearsal, come forward and just stand there. And someone would throw me a line and be like, 347. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
Obviously, that's the one I've retained, 347. But I think it's because my phone number starts with 347, I'm just going to-- 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Oh. 		
EMILY WALTON: Do you guys know my whole number? Should we put that up? 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Yeah, definitely say. We'll include it. So people [INAUDIBLE]. 		
EMILY WALTON: For security, great. But it was just so crazy to be back in this room with people. And I had never gotten to rehearse with so many of the original cast members with this company. So for me, it was exciting to kind of keep finding my place among them. And there's just the most welcoming, as I'm sure all of these companies are because that's just the kind of people Come From Away keeps in their company. 		
But then getting onto the stage, you're like, OK, I'm in the costume. I'm feeling ready. I feel the show in me. And then you walk out onto the stage and there are all these huge cameras. And you're like, what is this? 		
There was a crane and it's like moving around. That's so many of them, I'm sure you saw on the trailer like so many of these shots look incredible. And that's literally because the camera was like swirling around us. So that was really daunting at first, but then I think we quickly just-- Chris actually was so good at keeping us, reminding us of the show and what our job was as these storytellers. 		
And I think we quickly just adjusted to them being there. And just stuff like kept looking at each other and checking in with each other. And I'm now I'm just so excited that we get the world gets to see the finished product. And it's like, Yeah, I don't know. We did it. And it was so fast and furious and then it's been a few months. 		
And now it's like, Oh, my God. We get to see it. We get to see what it looks like. I'm really excited. I'm really excited. 		
JIM WALTON: The whole job was 22 days. So we rehearsed then technically that would mean 17 days because we shot for the last five days. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Right. 		
JIM WALTON: 2 and 1/2 weeks, really two weeks if you discount the days off and the first day of quarantine because we were in a bubble in a hotel. So it started, you checked in, they took your luggage up to your room, and you went directly to get tested. Then you go directly to your room and you don't come out for 24 hours at least. 		
You don't even go get ice. Although we were all vaccinated. I was vaccinated. I get it, it's protocols and we're going to honor them. So we rehearsed about 17 days long story short. It was very unique. It was of course, at the Schoenfeld Theater where I had done the show over 500 times. And so I knew the Turks. 		
But they taken out half seemingly half of the orchestra seats and put huge cameras. There were 10 cameras somewhat spread throughout maybe on the sides. So we certainly knew the cameras were there. And it was a little nerve racking to have a year and two months off and then come back to it for camera. 		
And I haven't done a lot of television and film. So I wanted to be calmer and not amplify my performance as much, but I didn't want to lose the heart of it that the real guts of it. You can't let that go, baby with the bathwater. You can't let it go. So that was always on my mind. 		
But after a while-- and we only had one audience, one day we had an audience. They were there the whole day though. They saw a run through. They saw full performance. And then there was a dinner break. And then they came back and we did bits and pieces and they were there for that. That was thrilling. 		
But also again, I went back to being nervous just like I had to calm my irrational, but totally irrational fear is like just very negative self, judgmental what the heck am I doing. I don't deserve this. I can't act, sing or dance at all, been like all of that Uncle Jim, stop it. This is not possible. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Would you rather drink a whole bottle of screech in an hour or have to perform Heve Away for five consecutive hours? 		
EMILY WALTON: Heve Away for five consecutive hours. Absolutely, Yes. I don't want to drink a full bottle of screech. 		
LISA HUMBER: Would you rather kiss the cod every night for a week or eat baloney sandwiches every meal for a week? 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, I'd rather kiss the cod every night for a week. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: OK, interesting choice. I like it. 		
JIM WALTON: I don't eat much processed food. So that's it. 		
LISA HUMBER: Would you rather be stuck on a plane for 28 hours or be stuck in Gander for seven days with no internet phone, TV, anything? 		
EMILY WALTON: Gander. I would rather be stuck in Gander. Sometimes I think about the fact that they were on those planes for over a day and I can't fathom it. And now that like I know some of the people in Gander, I'd be like, I just crash on your couch. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Would you rather go double date with Bev and Tom or Kevin T and Kevin J? 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, and now a double date meaning I'd have a date? 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah, you'd have Diane, right? 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, me and Diane? 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah. 		
JIM WALTON: Kevin Wicker or Diane? 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah, Nick and Diane going on a double date with either Bev and Tom or Kevin Jay and Kevin T. 		
JIM WALTON: Wow. I think I'd say that Kevin's because I haven't met them both. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Would you rather have to wear the Rogers TV blouse and the jeans, the flared jeans for the rest of your life or have to eat fish and cheese for the rest of your life? 		
EMILY WALTON: Every day for the rest of my life? 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Every single day, every meal. 		
EMILY WALTON: And I have to wear the outfit wherever I go? 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Even when you're sleeping. 		
EMILY WALTON: Every meal, Steffi, every meal of every day? OK, then the outfit. I have to wear the outfit. I mean, come on. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: But was it a tough choice? 		
EMILY WALTON: Yes. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
LISA HUMBER: Would you rather sing stuff the world perfectly for the rest of your life, but that's the only song that you can sing or say 100 songs, but sing them off key? 		
JIM WALTON: Oh, I'd rather sing 100 songs off key. 		
LISA HUMBER: Love that. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: I love that answer. 		
JIM WALTON: I'm always going to have an off key moment in every song I sing. There is no such thing as perfect pitch. There's no such thing. 		
EMILY WALTON: I miss theater because I miss sharing energy and air with an audience and castmates for an hour and a half every night. I miss the shared experience so much. Like there's just no replacing that. There's nothing else like it. 		
So I'm really excited to have an audience. I'm also excited to be an audience member again. I can't wait to do that. Like for the same reason I just said for the shared experience. 		
JIM WALTON: It's a long answer, but I'll try to shorten it. It's what I gave my life to do. It's my church. And the strangers are my brothers and sisters. I this sounds so corny, but that's what fuels me. It's these people that I don't know who have come to join me and loving something that I love. And it's the connecting with other human beings. That's what I miss. 		
STEFFI DIDOMENICANTONIO: Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Check in From Away. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: @steffid5 @lisahumber
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LISA HUMBER: Welcome back to The rock. Cheers. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	FINAL SLIDE
Check In From Away logo on the screen.
TEXT ON SCREEN: @checkaway @checkinfromaway
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