Jerry: How about the little pink, fluffy ones behind the Veronica?

They used to call me that in sixth grade -- the pink, fluffy one behind Veronica.

You know what?

Yes.

You know?

And then it hurt me then.

But now I go, "You know what?

I am the pink fluffy one behind Veronica."

Exactly.

Yes, you are.

So yeah.

So get into it.

Scribner: The lives of Broadway performers are busy.

They only have a few short hours between their matinee and evening performances, and they're giving us an inside look, from grabbing a bite to unwinding, plus a backstage tour.

Have you ever wanted to see what we do in the time sandwiched between performances?

Follow along and find out.

This is "Broadway Sandwich."

♪♪ Today I wanna be startin' somethin'.

[ Horn honks ] Hey!

Beat it, buddy!

We're trying to film here.

It's dangerous out here.

This episode is sure to be a thriller because today... ...we're at "MJ."

♪ Ooh ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ Scribner: Michael Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

And now his signature moves and iconic songbook have come to Broadway for the very first time in this four-time Tony-winning musical.

♪ They told him, "Don't you ever come around here" ♪ Scribner: Now, a show about MJ needs an all-star creative team, and they've got it.

The show is directed and choreographed by two-time Tony-winning director and choreographer and my friend Christopher Wheeldon.

He also choreographed and directed "An American in Paris."

This show has a special place in my heart because I participated in the early workshops of it.

Today we're meeting up with Ayana George, one of the best singers I have ever heard.

Ayana is making her Broadway debut as Katherine Jackson, Michael's mother.

Yes!

Ayana!

Garen!

Hi!

Great to see you.

It's great to see you and to be seen.

Yes.

How was your first show of "MJ" for the day?

Amazing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah?

Good?

I'm so excited to rock with you...

Yes.

...on your time sandwiched between shows.

Yeah.

You wanna be startin' somethin' right about now, right?

Oh.

You -- Uh-huh.

Okay.

This is gonna be good.

Let's do it.

I'm excited.

So, what's on the list today?

Well, we're gonna go to New Leaf and have a little lunch.

Okay.

And then I have to stop by Seasons.

The flower place?

The flower shop that I absolutely love.

Yes.

I love that.

Yes.

Perfect.

So, yeah.

I'm so excited.

Then maybe, if there's time, I could get backstage or see a dressing room tour or something?

I say let's do it.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Come on.

Yeah.

♪♪ Yes!

This looks good.

It's really good.

So you've been singing forever.

You've sung with some of the greats.

How did you break into the biz?

I started singing professionally at 19.

I was in church, in the church choir, and one of my fellow choir members was a background singer for several artists at the time.

And I remember asking him, like, "I want to do a session.

Like, call me.

I want to do background."

And he actually did.

And my first session, I walked in, and I knew from the moment I walked in that studio that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Wow.

So how did you initially get involved with "MJ"?

Jason Michael Webb, the music director of "MJ," we met at a party in 2016, and immediately he was like, "Ayana George, I know you.

I want you in my show."

And I'm like, "You know me?!

Oh, my God.

Okay, yeah.

What's the show?

I'm doing it.

I don't even care."

I ended up in his show "The First Noel," so he introduced me to the musical theater world and Broadway and all of that.

So what happened when you got in the room for "MJ"?

I walked in, and I'm like, "Hi.

My name is Ayana," and there are, like, 10 people sitting at the table.

Yeah.

And I literally went and shook everybody's hand, like, "Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi."

Yeah, I was super-, super-nervous, but so happy to be in the room.

And I knew that I had a job to do.

And I think I did it.

Yeah.

I think I did.

They had you sing, like, a few bars from the song, the whole song or what?

Yes.

I sang a few bars from "I'll Be There," which is -- which is my number.

♪ I'll be there with a love that's strong ♪ ♪ I'll be your strength ♪ ♪ I'll keep holdin' on ♪ David Holcenberg, he said, "That was a treat!"

And it just stunned me because, you know, everyone was kind of, like, stone-faced at first, you know, no expression.

Okay.

But when he said it, I was just like, "Okay, yeah, yeah.

You did it.

You did it."

It was at that moment that I decided I'm not gonna be afraid.

The things that I was running away from, now I'm gonna run toward.

And I've been doing it ever since.

It's really profound to hear that from you, because to me, you are someone who has such innate talent and such a transcendent gift, that to know...

Thank you.

...that you struggle with feeling like you... Yeah.

...are less than ever or that you don't belong in rooms is really affirming for, I think, anybody listening.

So you and I were lucky enough to be in the room during the labs and workshops for "MJ."

Yeah.

That's where we got to know each other.

Mm-hmm.

And we had a lot of conversations about "MJ"... Yeah.

...'cause we were trying to tell this story and do justice to this music and what it means to everybody.

Mm-hmm.

But "MJ's" controversial.

So what do you say to people who aren't sure if they're wanting to come to see the show or sort of what they can expect?

I say come see the show to honor and celebrate the musical legacy of Michael Jackson.

That was beautifully said.

So the pandemic, you know, opened up lots of new possibilities for all of us, right?

Yes, it did.

Yeah.

I went back to grad school.

Mm-hmm.

Congrats on that.

You started a hair line.

Thank you.

I did.

With my hair being natural, a lot of the choices that I had for protective styling and also for doing different things, they didn't match my natural texture.

Limited selection.

Exactly.

So you came up with a solution and created your own line.

That's great.

It looks like us.

So, yeah, I'm proud.

I'm proud of this.

You've always danced when you perform, right?

But dancing on Broadway in a Broadway show eight times a week is different.

Yes, it is.

Sure.

So how's that going for you?

How's it feeling?

It's going good.

You know, I haven't broken anything or hurt anything, so it's going great.

I'm doing this at 50.

Okay?

Yes.

But the beauty of it is, I'm doing this at 50.

Yeah.

I'm into that.

And I feel so blessed and just happy that I'm able, you know, and I think I'm -- I'm keeping up with the kiddos, so... You're more than keeping up.

And you know what else is a blessing?

Kneepads.

Kneepads are a blessing, yes.

On that note, shall we?

Yes, let's do it.

♪♪ It smells amazing in here.

This is like paradise right here in Midtown.

So tell us about the shop.

The shop has been open since 1989.

Two gentlemen who are business partners opened it up.

It was the Broadway community, I think, that was really able to help them build the business.

As the different shows started to recognize the shop and see the quality, they would order from them.

Mm-hmm.

And that was kind of the first push for them to get going.

So we're gonna make a couple bouquets today.

What do you think?

Yeah?

Fantastic.

Sure, sure.

But before we do that, I like to think of myself...

Yes.

...as someone who can identify plants here and there.

I'm not a pro.

Right.

But maybe you could, like, give me a little quiz.

What you think?

Absolutely.

How about the white ones?

Hydrangea.

Hydrangea.

Very good.

Very good.

Thank you.

Nailed it.

And right next to them, the pink, the little cone flowers?

Flaming Katy.

It might be, but the technical name is Veronica.

That's what I was gonna say actually.

Uh-huh.

Till you mentioned that.

You know, you have Veronica, flaming Katy.

Okay.

And the purple?

The tall purple.

That is a delphinium.

Yes.

Oh, I know.

Sunflowers.

Lilies.

Dr. Seuss balls.

Can I get a half point on that?

No.

All right, Jerry.

Jerry's tough.

Jerry's tough.

Jerry's not playing around.

Yes, he is.

I love purple.

Purple.

Okay.

And I love hydrangeas.

And hydrangeas.

Great.

Allium?

Very... Oh, eee!

Put a lily in there as a center flower.

Yes.

Beautiful.

And then how about we add a couple of bouvardia?

Color, yes.

I think we have enough flowers now.

And I'm gonna show you how to put them together for your own bouquet.

Yay!

All right!

Very good.

Thank you.

Sounds great.

♪♪ ♪♪ Here you go.

Scribner: Jerry!

Your beautiful bouquet.

Jerry!

Beautifully done.

This is gorgeous.

Great choices.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Stunning.

This purple.

Ah!

Love it.

Well, it looks like we have to get you back to your show.

You got to go back to work.

I got to get back to work.

Thank you so much, Jerry.

You're very welcome, both of you.

Jerry!

Jerry!

Thank you so much.

My dressing room is gonna beautiful because of you.

Enjoy it.

All right.

Have a good one.

Talk to you later.

Bye.

Thanks, Jerry.

This is our "60 Second Sandwich."

I gonna put 60 seconds on the clock.

Answer as many questions as you can in the time given.

Okay.

Sound good?

You ready?

Yeah.

Okay.

I think.

I'm right here with you.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

60 seconds starting now.

"You harmonize so beautifully."

That's sweet and true.

Thank you.

"Can that be taught, or is it only a God-given ability?"

I think it can be taught, yeah.

Okay.

Well, you need to help me with that because I need help with harmonizing.

Jflug318 -- "Song or artist that gets you hype before show"?

Ooh.

Alex Isley.

Lalah Hathaway.

Michael Jackson.

Yes.

Israel Houghton.

A lot of hype.

Maverick City Music.

Yeah.

Oh, yes, I love those.

Annacamel39 -- "Your Broadway debut was incredible, and it blew me away."

Oh, thank you, Anna.

Thanks, Anna.

It blew everyone away, for sure.

"What are your dream theater roles?"

Hmm.

I would love to be a Muse in "Hercules."

How about a new role for Ayana George?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Got a tip for memorizing lines or lyrics?"

Write them down.

Mm-hmm.

Love it.

Mishtimusic wants to know the most challenging part of "MJ."

The high notes.

And dancing with kneepads on.

Yep.

Uh-huh.

Oh, yeah, that's hard.

"What's something besides performing that you're really good at?"

5 seconds left.

Cooking.

"What's your favorite thing about being on Broadway?"

Ooh, my cast.

I love them so much.

Oh, what a great answer.

They're my family.

That's it.

And the audience.

Oh!

And the audience.

Of course.

Yes!

You were wonderful.

Oh, thank you.

Shall we roll?

Let's go.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

♪♪ I remember in the studio you mentioning feeling a little bit intimidated when you came into the sort of Broadway zone... Yeah.

...'cause it was a new experience for you.

Yes, it was.

So how do you feel about that now?

I got to the point where I just realized, you know, you're here because you belong here.

This was not, you know, given to me.

It wasn't a favor.

It wasn't a hookup.

You know, I actually went in that audition room and earned this role.

That's right.

And, yeah, I'm very proud of what I was able to accomplish.

I would just not be doing this show any justice if I didn't say, can we hear you sing just a little bit?

Oh, my goodness.

♪ Isn't it lovely?

♪ ♪ Isn't it rich?

♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-ohh ♪ ♪ That I'm on "Broadway" ♪ ♪ Mm-mm-mm-mm, "Sandwich"?

♪ [ Both laugh ] That was the most beautiful song I've ever heard in my entire... [ Scatting ] [ Scatting ] Hey.

♪ Hey ♪ Come on, Garen.

Hey!

Thank you.

You just made my life.

Thank you.

You just made my life and our viewers' lives.

Oh, you made my life.

I love this.

This was fun.

Can I check out your dressing room?

Of course you can.

Yes!

Oh, wait.

No, you can't.

[ Laughs ] Oh, well, maybe we could Zoom.

Let's Zoom.

Perfect.

This is my humble abode here at the Neil Simon.

I see the gorgeous bouquet in the corner.

You got to show us that.

Yes, I already put it in water.

Look at that.

Beautiful, Ayana.

Oh, my God.

You are playing Katherine Jackson, one of the most iconic moms in history, really.

Where does Ayana connect with that role?

Well, I'm a mom, as well.

I have a beautiful daughter, Maya.

And just wanting to bring out the best in your children and wanting to encourage them to be themselves, which she definitely did with Michael.

But it's definitely the motherhood thing that we have in common, for sure.

And you have to do a second show now.

Wait.

Before we go, I have to show you the best part of my dressing room.

I'm ready.

Okay.

So this right here looks like a beautiful, you know, chair that you just lounge in, right, in between shows.

But she actually... Don't tell me.

...turns into a bed!

I have never seen that in all my years.

Oh, my God.

This is one of the best gifts.

My man bought this for me, and, baby, I'll love him forever.

Yeah, I would, too.

Well, thank you so much for the tour and spending the day with us.

We adore you.

Well, Garen, this has been so much fun.

I've had a ball talking to you.

I love you.

But a sister got to go and do another show.

Oh, I totally get it.

I wish I could stay.

But thank you so much for being with us.

We adore you.

Yes, thanks for having me.

Love you.

[ Smooches ] Take care.

See ya.

Bye-bye.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪