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American Morning
America's New War: Broadway Pitching In
Aired September 26, 2001 - 11:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now you have Broadway singers, writers and musicians doing their part to help victims of terrorist attack on the U.S.
(SINGING)
ZAHN: This group got together to create a song to benefit the September 11th fund, and just yesterday, the stars of Broadway gathered to record the song, "The Dream In You."
And with me now, Brad Oscar from the musical "The Producers," and Sutton Foster from the show "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
Good to see you all.
BRAD OSCAR, "THE PRODUCERS": Good morning.
SUTTON FOSTER, "THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE": Thank you.
ZAHN: It must be awfully hard to try to create joy in the midst of all this tragedy?
FOSTER: I know.
ZAHN: Tell us a little bit about the recording of the song and what you want people to get out of it and what you plan to do with the song.
OSCAR: The song -- this all happened in the past 10 days, the writers came together to write the song, orchestrate the song. As through the New York community trust and the United Way, through the September 11th Fund, all the proceeds from this song are to be earmarked for the children of the victims.
FOSTER: Of September 11th.
ZAHN: Because lord knows, you know, they have single parents now who can't afford to pay mortgages, who can't afford to send them off to schools.
OSCAR: Exactly.
FOSTER: And all the proceeds are going to go to those children over the long-term so that we can -- and in a way, the Broadway community wanted to come together to really try to do something to help, you know, because we were all just sort of sitting there. We are not steelworkers or we can't go down and you know move anything. We just wanted to help in some way, so we all got together and decided to do this.
ZAHN: Where can the public get a hold of the song? It's going to be on a CD that they're in the process of putting together?
OSCAR: Yes, the CD will be released in the beginning of November.
FOSTER: And be available in store.
ZAHN: What, record stores, department store, that kind of thing?
OSCAR: Yes.
FOSTER: Yes.
OSCAR: And there are two Web sites that the CD can be orders from.
ZAHN: Well, you can go ahead and tell us what those Web sites are.
FOSTER: Absolutely.
ZAHN: You're not a politician, you're not running for anything. We'll let you do that this morning.
FOSTER: Starting on Monday they will be available on www.dreamfund.org and also on...
OSCAR: At www.sh-k-boom.com, which is S-H dash K dash boom.com.
ZAHN: I'm glad you did that for us, that would be a hard one to follow.
FOSTER: And the CDs are $5.
ZAHN: Five dollars.
FOSTER: And all the proceeds will go to the September 11th Fund.
ZAHN: Do you have any idea how much money you'll be able to raise from this? You guys are all popular, everybody in American has heard of your shows, and I think will be delighted that you tried to give something back to the community? Do you have something targeted, a targeted amount?
FOSTER: We're hoping to sell 200 thousand CDs, and that roughly aiming for a million-plus.
OSCAR: And then with money we continue to make money over the years again to provide for the children for education.
ZAHN: Well, $5 is a good price. I mean, that would be tantalizing to people.
But meanwhile, the show must go on for both of you. What is it like to perform right now? Are you performing to half-full houses? Are they slowly building?
OSCAR: Well, we at "The Producers" are lucky because we -- you know, we're a fairly successful show.
ZAHN: Fairly successful!
(LAUGHTER)
OSCAR: On a relative scale.
ZAHN: The most successful show on Broadway.
OSCAR: Yes. So we have been able to maintain houses. And to be honest with you, I think when we first came back after the tragedy, we all thought how are we going to get up there and do this rollicking, fun evening, where we want everyone to laugh as much as possible. Who wanted to laugh? And yet, honestly, getting back to work and actually sharing for three hours, cast, crew, audience alike, all of us just coming together to get through this, and for those three hours just say, you know what, it's OK for us to release, it's OK for us to laugh, it's OK for us to get a away from all of this, because that's really our job.
FOSTER: Right.
OSCAR: That's what we do. We dress up and we play. And in many ways I don't know that we even take it too seriously at times. But at this point I'm sort of like, you know what, I'm proud to do what I do. I'm proud to find a way for us to move through this, just as we would start going back to a sporting event or start...
FOSTER: Right.
ZAHN: Well, we wish you great luck with this.
FOSTER: Thank you.
ZAHN: And I hope that November 1st, whatever date this is, brings you all great success. It's fascinating for me to see just how generous the American public has been, and if they follow the trend they've set with all these other funds, you will be making a huge difference in these young people's lives.
Sutton and Brad, thank you so much for being with us, and good luck with you shows.
OSCAR: Thank you.
FOSTER: Thank you very much.
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