While most of us are lucky if we find something other than moldy cheese and half-full water bottles in our refrigerators, musician Kat (Valerie Vigoda) makes the discovery of a lifetime when she meets famous antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton (Wade McCollum) after he casually appears from inside her fridge. He’s in the midst of his most legendary rescue mission, she’s in the middle of a creative block and some love problems, but together they find a way to help each other in achieving their purpose. In the boldly original Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, we are reminded about the power of art and the importance of standing up for what we believe in.

Vigoda, who also wrote the lyrics for the musical (the music is by Brendan Milburn), gives her character a lovely earthiness that makes her one of the most complex heroines in recent musicals, while McCollum seems to have been imagined by either comic book writers or classic Hollywood directors, he’s all legs, beard and endless charm as the imposing Shackleton. The two have wonderful chemistry and audiences who can’t make it to New York will have a chance to catch the show on a livestream on BroadwayHD on June 7. I spoke to Vigoda and McCollum about what they love about their characters, why musicals about hope are so important, and what audiences at home should expect when they watch the show.

The show will be live streamed and potentially millions of people could see it, does that make you excited, nervous, both?

Valerie Vigoda: It’s so crazy! It’s so, so thrilling to share this with so many more people. It’s wonderful to share it with 296 people at a time, but the idea that people who cannot physically be here in Manhattan can see it is great. I feel so passionate about the idea of the show so thinking about this makes my heart sing with joy.

Wade McCollum: Ditto.

If there’s a show that feels perfect for streaming is this cause it’ll kinda be like when Ernest goes into Kat’s home through her refrigerator. Out of all the musicals and events in the past, is there one you would’ve just killed to have livestreamed and get a chance to see?

Wade McCollum: There’s so many! Seeing Marlon Brando and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, seeing Shirley MacLaine, didn’t she have a thing where she was the understudy, she had to go on and became a star?

Valerie Vigoda: That one sounds great!

It’s clear that we all need to appreciate women more, there’s no debate about that, so one of the best things about the show was that the lyrics conveyed the sense that the jobs women have done throughout history are as important as anything men have done, especially because things like exploration weren’t allowed for women. I also like the parallel you establish between creating art and exploration, can you talk a bit more about that?

Valerie Vigoda: I completely agree, one of the things that has been so interesting about the process has been finding as many parallels as possible between musicians and explorers, everything from how they struggle with finances, to facing insurmountable odds and doing anything you must do to handle them. You need an irrepressible spirit, you need to be relentless and never give up hope, you need to be strong and flexible. That allowed Ernest to survive and it’s what allows artists to survive. The importance and the power of art were our way into Ernest’s story, the fact he insisted on bringing that banjo across the ice, so that his men would not lose hope. Even though art is not life and death in the same way that surviving in the tundra is, we need art for our survival as a species.

Wade, your Ernest feels like a hybrid of so many classic movie actors, it made me think of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant among others, who were your inspirations?

Wade McCollum: I did reference some of the old romantic movie heroes, our director was clear about how this was not historical Shackleton, but a romanticized, imagined version of him. Over the course of the productions we did prior to New York I watched a lot of movies, Sean Connery was a big inspiration because he was Scottish, lived in England and he has such a swagger about him, so I referenced him a little bit. You build a littlw coat of a character and then it starts to fit so much that you forget all the references.

The show reminded us that there is hope even in the chaos we’re living in today, and we all wish an Ernest would come rescue us from the madness we’re seeing. You’ve been doing the show for so long that I wonder how the message changed after the election.

Wade McCollum: Ernest is such an optimistic hero that it’s difficult to complain about anything, but I do find a way, he gives me perspective into my own life. I feel Kat in her realization that she has a hero inside her is what the story is about. I walk out of the theater every night feeling like “man, I can do anything”.

Valerie Vigoda: Absolutely. The fact his heroism remained intact through music and she picked up his spirit through the banjo, gives me reassurance as an artist and musician. It gives me joy and purpose. I feel the way people talk to us about the show, more and more is like the way you were talking about the show Jose. People think shows about hope and optimism, female worthiness, feminist manifestos are medicine for our society. Musicals take a long time to put together, so over the last 8 years we wanted to get to New York, but I have to say I’m glad we’re here now, rather than 8 years ago. Now is the perfect time.

The show celebrates romance without cynicism which was so refreshing. We often hear people mock women who like romance novels or films, were you trying to rescue this notion in any way?

Wade McCollum: To me romance is one of the main storytelling structures, any onf them can be used to deliver a great message. I love ours uses romance but is also layered with so many other things, from the inside of the story I love that playing Shackleton I understand that from the inside of the story Kat is motivating his journey through her music, positivity and beauty. The romance comes alive through that.

Valerie Vigoda: Romance isn’t really the main point, it’s an adjuntc to the story. It’s about Kat’s adventure, her awakening and how they become war buddies. We didn’t set out to write a romance or reinstate it as something unironic, it’s just how it developed. It’s interesting now we’ve come to this point we’re thinking about the message of the show, we’ve realized the romance isn’t central at all.

Right, it’s about Kat falling in love with herself.

Wade McCollum: Exactly.

When people are watching the show at home, is there anything you’d like to draw their attention to? Any particular moments or lines?

Wade McCollum: Ernest’s entrance is a fun dymanic entrance, but the practicalities to making it happen are not as dynamic or romantic (laughs) I’m crouched in a smoke filled refrigerator holding my breath for kind of a long time, before I come out. I don’t want them to think about me in the fridge though, I want them to just watch the show.

What historical figure would you like to have burst out of your refrigerator sometime?

Valerie Vigoda: Helen Keller is a big hero for me.

Wade McCollum: That’s a good one!

Valerie Vigoda: She must’ve had an incredible presence.

Wade McCollum: My brain is all over the place...Joan of Arc maybe?

Valerie Vigoda: So many people after the show tell me they want a refrigerator like that. They’re like “when can I get one?”

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