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This week, Kupe and I wanted to take our conversation from December 22nd a step further. Now that you know what to expect in 2016, how can you best align your business analyst career path and goals for success?
Episode 3 | January 5, 2016 Business Analysis Podcast Transcript
Jacqueline: Greetings everyone, and a Happy New Year! This is Jacqueline Sanders-Blackman of Technology Expresso Radio. I'm excited for our first show of 2016, and we're starting it off like we ended it: with Kupe from B2T Training, the guest of our new series – "Ask An Analyst". Hello Kupe, and Happy New Year to you.
We want to welcome back our listeners. We're starting with a full switchboard. Our hot topic to start the New Year is "What type of career moves do our listeners have planned for 2016?"
As soon as we hung up from our last show in 2015, the emails started coming in. Listeners were marinating, listening to us banter back and forth, and pulling their questions together. Some of them sent them via email (via firstname.lastname@example.com), some of them are going to join us on today's call. If you're at your computer, you can tweet with us. We're going to be on Twitter. Look for our hashtag: #BizTechLiveChat, and our secondary hashtag: #AskAnAnalyst.
So just a recap: Both Kupe and I are deep in the business analyst world in various IT related environments and have been in it for some time (25 years +). Kupe is the president of B2T Training, which has trained over 17,000 business analysts. We have a lot of insight and perspective in that arena.
I also want to give a shout out to one of the people who called into our switchboard when we opened up the call, Felicia Phillips (@thepinkmogul). She's a business consultant. That's another line of work related to business analysis. She deals with entrepreneurs, and specifically, the Pink Entrepreneur network.
Felicia has insight from the pink entrepreneur network point of view. Those interested, so whether you're in corporate and thinking about going into the entrepreneur space or vice versa, you're in the entrepreneur space and want to come back over here into corporate, we've got you covered! Kupe and I can share some insight about both applications of business analysis from a corporate and entrepreneur lens. We have our bases covered, Felicia and I will be featured on our series that we're starting just for entrepreneurs which will air on Technology Expresso every other Monday starting January 11 at 12 noon..
The hot topic for today's show — goes along with it being a New Year — is people starting to look at where they are in their career, position, or company. Some people might be in transition, or a role in their organization might be coming to an end. New years are about resolution and looking for what's next. That's the theme of our show. We welcome calls and questions if they're about what's next as far as business analyst career paths and what opportunities are available in IT.
We will talk about the business analyst role and about it's cousins in regards to job classifications, project management, QA test analyst, database/data analyst, process analyst/change management and all the other roles that are in the software development life cycle. We certainly have a lot to share.
Kupe: I got excited when we started talking about this particular show around career. You sent me some of the emails that came in and the questions. I'm excited about the questions, and I'm ready to get started. Hopefully we can shed some light and give our insight into these topics that people want to hear about.
Question 1: People often transition into business analysis from different business or technical roles – What was your path?
Jacqueline: In my experience, a lot of people, whether you come into IT from the business track or you come in from the IT track, whether it's coders or testers, after a while, when they're looking for something new, the business analyst career path often is an option for people looking for a transition. What was your path?
Kupe: The route I took was a subject-matter expert route into the role. I think that's one of them. For those of you that don't know, I grew up as an accountant because my dad thought since everybody needs an accountant, I should get an accounting degree. I was an accountant and got put on teams with IT projects related to financial software applications. I was their subject-matter expert, I was a super-user of some of the systems, and I really enjoyed playing those roles on the software development team. When a position became available as a reporting/business analysis, I jumped on that, and that's how I got into the BA role. I started off and stayed on financial software applications, but as my BA skills grew and expanded, I was able to apply them to many different industries, projects, and initiatives. That was my route. The other route is people already being on these project teams as a QA analysis, a project manager, or maybe as a developer. They then determine that the analyst side, the problem-solving side, or the communications side of the business analysis role is really intriguing. They leave the testing/development world and decide to stick to the BA space, but they have a lot of system-software background which helps them. They then need to build on the business side, the subject-matter expert side a little more.
Jacqueline: It's kind of a balancing act — how you come in from the technical side with room to grow into developing your application of analytics, problem solving, soft skills, the critical thinking skills, and even specialized communication skills.
The alternative is that you come in from the business side. Coming in as a business analyst from the business side, if you've already worked in that space, you have the knowledge level of a subject-matter expert (SME). But just because you know the subject matter, there are still those skill sets around being an analyst that you have to develop. Then, you have to also make sure that you just don't rest on what you know about the business, but you also have to have an understanding and an appreciation of the technical side.
Question 2: What are your thoughts on some of the challenges of the subject-matter expert coming over to the business analyst role?
Kupe: The topic of being a subject-matter expert and playing the business analyst role is talked about a lot. People have to realize that the day you leave the business as a subject-matter expert, your "SMEness", your subject-matter expertise, starts to decline. You can't fall into the trap of making assumptions that you know the business well and that you were just there so you don't have to ask questions, dig deeper, get curious, or work with other people to really understand what's happening in the business. You're like, "Well, I'm a subject-matter expert, so I know it." You have to lose that attitude and know that your SMEness is declining every day that you're not in the business anymore. Make sure you're asking what you might think is a silly question because you 'know' the answer, but you can't make an assumption that you know the answer.
On the flip-side, the people who come from the technical side, the more solution side of the house, you can't jump to a solution too quick. That happens all the time in our industry. People are coming to solution teams with a solution in hand and asking for its implementation. I think people who come from the technical/solution side are excited, like, "Yeah, we can do that. Here's how we're going to do it," but you have to take that step back and ask questions. Make sure you're understanding what problem you're trying to solve or what opportunity you're going after before you just jump in and start creating some solutions. People fall into that trap day in and day out.
Jacqueline: Felicia Phillips (@thepinkmogul) has called in and I want to let her add to the conversation. I have two great people on the phone: Kupe that I know very well (we do the corporate and business analyst training at @b2ttraining.com for our corporate clients) and Felicia and I, work with and coach entrepreneurs and people transition in or out of corporate America. Kupe, I think we have a quote of yours from our last show, that a lot of what business analysts do, whether it's looking at what a client's needs are, stakeholder analysis, identifying their requirements, or problem-solving, it's the same critical thinking you do when you go into the business world. Business analysis is a shared skill set whether you working for someone or working for yourself, it's just in some cases it's internal customers, b2b or external customers.
Question 3: Would you say business analysis skills aren't just tied to IT?
Kupe: First, I was going to say: It sounds like you're cheating on me, Jacqueline. I didn't realize you were having these conversations with other people.
Jacqueline: I'm two-timing you, right? (Laughter)
Kupe: That's right. I will add, I was a corporate BA for many, many years, and now with B2T Training, we're a small business. I'm the president of that organization, so I'm responsible for running the organization, and I'm using my business analysis skills everyday. I'm not a business analyst in corporate America doing projects like a lot of people with the title BA are, but everyday I'musing my BA skills to improve our business. Even in the sales conversations we're having, we try to really understand what challenges our clients are having so that we can serve up the solution. These things are totally transferable.
Jacqueline: Felicia, welcome, and thank you for joining us.
Felicia: Thank you for having me. I'm always excited when I'm on the show with you, and yes, we do talk a lot in regards to transitioning from employee to employer. Being a business analyst is a great position to be in if you're thinking about becoming an entrepreneur because of the skill set you already possess, as far as the analytical. What happens for a lot of people is that when they think about entrepreneurship, they have these great dreams and big visions, but they lack the skills to develop their step-by-step plan, which is one of the reasons as a business coach for 24 years, it's very important to have one in your life if you don't possess those analytical skills to be able to look at your strengths and weaknesses and to be able to identify the opportunities that maybe lying before you.
Jacqueline: There's a lot of synergy and a lot of the same language. Business is about problem solving, finding solutions. If you aren't doing either of those no business – big or small – will survive. I've got Kupe on one side and the Pink Mogul on the other helping us talk about opportunities, career and small business/start-ups and leveraging the analyst skill set.
Kupe: Jacqueline, can I add, because something you said, Felicia, really resonated with me — the big ideas of some entrepreneurs, but they then have to come up with a plan. It's not good enough to have ideas, and I think what I've been talking a lot about lately is the concept of divergent thinking and convergent thinking. That's what you're hitting on. In our space, a lot of analysts aren't doing enough of the divergent thinking. People that are playing this role have to be more entrepreneurial in knowing what options are available and what to do; they need to do more divergent thinking when coming up with ideas or being part of that conversation. Also, where good, tactical, analytical thinkers are, now that we have this idea, "How do we get it to the finish line?" Entrepreneurs need some of that analytical, and the people who are in the analyst role need to focus in on how entrepreneurs coming up with new ideas and creative ways of doing things.
Felicia: I totally agree with you, Kupe, because there are opportunities on both sides. I see a lot of people coming out of the technology industry like yourself who are looking to create businesses which creates jobs which helps our economy. The thing about it is, the first thing people want to know is how do we get connected. When you bring both sides together like you said, if we start to do that more or at least provide the platforms to do that, we'll begin to see more things happen in that arena. It's just that nobody has actively put a platform in place that says, "Ok, we like the visionary aspect or the idea of the entrepreneur, but they need the support of what the business analyst brings to the table."
Jacqueline: I see Kupe and Felicia on a stage together doing a presentation on this topic, and I see a knockout opportunity for people to see what happens when both sides come together. You're absolutely right, and Kupe, you hit some important. Organizations are looking for people inside the organization still have the entrepreneurial mindset. We call them Intrapreneurs. You may be inside the company, but they want you to push that envelope and have that breakthrough thinking and design thinking. We're in the age of innovation, and in order to innovate, you can't just have that cookie-cutter thinking, that you're just looking to follow someone else's footsteps. You have to go off the beaten path in order to be a trailblazer, both internal and external.
Thank you Felicia for joining us today.
Felicia: Sure. You can follow me on all Social Media platforms, @ThePinkMogul. I'm on periscope every night at 11pm. Look for us: we'll be doing the Pink Tech Summit again this year, September 30th. Look out for more information on that, and thank you again, Jacqueline, for allowing me to be on the show with you today. Kupe, I enjoy talking with you.
Kupe: Yeah, it was awesome. Thank you.
Jacqueline: Next Caller is a familiar voice: Mr. Blackman, are you there?
David: Hello Jacqueline. Hello Kupe, thanks for joining us again.
Kupe: Absolutely David.
David: One of the things that you mentioned here was about the business analysis skill sets, and even Felicia alluded to that by talking about entrepreneurship. Those skill sets really resonated with my listening audience, the project management (PM) audience, and I always stress the importance of being able to combine those business analysis skill sets with their project management skill sets, especially when working in an agile-type environment where the employers are looking for not necessarily an agile framework that they're trying to employ, but more of an agile mindset. That's really important: the communication, knowledge, and language of business analysis around holding scrum sessions. Can you speak to the importance of being able to switch back and forth between business analysis and project management and how closely involved those two roles are?
Question 4: Can you speak to the importance of being able to switch between BA and PM skills and how the two roles are closely relate?
Kupe: Yeah. I was going to ask Jacqueline if I could step back and talk more about entrepreneurship with BA's, but it applies to PM's and everybody on the team. Your question, David, brings to mind my thoughts about business analysis in general. Last year at one of the big BA conferences, the BBC, which is IIBA's big flagship conference, I made a statement on a panel saying in five years, the title "Business Analyst" will be gone. The reason I said that is because everybody on the team or in an organization needs to have a BA mindset. That mindset is all about making sure that you're focusing on the right initiative, problem, and opportunity, and then breaking things down into chunks that people can act upon and either solve that problem or take advantage of that opportunity. Whether you're a PM, QA analyst, or whatever your title is in an organization, you have to be thinking like a BA all the time.
To that point, everybody should be thinking as an entrepreneur. One thing that entrepreneurs have, because most entrepreneurs don't have a ton of money lying around — if you're starting a business, you're always thinking about what will give us the biggest bang for the buck in the shortest amount of time? What's going to make the most sense? Entrepreneurs are constantly thinking about that, and they're spending money and time on things that they believe are going to add value to their business and to their clients. That's what people on project teams, whether you're a PM, BA, QA analyst, or developer, you have to think like that, and too many people don't. They're like, "Hey, I get paid a salary. I'm doing my job. There's this process we're supposed to follow, so I'm going to follow that process," rather than thinking about, "What's going to add the most value to my team, today, or to my project?"
Felicia talked about small companies creating jobs and adding to the economy. The same thing will happen in organizations. If people are doing a better job with their time in organizations, then those organizations can spend more time on things that are going to help their company and clients which will then create more jobs, create better things for us, and innovate like Jacqueline was talking about.
Hopefully that answered your question. I kind of did a little politician thing on you where I weaved in my points about entrepreneurship, but I think it all flows together.
Jacqueline: I even want to take it a little bit further, Kupe, because you're right on point. What I'm hearing, the theme is that people need to think about diversifying. You have to diversify your skill set and not just think black and white, BA and PM. Even myself: I cross-pollinated between project management, business analysis, six sigma and scrum master when it came to my certifications. Even though I don't use the PM role (my roles is a business analysis), it helps me better understand what I need to do to support my project manager. Those skill sets, even though they may not be primary to what you're doing, they give you a different perspective, more longevity, more marketable skills, and differentiate you when your competition for a job or for a client's business.
Question 5: I'm a Business Analyst but I keep getting offered hybrid PM/BA roles – Is this going to the trend for near future?
Kupe: One of the questions that you emailed me earlier was about a person in the BA role being asked to do PM and testing work. They were looking for a role that would just focus on the BA skills and grow as a BA. All this depends upon what your personal aspirations are, but I see more and more organizations going to what I believe is a better model around teaming and having people who can do more than one space. Especially in the BA space, there's an argument out there of people saying, "If you had to have brain surgery, are you going to go to your family doctor, your primary care physician, or are you going to go to a brain surgeon?" The answer is obvious: a brain surgeon. They use that for business analysis.
If you need business analysis work done, are you going to go to a BA or are you going to go to a generalist? I think there are some initiatives that really need that brain-surgeon-type BA, but a lot of things that we work on day in and day out don't need a brain surgeon. They need capable people, and that work might even be spanned across two or three people; it doesn't have to fall on one person's lap all the time. More teams are going that way, and if you want to be especially on a software team, it's going to be hard to just focus on one thing and be valuable at the same time. Teams are going to ebb and flow. You have to step into different roles at different times when you have that skill set.
Jacqueline: One of the things in my many years of experience in IT is that, going back to the analogy of the brain surgeon, in general, every brain is created pretty much the same. However, with software and software projects, there are different implementations, different interpretations, and different methodologies, and every company does it differently. I have all these different experiences, and I draw back on all of those to say, "How should we approach this?" or, "I have seen a problem similar to but not exactly like this. What tools should I use?" In IT, you have to assess the whole situation. It's ever-changing. A lot of people, yourself and myself included, we thrive on the dynamic nature of every assignment and every project. It's the reason we love IT.
You have to come into IT knowing that it's not cookie-cutter. It's not an assembly line. Just because this worked perfectly on this project, it may not on the others. There's an interesting article I was reading just the other night on the topic of "Should BA's be considered subject-matter experts on projects." It was saying that companies are getting away from this one person who's supposed to be an expert, but they're starting to create what the articled called a "community of intelligence." It takes a collective effort. The business analyst is that facilitator, but part of it is knowing, "I have to pull from this person. I need this group over here. I need that group over there." Getting different perspectives to solve today's complex problems.
Kupe: Absolutely, and I like to use the term lenses, but perspective works. You have to make sure that on your teams, and I think a lot of teams struggle with this; you have to be careful, especially in the agile world, because there's the concept of "a product owner," and that's the person the team is working with to get their input. That's fine, but you have to validate that the product owner has all these different lenses coming into their viewpoint in the decisions that they're making. It's ok to have a representative as the product owner, but as a team member, do you know you can trust that person? You have to validate that they're getting their lenses somehow, these perspectives somehow. That's so important.
Jacqueline: Sounds like the take away is that everyone needs to have diversity in terms of skill sets. Don't let your current PM, BA or Developer title keep you from expanding your skill set. David, you had the question. Kupe and I were on a roll there, but did we hit your question, and do you have a follow-up?
David: Absolutely. You hit all the points I was referring to. Running Technology Expresso is a prime example, we consistently have to pivot and use all of our skill sets; that's how we've been successful. We were entrepreneurs in developing and creating this platform, and Jacqueline and I called on our business analysis skill sets, project management skill sets, and technical skill sets (because I came from the technical side as a wide-area network engineer, and I parlayed that into project management). Personally, I think project management is one of the toughest jobs in the world because we consistently, and I may be a little narcissistic here, but we consistently have to manage one of the hardest elements, the human element. We consistently have to manage personalities, psychologies, resource teams, and client-based teams; that's really tough.
Question 6: The Project Management and Business Analyst roles are tough? Which is why there is such a high demand for good PM's and BA's. What makes them tough?
Kupe: Jacqueline, you said earlier that PMs and business analysts are like cousins. I think one of the reasons is because people that play in the BA and PM spaces, the largest group or thing they deal with is people; they're trying to help people, and they deal with people day in and day out. When you're dealing with people, attitudes and personalities change day-to-day. Some people have split personalities. You have a lot to deal with, and to me, that's the most exciting and challenging part of the job.
Jacqueline: People that are passionate about business analysis or project management and this whole IT space, it's funny that the toughest part of our job is also the most exciting. If we didn't have it, we probably would be bored. Having the constant change, the challenge, solving problems, things being thrown at us, having a different configuration every day, having to work and massage the situation, and using different toolsets: on the one hand, sometimes you come home exhausted, but hopefully you get a good night sleep and are ready to do it all over again. Throw agile into it, and every day is even more dynamic. I said all of that to say: we thrive off of that. That's where we get our adrenaline. Something too cookie-cutter would not suit our personalities, even though sometimes we wish things would slow down just for a little bit.
Kupe: For me, in the accounting industry, there was some differentiations here and there, but for the most part, I had a weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly routine. That just kept going and going and going, and I couldn't do it. What I love about project work is that every day is a little different, and when an initiative comes to an end, you get to work with other people and do different things. I always tell new parents: if you're not tired as a parent, and not because you're not getting any sleep because of a newborn, but as you're parenting your growing child, if you're not tired, then you're not doing it right. It's the same thing with business analysis. If you're not tired — because as a parent, I'm always trying to look for little teaching moments for my kids. I joke when I have a teaching moment; I'll be like, "This is life lesson 742," and I'll give them that lesson. You're always listening, looking, and trying to find out how you can make your children and yourself better. It's the same thing with business analysis; you're always listening and watching how other people are reacting. If you're not tired at the end of the day, then maybe you're not doing it completely right and there are things you could tweak.
Jacqueline Thank You, Kupe! So Let's take Our Next Caller, Patricia!
Patricia: Hi Jacqueline! I enjoyed the conversation. I'm a part of the IIBA, and I was present in Atlanta at the presentation you and Kupe gave a couple of months ago.
Jacqueline & Kupe simultaneously: Thank you.
Jacqueline: Excellent. Now, you have our undivided attention. Do you have a question for us? What's on your mind?
Patricia: Yes. I'm looking for some advice.
Question 7: I'm kind of in the space of a SME, and I'm trying to get into a business analysis position. From that standpoint, I don't have all of the technology experience that I want. If I'm interviewing for a business analysis position, do you have any points on how I can make myself more marketable and persuasive to the hiring manager that I'm the right person for the job?
Kupe: Yeah. I think the main thing, especially if you're coming in from the SME-side and don't have a large technical background, there are two things. Ideally, it's similar to my business analyst career path, and I think it would still work for you, if you can make a transition within your company if they have an organization with BA's. Then, you promote that you have a lot of company/organization knowledge as well as the specific business area and that you can work on teams that are helping that business area; the institutional knowledge is going to be a benefit to the team. You can also transfer that to other companies. I don't know what you're doing. Today it's a SME, but I bet you other companies have those SMEs while also having teams supporting that group. Look for areas that are looking for positions in the type of work that you do today.
A good friend of mine who also lives here in Atlanta, someone asked him, "I want to get into banking, but I don't have any banking knowledge." Well, do you go to an ATM everyday or once a week? He said yes. Do you use a bank? Yes. Do you interact with banks? Then you have banking knowledge. One of the big things that companies need are consumer knowledge. They need that consumer lens. Jumping in at that angle, that's kind of the route you want to take. You're going to bring this new lens, or as Jacqueline said, perspective, to the team. Teams might not need that, but you're looking for a team that has that gap that you can fill in. While you're on that team, you can start picking and choosing other tasks. Maybe they offer training, and you have your team to help mentor you so that you are able to build the other skills needed.
Jacqueline: Agreed. Patricia, you answer during that interview, in a nutshell, is, "That's an area I'm working on." What you can do is what Kupe said; use those different examples to say how you're working on it. The main thing when we talk about a BA having technical experience is understanding the language, the concepts, and what it takes to build a system with the logical components and pieces. It's all to help you ask better questions. In doing that and exposing yourself as much as possible, it doesn't mean that you can get in and do the hardcore coding like a developing. You just want to learn to speak their language. You want to use your understanding so if they are telling you something isn't possible, that you have a basic understanding so you can relay it back to the business. You want to be able to take what the coders are telling you and translate that back to the business.
One of the things is learning the language and the jargon. When I'm in an interview and someone says, "I'm working on it," that could be an online course you're taking, a book you're reading, or an organization you volunteered for; you could do volunteer work that' technical in nature or you shadow someone doing technical work, but it directly or indirectly gave you exposure. Saying "I'm working on it," could also mean that someone is mentoring you and helping you to learn the language. Those are just a couple of examples that come to mind when you say, "That's an area I'm working on." Does that make sense Kupe and Patricia?
Patricia: Yes, it makes a lot of sense. Thank you both.
Kupe: Awesome. Good luck. We loved having you. Jacqueline, I don't know if we have another caller. Can I chime in to a point you made about how technical you need to get?
Jacqueline: Chime away, Kupe, and we do have another caller. Dwayne, I do see you there. We're going to get to you, next. Go ahead, Kupe.
Kupe: There was a point in my career when people preached this: BAs don't need to get technical at all, they never focus on the solution, they always talk about the business' needs, and blah, blah, blah. I do think that's needed, but at the same time, nowadays, and I mentioned this on another call, everybody is dealing with technology everyday. The people that we work with have so much technology in their pockets that they have an understanding of technology, and if you don't as a BA, then you're not going to be as valuable or look as credible.
The attitude I think people have to have, and as a comparison, I ask, "Do you want a financial advisor, or do you want a financial analyst?" A financial analyst is someone who would come in, look at your finances, and say, "Hey Jacqueline, it looks like you're going to retire when you're 95. I hope that's what you wanted. Have a good day," and then let someone else deal with the solution. I think that you have to be more of a financial advisor where you do that analysis, but you also have some information on options that people can take; at least know the lingo so that you can talk to your solution team credibly about what the options are and then work with the business side to say, "Here are some options we can do down." If you don't have that stuff and you're not always thinking about how we can help organizations with solutions, then I think you're missing a big piece of it.
Jacqueline: Absolutely. Great point. That's the thing: if you're going to be a business analyst or project manager in IT, knowing the language is the baseline. You don't want to be intimidated by it. When someone starts talking technical, you don't stick your fingers in your ears and go, "La, la, la, la, la, la. I don't want to hear anything."
Kupe: Right. Like, "I'm the business analyst. I don't talk about technical stuff or solutions."
Jacqueline: Exactly. I know on many a project, I asked, "Can I just sit in the back of the room?" when they were doing the technical design or when they were having one of their design brainstorming sessions. I'll tell you, I may not have caught 100% of it. I might have caught 50% of it at best, but I heard it. Every now and then, I can remember being able to chime in and say, "Did you guys also realize they wanted XYZ." Then, they began realized that there was value with even having me in a room with whatever I was picking up. I've always asked and volunteered, "Can I shadow you? Can I be along for the ride to hear what you're talking about?" It built a rapport: just hanging out with the technical folks and not trying to distance yourself from them; helping them understand that they're just as much as your stakeholder and your client as well goes a long way.
Again, thank you Patricia for that question, and please tell others about the show. We look forward to you being on the show again. Dwayne has been listening to us patiently. I'm opening up the line. Dwayne, are you there?
Dwayne: Yeah, I'm here. Good, good. Thanks for inviting me. David invited me to the call. I'm a senior network engineer, and I have been looking for employment with an organization that can use my skill sets. It has been very difficult. I'm a certified Cisco Network associate and ipv6. I do routing and switching primarily with Cisco, but I've worked with Juniper, Extreme, and Avaya. I do network management, network design, wireless LAN design, and network operations. I'm skilled in many areas, and I would like to forward my resume to anybody that has engagements open. I have also done project management, but I'm looking for opportunities where I can use my skill sets, and I was wondering if anybody on the call knew somewhere I could send my skill sets to and that could possibly engage me as a resource. Also,
Question 8: What are some specific job search tips you have in today's job market?
Kupe: Dwayne, thanks for calling. I don't want to act like I knew everything you just said; there were a couple of terms in there that I wasn't familiar with. I'd say this to anybody looking for employment, that you shouldn't just drop your resume in an email and hope that you're going to get called back. The name of the game is networking. The more people who you know and can have conversations with, the better. I think you're headed down that path, which is good. The other thing is, it has been some years now but it feels like ops is getting more play in the agile space, and that's DevOps, development operations. Part of that is the actual software development side and the testing side, but then there's the IT operations. A lot of things that you talked about is needed to make solutions happen. In the agile space, they're talking about how to weave in technical resources early in the software life cycle, that includes brining in testers, developers, and product owners during analysis — but now they're like, to get better, to get faster, and to improve, we need the IT operations as part of that core team. If you're looking at job openings, look for terms around DevOps or development operations, and I think that's where you'll be able to fine-tune your search to that which you can utilize your skill sets.
Jacqueline: I didn't understand all of those designations that you mentioned, but it sounds like you have a lot of good experience and background. You just have to continue to get it out there. The interesting thing, and Kupe, you kind of touched upon this, too, is that you do have to balance between doing that online search and the one that they call "pressing the flesh"; you still have to do the face-to-face. There are some really good meet-up and network organizations. Sometimes, you have to diversify. You might belong to one organization but check out other networks. I credit going to a Six Sigma (SPIN) meeting, Kupe you may not know this, but that's when Barb stood up and talked about B2T; that was my introduction to B2T. It wasn't an IIBA meeting, but that's how I got connected with B2T.
Work various networks and don't get discouraged.
If your technical credentials are solid perhaps you also want to work on and list your soft skills. In IT team member have to use soft skills and hard skills and having a good balance. That's a big topic, so Kupe I'll give it to you first, and then I'll throw in my two cents. Anything you want to share with the audience and drop secrets about the hard skills and soft skills?
Kupe: Some of that, we covered in our first episode which is in the Tech Archive and on the B2T website.
Jacqueline: You're right, and I want to add when you're creating your resume and your skill sets that you should make sure that on your resume that you have both soft skills and hard skills. In my mind, going back to when we were talking about the blended roles, no matter what role you are in or how technical you are, make sure you also have some soft skills that appear on your resume. That's my thought.
Question 9: What if some of your skills are stale, you haven't used them in a while?
Kupe: Yeah. Resume-wise, and this goes back to using current terms of whatever job you're seeking. You have to keep up. In the BA space, you use terms like the BABOK and terms that are used in agile so that people can be like, "Oh, they're up on the current techniques." I did a presentation and got some feedback, and one of the comments were: "This is nothing new. It's just different terms for the same things we've been doing for years." You can say that about almost anything, right? So many people earlier in the agile days would be like, "Oh, I did this with RAD back in the 70's. There's nothing different. I'm not buying into this agile thing." Well, if the employers are calling it X and you're calling it Y, they're not going to look at your resume. You can get on a high-horse about it and be like "I'm calling it what I've called it for years," or you could call it what other people are calling in so that you're recognized and you can have a conversation.
On the softer side, you have to talk about how you interact. These days, we're all working on a team, so how do you interact with a team? What do you do? What differentiates you and how you play on a team vs how others play on a team? Use LinkedIn. People can give you recommendations. Use LinkedIn and ask people to give you recommendations, not just on your technical skills, but on how you act as a team-player, a collaborator, and a communicator. It's beyond the resume. With technology, we're able to have that out there, and you can send people to your LinkedIn profile to see all of this great stuff about you that goes way beyond what you can put on two pages of resume.
David: If I could add… I just wanted to follow that up and speak to Dwayne's point as well. As an engineer, when you get an interview — well, you have already gotten an interview, so you know that they've recognized your skill sets. In an interview, you have to be able to pivot and show your other skill sets, as Kupe mentioned: your collaborative skill sets. Dwayne and I was speaking earlier today, and I mentioned how in project management, we call our different stages "phases," and in the agile world, they call them "sprints." Being able to communicate and change the language to be more relevant today to the methodologies that are being utilized is equally important. Showing that you can work in an agile mindset, meaning a collaborative mindset, will show your potential employers that you can work with the other positions and the other key elements of the overall project or initiative such as your business analyst and your project managers. I just wanted to reemphasized that which Kupe spoke of and show how it's related to Dwayne's point and his skill sets and needs as far as employment is concerned.
Jacqueline: One of the things I say whether it applies to you or some of our younger callers who are looking for experience, there are always volunteer organizations and opportunities whether it's professional organizations or non-profit organizations that need technical support and help and are trying to build things. You can volunteer and still do projects and get recommendations, and it's a form of networking. If you need to get some experience to augment some of your education, that's one of the ways: volunteering. It's also a way to stay active, because we all know that when you learn something, you use it or lose it. If you have a skill set that you're not actively being able to apply, then look at volunteering.
The other thing is, we talked earlier on the call about diversifying. If you have a very technical background, maybe augmenting it with something like a business analysis or project management class would show that you a versatile. It also differentiates you from someone else who has the same exact technical certifications that you might have. Anything that makes you stand out and shows your diversity is a good take-away from our overall call.
Jacqueline: We receive an email that I want to acknowledge. Keith, I'm going to read your question, next.
Question 10: Someone with a technical background that is looking to transition into Business Analysis, has taken BA classes, but companies are looking for business/industry knowledge.
Similar to our last caller, Keith has a technical, network-type background, and he is looking to transition. He'd like to go into business analysis. He's taking some classes and has dabbled a bit in it, and that's where he wants to transition into. He's trying to change and update his resume, but what he is finding is he's not getting a lot of hits because he doesn't necessarily have the front-end exposure from the business perspective, so everyone just sees his technical background. He's wondering, how does someone who is technical and that knows how to build software transition over and be taken seriously when they apply for business analysis jobs? What would you say to them?
Kupe: I came from the SME-route. He's more technical. You're in a position where you don't have the information in a resume or even on LinkedIn where people are searching and finding you because you don't have all the keywords that they're looking for. It does come down to networking, getting your story down, and how your experience is actually a huge benefit to the organization. Again, I think it was Patricia coming from the SME-side and her using the angle of that business knowledge and getting the technical knowledge that she needs; she has to find teams that has the gap of that business knowledge and push into those teams. The same thing for you, Keith, is finding, networking, and discovering an organization that may have a team that has a stronger pool of business skills on the team and not as much technical, and they need to get their BA team a little stronger on the technical side for some credibility; jump on one of those teams, find those type of assignments and build up your skill set.
We work with a lot of organizations that still have BA managers with BA teams; some of them are matrixed, but a lot of them are not anymore. The BA's might not be working on dedicated teams, but they still have somebody, maybe not their HR manager, but somebody over the BA practice. You want to look for and network with people with titles like BA manager or BA lead. If you do a search on LinkedIn, you'll get a ton of those people. Try to find those organizations and those leads, because they're going to be the ones to know what area their team is deficient in and how you can fill that gap. If they have teams that have a lot of technical knowledge, then that might not be the best team for you. There are teams out there that have real, business-oriented BA's that know the business well but struggle on the technical side. Try to find those and find out where you can jump in and fill that gap.
Jacqueline: The other thing I was going to add to that is, from a resume perspective, going to different formats of the resume. There's the functional resume where you pull out and emphasize those skill sets.
Second, if there's a job that you see yourself in down the road, you have to figure out what skill set you need and how you can demonstrate and exercise that. I've heard people say, "I want to be in a leadership role, but my company doesn't have any openings for a senior PM or a senior BA, so I'm stuck." If you give up, that's your choice, but the other option is, like I said earlier, find a volunteer opportunity that needs leadership so that you can get experience, learn by doing, work with people who can recommend you and give references that they've seen you in an active role as a leader. Then, when you're applying for that job, you have that experience; it wasn't necessarily on the job you got paid for, but it was in a volunteer role. Then, on your resume and in interviews, you can speak about examples where you have used that skill set. I've seen this work very well for several people I know.
David: I just want to add, I've seen recently some resumes come across my desk from my PM community and even my engineers where their resume is extremely short. If we recall back where you put your resume on one page: that does not apply to this arena. It does not apply in the technical arena. I'm going to differ on that. You have to be able to show your experience. That's what everyone is looking for. They're not printing this out to look at 1-2 pages. They're looking for content, and you have to be able to speak to the multiple skill sets they're looking for as a business analysis, as a project manager, and even as an engineer. You have to speak to those skill sets. My resume, if I printed it out, it would be about 4.5-5 pages long, and that's just it; employers are all over me. You have to be able to speak to all the different specialties that they're looking for, and you cannot do that on one page.
Kupe: If I can add to what David is saying, the key to the resume piece is twofold. 1 is the cover letter. You have to be thinking about, Keith, to your specific situation — if you're going for a BA position and you have this technical background, in your cover letter, answer the question for employers on why they should look at you. You know they're questioning: "There's a bunch of BA's with BA experience, so why should I look at Keith when he has more technical experience and when he's going to potentially be more junior on the BA side?" You have to answer that question. Be upfront. Say, "This is why you should hire me over anybody else." I know it's hard; a lot of people are humble, so they don't want to come out and do that. Unfortunately, I used to say, "I would be so much better if I had an agent." It's hard for us to sell ourselves, but you have to be out there and answer that question.
In the resume, and I think David and Jacqueline were saying this in slightly different ways, but the way I would sum it up is you have to change your resume not to necessarily what you were doing, but how that translates to the job that you're looking for. Your title might have been systems analyst or engineer, but whatever job you're looking for, what did you do in that role? To David's point, you might have 4.5 pages explaining not that you were able to code for X amount of time on this and that application or that you know Java; you don't have to know Java to be a BA, but what did you do on that job? I've worked with so many developers that were incredible analysts and that could transition without a problem, but you have to explain what you did on that job that relates to the role that you're looking for. I'm sure, Keith, that you have a lot of that; you just have to change some wording around.
Jacqueline: That resume and cover letter has to catch their attention. Let's say you get the interview. You have to be able to sell it. If you need to practice with people and different organizations, we belong to BDPA. Certain times of the year, they do coaching and help people do mock interviews. Sit with someone and practice selling it/you. You have to believe it, and you have to make the person across the desk believe, too, that you can do it, and if you can't, you can grow into it. It's similar to what Patricia was saying: she may not have the skill set now, but she wants to be convincing that she has enough and will continue to develop herself in the area she needs to grow into. Practice, practice, practice.
If you have a question or comment, call 855-484-6837, leave a message and we'll read it on our next episode. Also, please visit our Tech Expresso Cafe page on iTunes for this and other series!
Please enjoy our other episodes:
- Episode 1 | December 8, 2015: Podcast launch and general overview of business analysis today
- Episode 2 | December 22, 2015: 2015 in Review and Set Your Expectations for 2016
- Episode 4 | January 19, 2016: Business Analysis Role Fits in Many Careers
- Episode 5 | February 9, 2016: Overcoming Business Analysis Project Failures
- Episode 6 | February 23, 2016: Good Business Analyst vs. Bad Business Analyst
- Episode 7 | March 8, 2016: Business Analyst FAQs
- Episode 8 | March 29, 2016: More Business Analysis FAQs
- Episode 9 | April 12, 2016: A Business Analyst Attitude for Success
- Episode 10 | April 29, 2016: Consider Your Business Analysis Thinking Approach
- Episode 11 | May 10, 2016: DiSC Assessment and the Project Team
- Episode 12 | May 24, 2016: Negotiation Approaches
- Episode 13 | June 7, 2016: Strategy Analysis and Strategic Thinking
- Episode 14 | July 5, 2016: Business Analysis Insight
- Episode 15 | July 19, 2016: The Remote Business Analyst
- Episode 16 | August 2, 2016: A Modern Agile Conversation
- Episode 17 | September 13, 2016: Business Analysis Basics
- Episode 18 | October 4, 2016: More Business Analysis Basics
- Episode 19 | November 3, 2016: Live from #BBCCon
- Episode 20 | November 15, 2016: Effectively Give and Receive Feedback
- Episode 21 | December 8, 2016: 1 Year Anniversary & 2016 Year in Review
- Episode 22 | January 10, 2017: Business Analysis in 2017
- Episode 23 | Janary 24, 2017: Is agile a methodology?
- Episode 24 | Janary 27, 2017: An Agile Mindset
- Episode 25 | February 7, 2017: State of Agile
- Episode 26 | February 28, 2017: Are BAs Becoming Obsolete?
- Episode 27 | March 23, 2017: Remote Agile Team Success


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Tag: interviews
Daniel Reichard Shares Some Of His Favorite Things
Their Favorite Things: Original Jersey Boys Star Daniel Reichard Shares His Theatregoing Experiences (Playbill, December 23, 2015)
Daniel Reichard, who created the role of Bob Gaudio in the Tony-winning musical Jersey Boys, shares the performances that most affected him as part of the audience. The singing actor has also just released a holiday EP entitled "Daniel Reichard — Under the Mistletoe," which is available on iTunes and CDbaby.com. (Click here to read article.)
Category: Daniel Reichard, Media
"Wisconsin Tonight" with The Midtown Men
The Midtown Men kick off a big week of concerts all over the Midwest – starting with tonight's show in Green Bay!
Tony Award Winner Christian Hoff and Tony Award Nominee J. Robert Spencer stopped by "Wisconsin Tonight" to preview TMM's upcoming performance at the Weidner Center.
Click here to watch the video.
Category: Christian Hoff, Concerts, J. Robert Spencer, Media
Fun Interview With Christian Hoff
Christian Hoff From Child Actor to Midtown Man
BroadwayWorld Interview: by Heidi Scheuermann, broadwayworld.com
Coming to New Orleans tomorrow night is an act that no JERSEY BOYS loving theatergoers, including myself, are going to want to miss! THE MIDTOWN MEN, four original cast members from the Broadway hit JERSEY BOYS (Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer) have come together and have formed their own music group which brings to life the music of the 60's in what's sure to be an energy packed show.
Among the four MIDTOWN MEN group members is a pretty awesome person named Christian Hoff, and I had the privilege of speaking with him for almost an hour about his early career as a child actor, his journey to becoming a Tony Award winner for his role in JERSEY BOYS, and his transition from Broadway star to touring band member. There's no doubt about it. Christian loves his lifelong job as an actor/singer/business man/artist, and it certainly shined through during our conversation:
So you're from California, and you involved yourself in community theater when you were a very little kid, you went to a performing arts high school, and you haven't stopped performing since then. This is something you've quite literally been doing your entire life. Where does the passion come from? How have you been able to do this for so long without burning out?
Well, you know, the thing about doing what you love to do is you look for opportunities to do it. Right? I got hooked when I was a kid. The first time I stepped out on stage it was sort of like being on the pitcher's mound, which is what I thought I was gonna do was be a baseball player, and you can control the outcome of the game. That was something that as a storyteller I realized that you are in total control of something. You know what I mean? You affect other people, and if it doesn't go great then you can fix it. I just love doing it. So I got hooked right away, and then I started storytelling, and when I stepped out on stage I knew it's what I wanted to do with my life.
Even as a kid this is something you knew that's what I'm going to do with my life?
Yeah, it just sort of fit. I never thought I was gonna be able to. I was always sort of stretched, and I still am. I always try to stretch myself beyond what I think I can do. You kind of keep raising the bar in your mind, your expectations of yourself, and the discipline. And the thing about doing what we're doing now is we do hundreds and hundreds of shows, and sometimes, like next month, we have 18 shows in 28 days in like 15 states. So what happens with that is then it's just a matter of stamina and that I learned early on… the craft of being an entertainer and the sort of diligence and just being part of a tradition that was bigger than me. I love that team aspect. That's really playing a part right now in starting our own band and our own trajectory as four entertainers from Broadway (that's where we met). To start a band and to tour the country singing and telling our own story is very unique. It's not something that I expected, and it's definitely out of our comfort zones as far as what we anticipated. Going into JERSEY BOYS we thought ok well now we'll move on and do another show after, and you keep re-defining yourself like that. But, to re-define yourself and be in a band for five years now is pretty cool. It's very different. It's a different role altogether, but bottom line is it's the same stuff. There's the audience, there's storytelling, the music, there's lights, the sound. It's great. It's exactly what we were born to do; it's just in a different arena now.
Who have been some of your biggest influences over all of your years of performing?
Well, ok, so in the audio world, or the voicing world I broke a world record for an audio book that I did because of the number of characters. I actually surpassed Jim Dale's record for Lord of the Rings… I think it was Lord of the Rings, and I've done voices all my life. Cartoons and voices for commercials and everything, but so in the cartoon world I was the original Richie Rich at Hanna-Barbara [Productions]. This is long before your time, my friend. Imagine this… a little kid doing the voice of Richie Rich, which at the time was a new cartoon, and walking the halls… They're making Scooby-Doo and The Jetsons and Yogi Bear… all of the cartoons that I was watching at the time. I sit down in the room and we're recording my character, we've got a bunch of voice actors, and next to me is the guy who is voicing my dog. His name was Dollar, and the guy who did that voice did all of the animal voices, among other voices, but all the great animal voices. And, I found out by virtue of sitting next to him when he would go into all of these other characters and kind of just have fun with me so my dog would all of a sudden sound like Scooby-Doo or Astro or Dino from The Flinstones. He would always do that, and that blew my mind that he could do all those voices. And still is alive and well, still doing voices for film and TV. His name is Frank Welker. Long story short, Frank Welker, big influence.
The second person that really had an influence on me was Shirley MacLaine. The very first TV film was called "Every Little Movement" starring Shirley MacLaine, and I'll never forget working with her, dancing with her, singing with her, and her pulling me aside and she said, "If you have the will, just see it through," she called me 'young fella' at the time, "If you have the will, then see it through. Your life will never be the same." She wrote that on our script and I think she handed me and orange slice and a handful of trail mix. But looking in her eyes and seeing her… and she's such an entertainer, she's an actor, we worked hard together we sweated together, we ate together, and seeing someone as gifted and as sort of transcendent as she is as a star and as a performer… to meet the person who was behind that and be encouraged by her really got my attention because she could see who I was for who I was, and not for what I was doing. It was like I see you as an entertainer that can do this all your life if you have the will to see it through. That's helped me go through a lot of different phases. As a child actor, going through all the different transitions, basically from child actor to adolescent actor to young man to playing adults has just been… you constantly have to re-define yourself and re-imagine and re-teach other people how to see you, and that's hard in show biz sometimes… but, not for a theatre actor. I think I learned early on how to keep at it.
And then in the music world I think Pete Townshend was my first music inspiration… guitar player for The Who, and he wrote THE WHO'S TOMMY, and he was an amazing influence on me just how he could command, very humbly command attention and draw you in and tell stories and communicate with you. He does the same thing with the press. He's just amazing at commanding the room and getting his point across no matter what's coming at him. I think that's kind of cool. And he's also a great businessman, too… publisher, entrepreneur, songwriter, guitar player… everything that I am.
And then from the directing world I would say the greatest director… I mean I worked with Hal Prince, that was amazing. That was my first Broadway show was in EVITA. I was in the West Coast production of EVITA, and just having Hal Prince there directing and having someone tell me who Hal Prince was… "Do you know who that is?" I'm like… "He's the director?" They said, "Yeah that's the director. His name is Hal Prince, and he is an amazing visionary and it's such an honor to be in the show because he's so involved and someday you'll look back on this and go 'whoa'. But right now, yeah, he's just your director." And so that was pretty darned cool. And then when I worked with Des McAnuff who directed THE WHO'S TOMMY, he brought me back basically into show business after taking a break with the role of Tommy. And, the role of Tommy in JERSEY BOYS, before there was even the script… he was looking for me, and he said, "Where are you? I can't find you." I said, "I'm sitting at my desk at my home and my kids are doing their homework on the couch. He's like, "No, I mean like what are you doing? Are you still acting?" And I said, "I don't know. What've you got?" And he says, "Well, you need to come in." I said, "When?" "Right now." I bring my kids to the audition, and my guitar, and I sang and there's no script and we just ad-libbed, and he came around the table and he put his arm around me and said, "What are you doing in two months?" And I knew at that point in time that we were going to be collaborating again, and doing something very cool. He told me what it was about, the story of The Four Seasons, and we're writing it now. So, I got to be part of a show that was being created around me, and with me, and through me. I think that's what really helped me win the Tony Award was creating this character from the inside out. It wasn't just that he was an Italian-American, and he was kind of a hot head, and he was the leader of the group until he left… it was about me. It was about my essences and things that Des as a visionary director saw in me, and that really helped because it was an acting stretch for me and yet it was all in my essences, my wheelhouse because he knows what I'm capable of… who I am inside.
How wonderful that you've had people around you from childhood until now that see that potential in you and have helped you to rise to the challenge. That's really great! So let's talk about that Tony Award since you mentioned it. You were the Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for your role in JERSEY BOYS. Take me through your Tony's experience. What was it like learning that you were nominated and then actually going on to win?
I remember that day when the nominations came out. My publicist called me in the morning and… I knew they were coming out that day, but the way I work is that it's all about the work… it was just another show day. I was just kind of in my bed with my wife and we were just waking up and getting ready for the day, and I got a call and she goes, "Well, my friend, you got the nomination for a Tony Award." And I was just like… my heart stopped and I was just blown away. I was like, "Really? That's awesome." It wasn't that I was like shocked that I got nominated because I knew what I was doing was really special, it was more just like pride… just proud that what I was doing was affecting people. That's why I started… it was about telling stories, it was about changing the way the audience saw something or saw a situation or saw me, and to be able to be recognized for that was a validation. Then we go through the nomination period, right? People are talking and speculating and they're congratulating you and you're just blown away. So, I figured that was it. I figured well this is the win, this was all… it was this validation, and so I kept going about my business, and tuning out all the distractions of the world like I do when I'm working hard on a show. When it comes to show time I'm digging in. I don't listen, I don't read reviews, I don't pay too much attention to what people say. It's just me, and the character, and director, and the story, right? I dug in the trenches of doing that and just continued to live in this character and grow, and that's all I could do… what my most joyful days were like just days when I forgot about all of what was going on around me and just did the show and played to that audience that it could've been their first Broadway show or maybe their last Broadway show, and I wanted to affect them, I want to make it different for them. I did the show for over 1,500 performances. I think it was like 10% of my life at the time I built this character's shoes, and which is a lot. I mean 10% of your life to be playing another character. But to answer your earlier question, that's kind of what gets me going, too, is that the passion comes from loving to perform and loving every opportunity I get to do it. Whether it's my first show or my billionth show it will always be about connecting to the audience in what I'm saying in the story. But then, ok, so Tony Awards… so here we are now, ok… On the day, here's how it goes… You have to get up early and you go to Radio City Hall and you do a sound check and you rehearse… and then you have a matinee. So this is I think a Sunday, right? So then we go to the theatre, I do the show that we're going to later perform on the Tony Awards, and my name will come up, and I'll get to that process. But, I wasn't even thinking about that. It was all about executing the day. We go, we do our show. After the show, which was great, after the show we go to Radio City Hall, and we do the pre-press and the red carpet and all that fun, fun stuff just enjoying being a part of… you know, this is an American tradition. Being an actor on Broadway, the Tony Awards, and I'm on top of the world. I'm with my friends, my partners that we all kind of stuck together as much as we could, but it was… I was just proud to represent the company and to represent all the actors in my category. So then I just tried to enjoy the Tony Awards as much as I could knowing that I was going to perform. That was my next thing to do was perform on the Tony Awards, which I knew I was going to do that so we were just living in it and all the changes that we had to do for the performance, so that's where my focus was. But, meanwhile there's photographers, there's press, there's people talking, I'm seeing celebrities, people are talking to me, they're asking me about the show and congratulating me and all this other stuff, and I'm just there to work. And then I perform on the Tony Awards, which you can check out on YouTube, a really fun performance that we got to do with a great response. And then I'm escorted back to my seat because my category is next. So literally I get out of my costume, back into my tux, I'm sitting down… the minute my butt hits the seat it's my category, and my wife and I were holding hands and so all of a sudden I'm like what this is so surreal. Then they listed the names of the four actors, myself included, and that was very surreal. And then, "And the Tony Award goes to Christian Hoff." And, if you YouTube it…
…I have seen it, you looked absolutely stunned!
It was just like, it was like I had already won in my mind. I was nominated, I was in a hit Broadway show, I was doing what I love to do. It was like a gift that… the real gift is at the bottom, and you didn't know. It's like this diamond ring or the winning lottery ticket when it was part of a gift already. It's like a house and then all of a sudden it's oh well this is just a guesthouse and there's keys to the mansion next door. That's what it was like. It was humbling, but it was also exhilarating, and I think I share that experience with every winner and every actor that steps out on stage and is proud and happy to be there. That's how I felt. I was representing what I signed up for when I was 8-years-old, and that's to be the best actor and to go out there and give your all.
And then you've got to get up there after going through that flood of emotions and give your acceptance speech!
Oh yeah, we didn't really prepare it. I didn't write a speech, but I knew what… I had already processed what it meant to me and so that I knew was going to be… that's all I needed to do. I was ready for that speech, but I hadn't written it, and so it just came out very off the cuff as all really good things do. It's how you feel about it. That's what people remember… how you feel, not what you say. And how you say it, of course. That's the result of just truth. It was a great, true moment for me. One I'll carry with me always, and I do, whether it's going to be back on Broadway or film or TV, as a writer or director… whatever. I will always carry that experience, and I share that with young actors and even young people or anybody that's doing something that they love to do. Do it because you love to do it. Don't do it because you want to get recognized. And then you will be recognized in ways that are transcendent. And that was a transcendent moment for me.
I think that most people who have heard your name before, they recognize you from JERSEY BOYS. The show just exploded. It has phenomenal music, the story is wonderful… Now that there's a movie really everybody knows it. Even if you're not necessarily a Broadway fan, you've heard of it. What do you think is the secret ingredient that JERSEY BOYS has that just draws people in? I think it's such a perfect show, it's so good.
Exactly, I think the story is what's so cool that surprises people. Everyone anticipates it's gonna be good music and this great era, but it's the way it was crafted and written, and I think that ultimately the book and the direction are the true champions here. I had a hand in it, of course, since it was written around me, through me, for me. And, for all of us guys… Bobby [J. Robert Spencer], who I work with now, he was an original. The moment JERSEY BOYS started we were sitting around a table and we hadn't read anything yet or sung anything yet and Daniel Reichard and I were there… just the three of us that are in the MIDTOWN MEN were a part of JERSEY BOYS before it even existed, and that's something very special that's carrying through in the success of the MIDTOWN MEN. And then Michael [Longoria] was the original Joe Pesci on Broadway, and the alternate for Frankie… he doubled Frankie Valli vocally every show, but he also performed it at matinees and then took over the second or third year. We had a different Frankie at the beginning, a brilliant actor who created the role. His name is David Noroña, and he is the unsung hero of JERSEY BOYS because he, along with Daniel and Bobby and I, created this foursome, this quartet. It wasn't written based on the guys. It was written based on our chemistry and our bringing them to life. So then when Broadway got it, he chose not to go. He wanted to continue his writing career, his acting career, it was too much. So that's when they found John [Lloyd Young]. We opened our arms up to him and helped him find his own in the role, and it's happened with casts beyond that. Michael took over the role and filled it in his own way. All the guys that we passed the baton to in different companies are able to bring themselves to it to a point. But, it's all based on what we set out… there was a standard in the model that we put in this that they try to recreate with other companies, and they do it very well, and that's a testament I think not to the performances all the time, but it's the writing and I'm proud to have been a part of that from the beginning… the writing and creation of the show so that my stamp is indelible. You can't take that away from this. I am Tommy, and Tommy is me. That's me. The show is amazing. The design was brilliant. The score was brilliant. The underscoring, the orchestrations, the way that it was styled was I think a visionary approach and one that will be replicated. They'll try to replicate that style. They continue to do that with MOTOWN and it's success… BEAUTIFUL is another great show with it's success… it's all basic… it's all JERSEY BOYS, the design and style of the show, and that goes all the way back to TOMMY. TOMMY was groundbreaking, it was the same director with a very similar design, very filmic, very visual, the use of projections, and concert audio. That's the first time that was ever done to the extent that it was done because of TOMMY. Steve Canyon Kennedy who did just amazing work on JERSEY BOYS as well, he was part of TOMMY. So it's just kind of creating a new view at Broadway, tying in that rock element which is now part of Broadway, but it wasn't always.
And so then from that, from JERSEY BOYS, is the four of you now doing MIDTOWN MEN… you've taken the music from that show and other music from the 60s and created your own show. How did that idea first come up?
Well it first came about when we were in JERSEY BOYS we were asked to sing outside the show. We did concerts in Atlantic City. I'm in Biloxi, Mississippi now at a concert today. We're working with The Golden Nugget around the country… Atlantic City, here in Gulfport, in Las Vegas this year. So it started going casinos and private parties. We were asked to do a party for the Jets, we were asked to do Katie Couric's 50th birthday. But while we were in the show we couldn't sing anything from JERSEY BOYS because we were under contract, so we couldn't do that. We also chose not to do any Four Seasons songs just out of respect for Bob Gaudio, the writer and producer of all of the Four Seasons songs. So we started singing all of their competition… The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Motown, The Mamas & The Papas… you name it, we started singing. We said well we can bring Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to life like this with our sound… let's find our sound in these other groups. So we started arranging music right away, and that was eight or nine years ago… something like that. We started arranging our own tunes, and with the help of some gifted contributors along the way we've managed now to… gosh we've orchestrated and arranged probably about fifty to sixty songs together all with that same idea that it's four parts so we each get to step up and sing lead at different times, and that was our assignment we gave ourselves. Anyway, we started singing outside of JERSEY BOYS and we said hey this is pretty cool that we can sing other stuff and make people dig it.
When we all left the show we took about a year off to do some other things, and we got back together for a couple of concerts and we said hey let's do this for real. Bobby joined us then and it was the four of us back together again who started this when we did it on Broadway together, and we went for it. It wasn't easy. We had to carve out the ability to do it, we had to defend ourselves from not being able to do it. No one had ever done this before so they were afraid that this was going to be like some sort of a "Jersey Boys light" or something, but we had already been doing the act without any JERSEY BOYS references or JERSEY BOYS music or choreography or the script. And so we just kept doing what we had been doing all along, and everything worked out ok, but no one had ever done that before. No guys from a Broadway show had ever created their own brand and still connected it, because we knew that JERSEY BOYS was gonna be the hook and the interest and it still is to a point, but we needed to be able to represent that we were in JERSEY BOYS and also define ourselves as our own group. That's what we set out to do, and we've been extremely successful beyond our initial dreams. Now we have dreams… we're always putting dreams out in front of us of where we're going, not where we come from. Although where we come from is very important to us, we continue to grow and change and grow with our fans' idea of who we are.
It's kind of tough being in part of something still that people have certain expectations and yet we've always broken the mold. We broke the mold when we created the show. It was not a jukebox musical, and we set out to show the world what we were and not try to show them what we weren't. We knew what we were doing was different. It defied any sort of label. They wanted to label it as another jukebox musical if they could. The critics had their idea, but we knew we were doing what we set out to do, and that was to tell the story in a very new and unique way and we re-defined a failed model of jukebox musicals… The Beach Boys one, the Johnny Cash one, what else? There was about a dozen of them at the time and people said oh yeah we can do what MAMMA MIA! did and we can just clothesline… it worked for them so why don't we just clothesline a bunch of songs together and we'll either tell a fictitious story or we'll kind of tell a half truth or we'll create a story about it.
It wasn't anything new or exciting or different, but what we did was tell a story that would stand alone with a brilliantly written book. Marshall Brickman wrote "Annie Hall" with Woody Allen, Rick Elice who was a genius Disney exec and advertising exec and former actor. They got together and they wanted to tell the underbelly, the behind the music story, and they did it in such a way that is foolproof so that you can go see a show no matter who is in it and that book is, I think, the new star of JERSEY BOYS. The original stars are gone now, right? And, those initial performances that put a stamp on a Broadway show… you can't shake it. There's always something that is going to be missing, but what we found was is what the producers of JERSEY BOYS found that you are able to let the book and the story be the new star of the show, and you could put anybody in there and it's gonna be a pretty darn good show. That's testament to a great book and a brilliant story and score.
What has been the best part about working with your JERSEY BOYS comrades again?
To hear the answer to that question, and many more, click here to visit the BroadwayWorld.com website and read the interview in its entirety.
And be sure to check out Christian and THE MIDTOWN MEN tomorrow night at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Tickets and more information may be found at the theater website or check out The Midtown Men website for full concert information.
**I took a couple of liberties with the author's post, adding my own picture and a few links**
Category: Christian Hoff, Concerts, Media
The Midtown Men Play Two Shows at the Hawaii Theatre This Weekend – Aloha!
"If you can imagine the intensity and the passion in bringing to life one group's story, and basically send it off on a trajectory of great success — as a matter of fact, of phenomenal success that continues — we're doing the same thing for all of our favorite groups of the 1960s: the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Motown."
Christian Hoff
Midtown Men share love of '60s music
BY JOHN BERGER, Star Advertiser
Why would someone leave a Tony Award-winning featured role in a Tony Award-winning Broadway show? For Christian Hoff, who developed the role of Tommy DeVito in "Jersey Boys" and then received a Tony for his performance, the answer is simple. He found a new challenge that was even bigger: performing as one of the Midtown Men, who appear for two shows at the Hawaii Theatre this weekend.
Hoff opened as DeVito in 2005, playing the man he describes as "the wild card" in the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons — Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi — was one of the biggest American vocal groups of the 20th century. "Jersey Boys," the jukebox musical treatment of their career, has played on Broadway for more than 3,500 performances and is still running.
The bigger challenge? Hoff and three other members of the original cast — Daniel Reichard (Gaudio), J. Robert Spencer (Massi) and Michael Longoria (who played Joe Pesci — yes, that Joe Pesci, later famed as the actor in "Home Alone," who played a key role in bringing songwriter Gaudio and singer Valli together) — discovered they enjoyed singing together even when they weren't working. They enjoyed it so much that after three years of job security with "Jersey Boys," they took a flying leap of faith and left to become a vocal group specializing in the hits of the 1960s.
The quartet would eventually become known as the Midtown Men.
"None of us had really produced a show before like we've done with this and taken full responsibility for it. That was an opportunity that got our attention," Hoff said recently, calling from "a hotel room with a view of the New York City skyline."
"To be a part of something that we've created that has a life and longevity in and of its own is more entrepreneurial than anything we have experienced before.
"It's a collective, it's a group effort, and what I think is exciting about that is no matter how great we are as individuals, the whole is greater than its parts. It's beautiful together."
TO BE perfectly clear, this is not "Jersey Boys." These are the Midtown Men — informed by the performers' Broadway skills and love for '60s music.
"We don't do 'Jersey Boys,'" Hoff said emphatically. "We haven't been in 'Jersey Boys' since the end of 2008, so here we are, five years down the line, and we're continuing to grow in our own right."
He added, "Everything that we brought to life in 'Jersey Boys' on Broadway — the story, the music, the era of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons — we now do the same thing for the entire decade of the '60s. If you can imagine the intensity and the passion in bringing to life one group's story, and basically send it off on a trajectory of great success — as a matter of fact, of phenomenal success that continues — we're doing the same thing for all of our favorite groups of the 1960s: the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Motown."
The quartet's first album includes songs by Marvin Gaye, the Mamas & the Papas, the Turtles and the Zombies. A second album, soon to be released, includes a Rascals hit, "Groovin'," with Gene Cornish, one of the original Rascals, sitting in on harmonica.
Hoff adds that while Frankie Valli's high falsetto was the lead vocal on all almost all the Four Seasons' hits, all four of the Midtown Men sing lead; their vocal parts are not locked in.
Longoria, who opened the production playing Joe Pesci but inherited the role of Valli, sometimes sings in a lower register. DeVito was the group's bass vocalist, but Hoff sometimes takes the falsetto part.
Hoff and his partners initially performed as "The Boys in Concert," but the relation between that title and "Jersey Boys" provoked a brief flurry of legal action from the creators of "Jersey Boys."
"They were concerned that we were going to go do a production of 'Jersey Boys' lite," Hoff said. "We weren't doing that. The only connection was our wanting to let people know that we were from the original cast of 'Jersey Boys.'"
Hoff and his guys were awarded the fair-use tag line and changed their group's name to the Midtown Men.
HOFF SAID the experience of portraying his complicated "Jersey Boys" character helps inform his current performance.
In the Broadway show, DeVito gets in over his head, running up gambling debt and facing possible unpleasantness from a loan shark until someone higher up the organized-crime food chain intervenes. By this time, Valli's marriage is over, and DeVito tries to seduce Valli's girlfriend.
When DeVito left the group in 1970, Valli and Gaudio bought his rights to the Four Seasons' material and use of the name.
Hoff says he contacted DeVito before rehearsals for "Jersey Boys" began.
"This was not what the producers of 'Jersey Boys' wanted me to do," Hoff said. "They didn't set this up; I did it on my own.
"I wrote him a note, and he called me on my honeymoon in 2004 and we had a conversation. My friendship (with DeVito) began then and continued not only through the inception of 'Jersey Boys,' but to this day."
The conversation helped Hoff refine his acting.
"The character and the way I did it became stronger and stronger, bigger and bigger, to where it informed Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio's relationship in a way that was undeniable.
"What started out a little bit of a wild-card character in the story became a hinge, if you will, for the dramatic part of the story. It was not only a great role, but a great opportunity for an actor to bring a role to life, and that's what the Tony Award was about."
When the time came to create the Midtown Men, Hoff's experience came into play.
"The three of us — Bobby, Daniel and myself — we came with the show to Broadway," he said. "We sat around the table with the writers and our director before there was even a script, and we began to identify and create a show based on not only the history of the Four Seasons, but our personalities. That's something that's very unique that I think has carried over now in the success of the Midtown Men.
"We've now found our own sound, and that's the cool thing about this."
Where: Hawaii Theatre, 1130 Bethel St.»
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday»
Cost: $40-$100»
Info: (808) 528-0506, hawaiitheatre.com
Category: Christian Hoff, Concerts, Media
The Midtown Men – Stars In Their Own Story
"…we could have our cake and eat it, too. You don't have to be happy with the apple pie a la mode. You could try the blueberry cobbler."
J. Robert Spencer
The best role of all? Themselves, say the Midtown Men
by Bruce R. Miller, Sioux City Journal
(excerpts, click here to read article in its entirety
How do four actors juggle Broadway careers and another identity as the Midtown Men?
"It comes down to timing," says J. Robert Spencer, a Tony-nominated member of the group. "The Midtown Men usually have the summers off so we can try something then."
Last summer, for example, the 45-year-old Spencer played Abraham Lincoln in a "wacky, Mel Brooks-style musical" at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Throughout the year, he, Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard and Michael Longoria also have the ability to squeeze in appearances in films and television shows.
Too good to be true? Spencer wondered when the Midtown Men idea was posed.
"I was in 'Next to Normal,' which won the Pulitzer Prize and got me my Tony nomination, when my best friend called with the idea and said, 'Do you want to go on the road?'"
Spencer talked it over with his wife and realized, "If we don't try it, we'll never know."
Almost immediately, he says, they learned "we could have our cake and eat it, too. You don't have to be happy with the apple pie a la mode. You could try the blueberry cobbler. It took off like wildfire."
Now, the Midtown Men are nearing their 400th concert appearance. They've opened for Bruno Mars, performed at an oil tycoon's birthday party, appeared on the White House lawn and recorded CDs and a PBS special.
"Broadway brought us rewards that every actor dreams of," Spencer says. "But this has given us something more, something entirely different."
"For the droves who come to see (us) as the Midtown Men, I'm Nick Massi from 'Jersey Boys' or I'm the husband in 'Next to Normal.'"
A gritty musical, "Next to Normal" traced a woman's mental breakdown and the effects it had on her family.
Spencer, who played the woman's husband, says it was very tough emotionally. "After a week of it, I'd look at my wife and say, 'I just need to cry.' I needed an outlet, other than a stage, to deal with it."
The show, he says, was so "rock solid," it never felt difficult during performances. "It was a huge collaborative effort – from writing to acting to directing – and it was like being on a roller coaster. When you work with Alice Ripley (who won the Tony for her performance), you have to be on your toes. We connected as friends, as playmates, and that made the journey so rewarding."
Spencer says he and the other Midtown Men are getting a kick out of relating to an audience as themselves, not some characters.
"When we get on stage and tell stories," he says, "they're our stories, not someone else's."
The Midtown Men will appear at WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa at 8 p.m. Oct. 10. Tickets are available by calling 800-468-9466.
Category: Concerts, J. Robert Spencer, Media, The MEN
The Midtown Men 'Put Their Harmonies To Work'
"When I'm singing up there, I like to describe it as 'singing on a cloud of air.' It's a whole new way to experience classic hits." Michael Longoria
From 'Jersey Boys' to Midtown Men
Stars from the Broadway hit will join the Philly Pops for a benefit concert in Trenton
By Keith Loria
DATE POSTED: Friday, September 26, 2014 (excerpts – click here to visit the CentralJersey.com website and read article in its entirety)
FOUR original stars from Broadway's smash hit musical Jersey Boys, who call themselves The Midtown Men, will put their harmonies to work in support of the patients and residents of St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center and Morris Hall, when they take to the stage at the Trenton War Memorial on Sept. 27.
Comprised of Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and J. Robert Spencer, The Midtown Men will join the Philly Pops to celebrate the hits from the '60s era including tunes by the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Motown, The Four Seasons, and more.
"It's pretty cool, because now you can hear these great songs played with a symphony and the audience really gets levitated with all those instruments," Mr. Longoria says. "When I'm singing up there, I like to describe it as 'singing on a cloud of air.' It's a whole new way to experience classic hits."
While The Midtown Men do sing many of the songs from Jersey Boys, they also incorporate a great deal of other hits from the decade.
"They are pretty much songs that everyone knows the music to," Mr. Longoria says. "With that era, even 8-year-old kids are singing along. All of them tell such a great story of human nature and those '60s licks were so catchy, it's really easy to catch on to those songs and sing along."
Mr. Longoria admits that anytime they sing in New Jersey, it's a special treat.
"There's no audience like a Jersey audience. It's like coming home and singing for your family," he says. "When we opened on Broadway, NewJersey was such a full force of making 'Jersey Boys' the blockbuster that it was. The people there have always been so connected to Broadway but when 'Jersey Boys' opened, it became the crown jewel of the community and gave them some serious Jersey pride."
The concert will be followed by a reception with Conductor Krajewski and The Midtown Men in the ballroom of the War Memorial for patrons and sponsors.
The concert is being held to benefit the patients and residents of St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center and Morris Hall. These facilities consist of St. Mary's Assisted Living, Grace Garden Memory Care and St. Joseph's Skilled Nursing Center.
"Now, I can approach all these great Frankie Valli songs and sing them in a whole new way, and that's been a great adventure and challenge for me," he says. "The night's going to be a great deal of fun and we look forward to seeing everyone come out and join us for a great cause."
The Philly Pops featuring the Midtown Men will perform at Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial, Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m. Click here for tickets, or call 215-893-1999
Category: Concerts, Media, Michael Longoria, The MEN, The MUSIC
'Jersey Boy' finds a midlife with Midtown Men
"To everything there is a season, and this is a season not to be missed."
Christian Hoff
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2014 By MICHAEL ELKIN Correspondent/The Intelligencer/Doylestown, PA
(excerpts – click here to read article in its entirety)
The Midtown Men make their audiences of Uptown Girls and Downtown Dudes nuts for nostalgia.
Who can blame them?
This suave rock quartet is just so cool while collecting plaudits and applause from audiences around the country for their singing/entertaining style evocative of the 1960s.
Not that they haven't had practice.
The Men — Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer — are four seasoned original cast members of the Broadway smash hit "Jersey Boys."And while they left "Jersey Boys" years ago, "Jersey Boys" hasn't left them. They still carry the tune, not just of the Four Seasons, but of the sweet-yet-swinging times that were the sultry '60s. And in toting the past to the present, they are delivering a huge stage present to fans of music that soars and singes the heart.
Is it all just a matter of hanging on to what they got — or had — on Broadway? No, these Midtown Men — named after the epicenter of global theater, midtown Manhattan — pull from the past while pushing contemporary corners and borders. Their mix of Motown, core rock and rolling emotional ballads is a post-modern mash-up as distinctive as the entertainers' individual talents.
And if there's anyone who knows from unique voices, it's "Jersey Boys" Tony Award winner Hoff: Even as he was involved with the original cast recording in his role as Tommy DeVito, he was setting records: Hoff recorded 241 separate voices — from Eddie Murphy to Joan Crawford — for the audio version of "Tell Me How You Love the Picture," a memoir of movie producer Edward Feldman's Hollywood life. In the process, Hoff earned a niche in the "Guinness World Records" for most character voices in an audiobook.Speaking to him now is to hear the voice of a 46-year-old family man happy on and off the stage, content on the sojourn that has taken him from "Boys" to Men.And he, just like the group's fans, is wrapped up in the roar of the '60s, when music "was a slice of life of America," he notes.
"What you heard on radio was so diverse, so organic — the Beatles, the Association, Hendrix, and yes, the Four Seasons — there was something real about it," he says.Getting real is to savor the retro '60s, he claims, "which is still hip; everything you hear today feels like a throwback to then."
Category: Concerts, Media, The MEN, The MUSIC
KHZTV's Tracy Hart's interview with Christian Hoff
In anticipation of The Midtown Men's upcoming Bel Air, MD show at APGFCU Arena, emcee Tracy Hart gets the scoop from Christian Hoff on The Men, the music, and balancing work and family.
Category: Christian Hoff, Concerts, Media, The MUSIC
The Midtown Men and Michael Krajewski, Happy Together…Again
Broadway's Jersey Boys, The Midtown Men, to perform with The Philly POPS
by Allen Foster, Philadelphia Celebrity Examiner
May 12, 2014
Before The Midtown Men, Tony® Award-winner Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard, and Tony® Award nominee J. Robert Spencer were the original stars of the Broadway phenomenon "Jersey Boys." With over 1,000 performances on stage together, this dynamic foursome has since expanded their repertoire to cover not only Frankie Valli, but all the greats from the 60s, as well. In a rare, special engagement, The Midtown Men will be shedding their regular seven piece band in favor of the 60 piece orchestral backing of the renowned Philly POPS! Under the sublime direction of conductor Michael Krajewski, the two entertainment powerhouses will unite to bring you a one of a kind, truly unforgettable show called "Sixties Hits" on May 16, 17, and 18 at Verizon Hall in The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Examiner recently talked with Christian Hoff about The Midtown Men's upcoming performances with The Philly POPS.
Examiner: When you come to The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, instead of your regular seven piece band, you are going to be playing with The Philly POPS! That's pretty exciting!
Christian: It is! We are looking forward to it! This has been on the calendar for a long, long time. Philadelphia was just a real solid anchor early on when The Midtown Men were just beginning our venture into the symphonic world.
Examiner: Does this show contain The Midtown Men's full repertoire? What can patrons expect?
Christian: What we decided to do with the symphonic shows was take our favorite songs from our set lists over the years and orchestrate them in symphonic fashion. The current show consists of about 60-70 minutes of our favorites.
Examiner: What kind of musical treats will be included in this show?
Christian: Well, when we were considering music for this show, we were really thinking about songs that we could orchestrate that would stretch some limits. For instance, from Ike and Tina Turner, we orchestrated "River Deep, Mountain High," which was a Phil Spector song. It wasn't necessarily a huge success for Tina Turner, but we loved the way that Phil orchestrated it with his Wall of Sound, so we said, "Why don't we pay homage to that and do an actual wall of sound with an 85 piece orchestra?!" Another way we stretched the limits was when we did The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" — which is one of our favorite songs that we perform — we added horns. Rarely does a band do a Beatles' arrangement with horns. We'll also be doing songs from The Mamas & The Papas, The Turtles, The Association, and, of course, The Four Seasons. We do a Motown medley which is just really, really fun to hear, it's a big, big orchestrated funky groove that is unique and wonderful!
Examiner: What is the difference between The Midtown Men and an average 60's music cover band?
Christian: The hook is we're singing the great songs of the 60s, and that is what gets people in the seats, but we're bringing something more to it. We're bringing a fresh take on this classic music. We're bringing a life to it in a way that isn't just nostalgia or a tribute. We understand the music and the roots in a way that I don't think a cover band really can because we are also all actors and we love the dramaturgy of this, too! You need the live band, you need the orchestra, and you need these lyrics to come to life in a new way, right in front of your very eyes. The beauty of live theater, live performance, and, in this case, live music. I think that aspect is what brings people to their feet as much as hearing their favorite songs.
Examiner: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?
Christian: When we first set out to do this orchestrated version of our show, we knew The Philly POPS would be a milestone in our career. Philadelphia is just such a great music town! Also, as artists, one of the guys, Michael Longoria, worked quite a bit in Philadelphia, and our horn section is comprised of all Philly horns! So, we've come full circle. To be able to perform with The Philly POPS is a great mark of success. We look forward to celebrating that success with The Philly POPS this weekend. It's going to be a celebration of Philly and music of the 60s all wrapped up in one!
Category: Christian Hoff, Concerts, Media
The Midtown Men – "an organic, natural evening of entertainment"
Daniel Reichard discusses the Midtown Men "brotherhood", among other things, with the Great Falls Tribune
excerpt from: 'Midtown Men' celebrates music of the '60s at Mansfield Center next week
Written byJake Sorich, Great Falls Tribune Staff Writer
(click here to read interview in its entirety)
Keeping the spirit of that core group of "Jersey Boys" intact has helped create an organic, natural evening of entertainment, (Daniel) Reichard told the Tribune.
"We're playing out our friendship on stage for people in a very comedic way," he said. "It's a funny friendship, a brotherhood, and we do a lot of making fun of each other and making fun of ourselves. I think people really enjoy getting to see what all these years of singing together does for us."
"The Midtown Men" is a musical journey that brings to life the men's favorite '60s hits from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Motown, The Four Seasons and more.
The familiarity they share with each other also extends to the music. Reichard said aside from the original artists, they've likely performed these hits more than anyone.
"Some of these songs we're doing our own versions, and some of the songs we're performing as Midtown Men are newer to us, but others we've literally sung thousands of times together on stage," he said. "You could argue that you know, besides the Four Seasons themselves, we've sung some of these songs more than anybody else has."
Reichard said the show isn't as much a tribute performance as it is Broadway veterans performing their favorite songs with a "Rat Pack vibe."
"Midtown Men," the Broadway in Great Falls production, takes place Thursday at the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts theater. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone at 406-455-8514 or at the door.
Category: Concerts, Daniel Reichard, Media

subset: commoncrawl