This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast more what You Hear
weekday afternoons on the Drive. Lyric Theater is at it again bringing you some
stellar entertainments this week with the debut of the production of Small. It stars
Robert Montano, whom you've probably seen in Bull, Prodigal Sun, Blue Bloods,
and many many other things, and he's joining us now to talk about
the show. Roberts, this is a chapter of your life. I don't
know, given your acting career, anybody would have guessed in their wildest dreams.
Yeah. Well, you know it's different for sure because I didn't start
off as as a actor by any means. You know. I started off
as a racehorse jockey. And then because I got too big, you know,
which is why I named the place small because I'm so not that I
went into the world of dance and which is where all the women were at.
But like the reason I got into singing choral music when I was in
college, because that's where all the chicks work. But then, you know
what I realized when I was taking ballet class early on that it wasn't easy
and I had to really put my nose to the grindstone and pay attention and
do the work if I really wanted to make something of myself, you know.
But you know, Small has many angels, and I just want to
pay homage to my surrogate mom, Gina Rivera, who had just unfortunately passed
away recently, and she made this very possible for Small to happen. And
when I had asked her to host a reading at the Signature Theater in New
York, she agreed and she said, well, what is it about?
And I told her was about my trials and tribulations when I was a racehorse
jockey. She was like, I've known you since nineteen eighty nine and I've
never known they never heard racehorse jockey, you know, So well, I
don't look back, I look forward. And she was like okay, And
she hosted and packed the house for me, and the rest was up to
the story. And so she made it a promise and a goal that she
would help me get to produce and here we are. So it's almost an
homage to Cheetah as well. This is definitely an homage to Cheetah and my
mother and father, Robert Montano's with us. The name of the production is
Small. It's a one man show, right, Yeah, there's a solo
show for ninety minutes. It's very, very physical. There's a lot of
movement, dance and riding. And the sound design by three time Tony Award
winner Brian Ronan. We put this piece together, you know, which I
wanted to bring authenticity to the show and using the sound design and yeah,
and I think we've accomplished that and given people the excitement that I felt when
I first started on the racetrack. And yeah, you would play like different
bits of you know, sound for me and I said, no, nope,
nope. He said, well, what are you looking for? And
I said, I want to give them the real thing. So yeah,
we put this together during the pandemic, and I think we came up with
a good package. It's a good thing. You had the time to be
that painstaking about it. Yeah, and I had a lot of wood food
reserve. Yeah. Robert Montana is here. He is the star and producer
and writer of Small at Lyric Theater. Preview performance tonight at seven thirty,
Then Thursday, seven thirty, Fridays, eight Saturday, eight Sundays at two
tickets, Lyric Theater, OKC, Dot org or four or five five,
two, four, nine three one two who, as a little boy says
to mommy and daddy when they ask what do you want to be when you
grow up? I want to be a jockey. Yeah. Well it didn't
sit well with my mom, you know, but my father made it possible
for me by you know, using my gym credit at school as long as
I made it on time for academics and and that worked out, you know.
But yeah, it's a it's a dangerous sport and people don't know a
lot about it. And I've had much success with this show recently at People's
Life Theater in Pennsylvania, and I felt like I was in a woman's book
club because after the show was over there so many women were staying afterwards and
saying, you know, my husband dragged me to come see the show,
and I said, well, I don't want to see what am I going
to see? A story about a boy and I want me to be a
jockey. And they would tell me. Invariably they would pull the husband be
pulling their shoulder back and their scene and said sit back, you know,
as they're riding with me, you know, and they were feeling the story
and they it's not just about you know, me being a jockey. I
mean, and I I couldn't have been more happy with people telling me.
This is far greater than a story about that. There's a there's a mess,
you know, to and everybody has a little something in it, you
know, about themselves. You know, well, and you had to put
yourself through a lot when your body started changing and you started to grow,
Yeah, because you know you you put your body through extremes and and things.
When I when I started writing small, I was telling my mother and
father, I said, look, I'm gonna be sharing things that I'm not
proud of and that I know it's gonna hurt you. But I did things
in my body that I that I never thought I would do. I mean,
I think about it now and I think how crazy that was. But
you know, when you're purging, when you're taking drugs, and when you're
doing everything you can to just you know, stayed at one hundred and three
pounds almost like a supermodel, you know. Yeah, well yeah, but
the only thing is they don't have to get on a twelve hundred pounds,
you know. So, you know, did you grow up around horses?
No, you know. I I was was my mother had made the mistake
of taking me right from church to Belmont Park Racetrack on Sunday, you know,
And that's when I fell in love with the horses, you know.
But when I when I fell in love with them, I was delivering newspapers,
you know, for the Long Island Press, and a customer of my
brand new customer I smelled, which I thought was peat moss, you know,
And I told the Duncans, you know, Jesus Christ, you have
a very strong peat moss on your law. And I said, no,
no, no, that's probably horsemanre on my tires. I was like,
horsemanure, you work with horses, and he said, yeah, my husband
and I work at Belmont Park Racetrack. And I never begged so much,
you know. And I would literally, because it was summertime. I would
go out my window, jump off the roof and go to Duncan's and they
would take me to Bealmont. And my mother would be like she was Puerto
Rican, you know, she was where that how have you went? You
know, and this, yeah, so you know, and I begged and
my father said, you know, how is it going to hurt? So
let me go to a racetrack in the mornings, and there was no turning
back. You know. We're talking to Robert Montano. He is the star
and writer and producer of the one man show Small Lyric Theater. It is
performing tonight at seven thirty Thursdays at seven thirty Fridays, eight Saturday, eight
Sundays at two until the twenty fifth. Get your tickets at Lyric Theatered OKC
dot org. In your career, is there one particular horse that stands out
as Oh my god, I'm glad I don't have to ride that one again
now? No? Well, yeah, yeah, those are horse by name
of Waffle Sauce, you know. And so it does sound like he went
all over the place. He waffled, Well, you know what I mean.
And I mentioned in my play, I said, there's a saying on
the racetrack that wherever you fall, you own that piece of land. Let
me tell you, Yeah, I own a lot of this stay of Belmont
Park, you know. But you know I will say this about you know,
the question is my favorite horse? Ah, yes, And my favorite
horse of all time was Ruffian and she's tattooed on my right shoulder. And
she was a Philly that was unbeaten until they ran her in a match race
that I was there at Belmont Park, Kentucky, derby winter of that year
of foolish Pleasure. Yeah, and she broke her leg in the race and
it destroyed me and about fifty five thousand people who were in that stand.
Just you could hear a pinch. Oh, I think I remember it.
I'm a fan of horses. I grew up around quarter horses and riding.
Ah and I think I could ride. Riding and swimming and walking or two
things I don't remember learning how to do. But it always is heartbreaking when
that happens. It's gotten my mother, who inspired me about horses, she
doesn't even watch them anymore because she's seen too many of that. It just
breaks her heart. Yeah, no, it's it's hard. It's a horrible
thing to see, you know. But like in in any sport, I
mean, it has its ups and downs. I mean you see runners riding
and you know, running in track, you know, and all of a
sudden, boom, snap a hamstring, you know, I mean throwby race
horses, you know, which people may not understand. They are just born
to run, that's all they're born to do. That is all they want
to run to do. Yes, that's all. And you know what horses
are different because they can you can calm them down. The Thoroughbreds all build
a little different. They're they're they're a little more step and strong, you
know. But you know thorover racehorses that at the racetracks are taken care of
and they're jakouzied and massaged and they're given Guinness with their oats, you know,
so they're they're doing okay. Yeah, Robert Montano, the show is
small. You and I could talk all day, I know. But the
thing about it is you need to go and see the show at Lyric Theater
Tonight's and all the way through the twenty fifth with different performances Thursdays at seven
thirty, Friday eight, Saturday, State and Sundays at two four or five
five, two four, nine three one two. To get your tickets or
Lyric Theater, okay, see dot org. Do you ever watch your race
and say to yourself, I wish I was back there every day every day?
You know, I have still my buddies like Johnny Velasquez, you know
who's riding now, and you know and He's probably looking for his Kentucky Derby
horse this year. Richie Migliori and I'm still very tight. You know Gary
Stevens, who was in movie Seabiscuit, you know, we we did a
command performance of Small this past summer in Saratoga and a bunch of the trainers
and jockeys and the whole racing community came to see Small, and Gary was
just a man. He just cried in my in my arms and said,
Bro, you said it like how it is. Yeah, you're you're talking
for us. I cannot thank you enough. And the racing community has embraced
the show, you know. For me, you know, I was sweating
because they'll they'll tell you exactly, you know how it how it is.
So but yeah, I'm very much in contact with the racing industry and I
you know, I don't forget them. We're still very connected, and you
won't forget the production of Small at Lyric Theater. Robert montano. I thank
you for joining us and we look forward to seeing the show. Thank you.
I really appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews the
Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to the Drive Live weekday afternoons from
five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation