Tony Yazbeck Is Doing Planks on Zoom with His Flying Over Sunset Co-Stars During Quarantine

Tony Yazbeck has never taken LSD, but in Lincoln Center Theater's upcoming original musical Flying Over Sunset, he gets to take audiences on a massive acid trip. Originally scheduled to open at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on April 16, the James Lapine, Tom Kitt and Michael Korie musical has announced its plan to reopen in the fall. The dashing triple-threat checked in with Broadway.com's Beth Stevens on a recent episode of #LivetatFive: Home Edition to talk about staying sane in quarantine, and how he's keeping in touch with his co-stars.

After three workshops over the course of a year, six weeks of rehearsal and two weeks of tech, Yazbeck was more than ready to finally perform Flying Over Sunset in front of an audience. Unfortunately, that never happened. "Our first preview was supposed to be March 12, the day the shutdown was announced," he said. "Here we are, the morning of and everyone is getting ready for our first preview day. We have four hours of rehearsal to finish tech and to really just celebrate our first audience after a year of working on this show. We have a meeting midday that says, 'You won't get to do the show.' It was heartbreaking for all of us."

Flying Over Sunset imagines a shared acid trip between Hollywood leading man Cary Grant (Yazbeck), conservative politician Clare Boothe Luce (Carmen Cusack) and novelist Aldous Huxley (Harry Hadden-Paton). In real life, each used the drug in the 1950s (though not together); the musical follows their individual psychedelic journeys. "What I realized what was so poignant about the show is that it really is about human connection and what does it mean to be connected to somebody those little simplicities and basics of life," Yazbeck said. "I've never done LSD, and I had to do a lot of research. You can go down the YouTube hole and actually look at clips from the '50, '60s and see psychologists in their study with a patient on LSD and it is fascinating. I read Aldous Huxley's books, and what I've learned about it is it's quite lucid. It's not like you're drunk or you're loopy. You're quite in your body; everything is just really heightened."

Although the show's schedule has changed, the Flying cast is finding ways to stay connected. "We had a group warm-up during rehearsals where we would do like a two-minute plank together and tell stories to each other and [director] James Lapine loved it," Yazbeck said. "At 2PM, we still get on Zoom and we plank and just tell stories. It's so nice to still have that bond, even though we're not rehearsing and looking at those lines and scripts. We can tune in with each other and make sure everyone's doing okay."

While several Broadway shows that never opened this season are in limbo, Flying Over Sunset has secured its future. "I can tell you for sure, we do have a show and it's ready to go," Yazbeck said. "We're slated for the fall and just hoping we can get back. The show is beautiful, and it's ready for audiences."

Watch Yazbeck talk about revisiting A Chorus Line and more in the full episode below!