Interview: It's Clear Skies Ahead for WAITRESS' New Star, Al Roker

He's been on our TV's briefing us daily with the weather forecast for nearly fifty years and it's time to try something new! Today Show weatherman Al Roker is taking ownership of the diner joining the cast of Waitress as Joe. Roker took a moment to share a friendly chat with BroadwayWorld about his upcoming musical debut and everything that comes with it!

You've been hard at work with voice lessons and training to get ready for the big gig, what has that experience been like?

It's going well. I've been working with Derrick Rosenblatt who I just adore and we have such a good time. I love hearing his stories and it's an all around interesting thing to do, something I've never done before.

What are you most excited for and most nervous for?

Probably the same thing, going out in front of an audience and having to perform! What I do every day is just ad lib with the maps as my script. The stuff with the crowd is ad libbed and the stuff with Savannah, and Hoda, and Craig, and Carson is all ad libbed. This musical actually a script I've got to follow and then there's a song. I'm excited about that but I'm also very nervous about it.

Is this opportunity something you ever saw happening in your career?

No! It would be like Lin-Manuel Miranda waking up one morning and saying 'you know what? I want to do the weather on a network morning show.' Certain things just aren't going to happen. It's not anything I planned on or thought would happen.

So what convinced you to give it a try?

I got a great piece of advice from William Shatner doing this series called Living Legends. I asked him about the secret to his success and career longevity and he said always say yes. I was going to say no to Waitress, but my daughter who was a theatre major at LaGuardia Performing Arts said 'Dad, you've got to do this, how can you not do this?' And I thought well, okay sure. Of course she's probably not going to be there because now she's in school in Paris, so the good news is she'll only have to read about her father's humiliation online!

There's no way that will happen! You've been working hard and you sound great!

It's like your parents. Everybody's parents are cool to everybody but you. It's kind of like that with the voice. I'm going 'oh my god! It's three cats in a bag trying to get out!' And other people are saying 'no that sounds good!' I'm left thinking are we in a parallel universe? What's going on here?

Is there anyone else you've turned to for advice?

I haven't talked to anybody, I've tried to keep it lowkey. Firstly, I don't know that many Broadway actors, and secondly you go to them and say you're going to be in a Broadway musical and they say 'What? Get out of here!'

Hesitation aside, what's been your favorite part of the process so far?

To actually have to do something, in that I actually have to work at this. That's not to say that I don't have to work at doing the weather on The Today Show, but I've done it now for almost fifty years, so while I still get excited about it and still get nervous about it, I know I can do it. I don't know that I can do this, I've never done it. And that's the thing with being in a Broadway musical, you don't really know you can do it until you actually do it. It's daunting to be in front of an audience that's actually paid to see you. Of course, they're not paying just to see me, they're paying to see all the other wonderful people in the cast starting with Nicolette Robinson and working your way down that are so talented and worth the money!

What's your plan for balancing your two demanding jobs?

I have no idea! I'll figure it out as I go. That's basically what I've built my whole career on. I didn't want to be on TV let alone making my Broadway debut. I was going to be a writer or producer and then I'm doing the weather for almost fifty years. Juggling both jobs is the least of my worries.

What's it like to be part of the movement for better representation and diversity on Broadway?

I think anything that represents us as a society in a more realistic way is good for everybody. I've always kind of laughed when I've had to go to diversity training because I already know about diversity. I've got to live it. I think in a situation like this everybody benefits and everybody learns. Once you're with someone and working with someone you know them and understand them and that can't be anything but beneficial to everybody.

Finally, has anything about this experience not met your expectations?

I've not had any pie! I hate to break this to everyone, I don't know if I'm allowed to, but those pies are all fake. I didn't know that. I was hoping for pie and these things come up and I'm like what the heck? Wait a minute. So I don't get to really eat pie? The audience gets pie and I don't? So depressing!

We're wishing Al Roker all the best and 'one hell of a ride' in his new role! Roker will appear as "Joe" from October 5-November 11. He will not perform on Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. For tickets, visit waitressthemusical.com.