Veteran Broadway performer and recording artist Matt Zarley chatted about his new digital series “11 O’Clock Number,” and being a part of the digital age.
Aside from being a Broadway dancer, Zarley is a Billboard charting recording artist, writer, producer, director, editor, and content creator.
’11 O’Clock Number’ series
The synopsis is: “A heartbroken singer harnesses the power of musicals to help him cope with the pandemic lockdown, reigniting the lifelong dream he thought he had left behind.”
On the origin of this series, Zarley said, “It originally started a couple months into the pandemic when I decided to record a couple of (female theatre) songs that I’ve always secretly wanted to sing.”
“Fast forward 2.5 years later these couple of songs evolved into a 12-episode short form musical series,” he said.
“I think my favorite part of the entire experience was watching this tiny little molecule of a concept evolve into a much bigger experience,” he said.
“To experience that is sort of like giving birth in a way. I also experienced a sort of postpartum depression afterwards as well,” he jokingly laughed.
Daily motivations
On his daily inspirations as an artist and content creator, Zarley responded, I would be lying if I said, I was inspired every single day. It sort of depends…if I’m actually working on a specific project at the time, that’s definitely an inspiring process. I would say the majority of my days have a moment of some sort of creative inspiration.”
“Those moments of inspiration usually come from a project that I am currently working on, something that I am developing. I can get inspiration simply from my friends and the people that I love,” he acknowledged.
The digital age
On being an artist and content creator in the digital age, now with streaming and technology being so prevalent, Zarley said, “I think there are positive and negative aspects. The positive is that social media and the internet has made it somewhat more of a level playing field in a way, if that makes sense? Though the negative is that there’s so much content out there and it’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle. That’s an extremely frustrating part about it.”
What is your advice for young and aspiring artists and content creators? I would tell any young person if they’re considering any sort of artistic future in their life, is to only do it if you unconditionally love to do it. If you cannot see yourself doing anything else, then this is the right business for you. If you have doubts, or inconsistencies with your desire to do it, maybe find something else to do….and make your creative outlet your hobby.
Future plans
Regarding his future plans, Zarley said, “I’m working on a few different projects… all music related. I would love to do another project similar to this series; but with another artist as the primary focus and not myself. I have a few irons in the fire at the moment so we’ll see.”
Career-defining moments
On his career-defining moments, Zarley shared, “I don’t know if one thing defined me, per se, but they all helped shape what I have evolved into today. There are touchstone moments in my life that definitely felt like a crossroads. When I got my first show (‘Cats’ National Tour) when I was 17 years old, my first Broadway show (‘A Chorus Line’) when I was 19.”
“Another moment that resonated in a huge way was when my voice teacher/mentor told me that I was a ‘singer who danced,’ and not a ‘dancer who sang.’ That comment had a lasting impression on me. Starting out as a dancer you’re always kind of made to feel like you can’t really do anything else. I knew that I wanted to do more than just that, and when he told me that, it gave me so much more confidence. I finally started to see myself in a different light….that was incredibly empowering,” he elaborated.
Success
Regarding his definition of success, Zarley said, “Success to me doesn’t have to do with monetary rewards at all. To me, it means having a sense of pride in your what you do, your achievements from that skill, and respect from your peers.”
“I think if you’ve managed to touch somebody or affect somebody’s life in a positive way, that’s success to me,” he added.
Closing thoughts on the digital series
“I know that musicals and movie musicals, more specifically, are a bone of contention for a lot of people. A lot of people hate them. I totally understand. There are a lot of bad musicals and movie musicals out there,” Zarley noted.
“My hope is that with this new format in musical storytelling, these bite-sized narrative nuggets can reach more than just a niche audience,” he said.
“This series is a very low maintenance, small commitment type of experience,” he said. “Every episode is less than 10 minutes long; so it’s easy to consume, I think. They say that music has the power to unite us. I hope that this series can achieve that.”
“If it can touch people and affect them in a positive way, I’ll know that we have succeeded,” he concluded.
To learn more about Matt Zarley, check out his official website, and follow him on Instagram.
