Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Joshua Turchin

Joshua Turchin is the definition of a prodigy. At just thirteen, he’s written and recorded The Perfect Fit, a musical aimed at giving young teens a voice in the theater community.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, he’s also the host of The Early Night Show, a platform for emerging and established artists to put all of their talents on display.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Joshua about all of his exciting projects, his career, and how he discovered his love for the arts.

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Joshua: I’ve always had a love for performing in musical theater and writing. When I was really little, my dad would sing. He would be playing the piano and I would bang on this little tiny toy slide that we had. I would bang to the rhythm. Then, my dad would change the rhythm and I would also change the rhythm. That’s the time when they found that I had a knack for music. I’ve always really had a love for playing piano, playing all types of instruments, and composing. But, I guess what really started it was when I was five years old and I saw Once. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and it really inspired me to write and compose.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Joshua: With my writing and composing, I would say Alan Menken. His music is just so terrific. I grew up watching his Disney movies and his music is some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard. Last year when I played Flounder at the Hollywood Bowl’s live adaptation of The Little Mermaid, I actually got to meet him. It was the coolest experience. He is so, so nice.

PC: You’ve done two national tours. What have you learned from those experiences that you’ve been able to apply to your career moving forward?
Joshua: One thing that I learned from being on tour is that your castmates become your family for the next two months. Being on tour was such an incredible experience. That was actually my first professional job. I was eight years old when I did it, eight turning nine. From that, I also got to see true professional theater and what the business was actually like.

PC: At just thirteen, you’ve written your own musical. Tell us about The Perfect Fit and the inspiration behind it.
Joshua: I wrote the show to give teens a voice in the theater community. I kept hearing stories where young actors would be too old to play a child but too young to play an adult, so I decided to write a show about it.

PC: You also released an EP for the musical. If you had to choose one song off of The Perfect Fit that best encompasses who you are as an artist, which would it be and why?
Joshua: I have to say “Tony’s Are My Super Bowl”. A lot of what’s in the song was taken from my personal experience. One of the first lines of the song is, “I was six. Back then I played soccer.” That is actually true in my life: when I was six, I played soccer and I absolutely hated it. It was one of the most miserable moments of my life. I hated it. I preferred to play music. A fun thing that happened was someone from the other team fell and I almost had the ball. I instantly turned back around to pick them up and then the others went on to score for the other team.

PC: Like every other artist in the world, you’ve had to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tell us about starting The Early Night Show.
Joshua: Back in 2017, I did a thing called The Early Night Show with Joshua Turchin. I would bring up some incredible Broadway guests and TV stars. They would sing with me and I would interview them. It was a lot of fun. It was really fun to meet all these cool, amazing new people. We were going to do another installment and then COVID happened. It shut down everything.

That’s when I had the idea to create The Early Night Show: Virtual Edition. On top of including new Broadway and TV stars and singing and interviewing with them, I added another segment called “On the Show”. Every week, I bring on someone from the “On the Show” segment who had their school show canceled or postponed, and they either sing a song from the show or a different song. It’s a lot of fun because my main focus with the “On the Show” segment is to spread their voices to the world. The main purpose of The Early Night Show is to donate to the Actors Fund, which is helping a lot of people during this really, really hard time.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Joshua: It’s a Disney show called The Owl House. It’s so, so good.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Joshua: The Emperor’s New Groove.

PC: Favorite book?
Joshua: Wonder.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Joshua: Once.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Joshua: “Weird Al” Yankovic.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Joshua: Ben Platt!

PC: Dream role?
Joshua: Evan Hansen.

To keep up with Joshua, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.