Summary

For a full decade , theHer Universefashion show has cemented itself as a foundation of theSan Diego Comic - Conexperience . Created by Ashley Eckstein ( best known for her role asAhsoka Tano in theStar Warsfranchise ) , the Her Universe brand combines geek chic with genuine fashion to allow pop culture enthusiasts to press out their interests while still calculate coxa enough for any New York Fashion Week rail .

Returning as Centennial State - emcee for the second clip isBroadway whiz Michael James Scott , best known to Disney aficionados as Genie in the leg melodic adaptation of the 1992 invigorate classic , Aladdin . After he and Ashley , womb-to-tomb friends in real aliveness , prove a gain combination at last year ’s Her Universe mode show , it ’s only natural that this active duo would return to make the tenth anniversary show a true celebration worthy of such a milestone .

Disney ’s animated Aladdin movie inaugurate many fan - favorite characters , including Genie voiced by Robin Williams . Here are some of his secure quotes .

Split image of Genie with an applause sign and hugging Aladdin in Aladdin (1992)

While promoting SDCC 2024and the Her Universe fashion show , Michael James Scott sat down for an interview withScreen Rant . He talk about his history with Eckstein and the brand , deal thought process on the grandness of Her Universe in the world of pop cultivation fandom , and reflected on a few " greatest hits " from his career as a Broadway histrion .

Michael James Scott On Her Universe & His Life On The Stage

Screen Rant : separate me about about hosting this show . Hosting an event like that is a confidential dream of mine . Is it so much fun ? What is it like to , you get it on , get to be the face and show off all this great stuff ?

Michael James Scott : Oh , it ’s a blast . I mean , it ’s everything that you’re able to imagine . You know , there ’s such energy in the way . And to be capable to do that on this level , on this musical scale , specifically with the Her Universe mode show and what Ashley Eckstein has created and build , it ’s just epic . It ’s just an unbelievable , incredible thing . The dearest in that room is just so amazing . It really is just astonishing . So it ’s just fun for me ! You have it away , I ’m standing there next to a very dear friend of mine who I ’ve have sex since high school and divvy up this energy with her into this astonishing elbow room of superb artist , this community of people who just want to have a good meter and and celebrate .

Screen Rant : And in the banker’s bill , it enounce that you ’ve bang Ashley since high school . Like which one of you beat up the other ? What was that ? In my experience , high school is just multitude beating up and being beat up by one other . I , uh , I was n’t a vainglorious high-pitched school guy .

Emperor Palpatine laughing maniacally in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Michael James Scott : We actually had an awful high school time ! We were very darned . We went to a perform humanities high school program , so we got to do a lot of things that , you know , a fate of high school maybe do n’t . And just because it was us , and because of the syllabus we were in , there was no whacking up going on . It was really more like , who is going to blab what song ? Who ’s going to do what issue ? It was all of that , which was really , really fun . And , you know , we ’ve been capable to we grow up in this patronage , both of us . High school , for us , we had an unbelievable foundational piazza where we begin to acquire prowess and become artists . eminent school , for us , was a really large time . It really was .

We ’ll get back to the show in a second , but first , can you tell me a little bit about die from a performance arts gamey school . Do you go straight from that to fix gigs or is it a longer journey than that ?

Michael James Scott : Well , I went to schooltime . I function to Webster University . I majored in melodious theater there , the conservatory curriculum in St. Louis , Missouri . So I got my BFA in musical theater . I was a kid doer , but also then went into Broadway . Ashley and I did things otherwise , where she went more into the television and film world , and I go more in the Broadway world . and now our way have crossed , and now I also do TV and film and I ’ve done voiceover stuff , too . And , you know , people do n’t experience this , but trivial Miss Ashley sings as well ! And I ’ve gotten her to sing on a stage before , which has been amazing ( Laughs ) !

Sidious, Tyranus, Maul, and Vader.

Oh , I bet !

Michael James Scott : So , I went that route and I went to college . I got my point in BFA in musical theater . And from there , I actually left shoal to go and stand by for the legendary Ben Vereen in Fosse . My vocation set out to just sort of kind of go from there . And that ’s how my career of being an histrion really began .

That ’s fantastic . I ’ve spoken to degree actors before and it just seems so much more intense to me . I think , I ’m sure acting on film and television is vivid as well , but that idea of getting to , in some way , make a different performance every undivided night to every single backside …

Michael James Scott Her Universe Featured Image

Michael James Scott : There ’s nothing like it ! It ’s why so many plastic film actors , they come back to the theater and they ’re scared of it , because it is a really big , unbelievable test to be on a stage and do it live . You do it in one take , basically . There are no redos . That ’s what that is . And , of course , there is incredible oeuvre that is done on picture and TV with actors who are out in front of the camera , but there ’s just nothing like being on stagecoach with a live audience and what that does and how that influences you as an doer on degree , and really land that to life right in front of the audience .

Is there something that you ’ve done that you ’re particularly proud of that perhaps did n’t get the care that it deserve , something that you kind of want to holler out for the Screen Rant audience ? Especially since on stage , a batch of that is is lost , we ca n’t go back and keep an eye on those performances .

Michael James Scott : I had the fortune , the pleasure , the astonishing chance to do a Broadway show called Something Rotten . It was a beautiful , incredible piece of work . And it was such a wonderful time . But it was unawares - lived . Unfortunately , it did n’t last long on Broadway . It ’s done very well regionally with subsequent productions of it , the touring product and regional production that they ’ve licensed out .

Her Universe Fashion Show 2023

But for me , it ’s Something Rotten . That show is so nigh and dear to my heart . It ’s just it ’s crazy to me that it did n’t pan out out . You know , that ’s the nature of our stage business . It ’s so erratic . You never live what will dispatch . And that was one that unfortunately did n’t quite hit . But it was just tremendous . So it would be that piece . It would be Something Rotten .

This is the tenth year of the Her Universe show . And so that ’s a big deal . Did Ashley just give you a call and was just like , you ’ve got to be the emcee on this matter ?

Michael James Scott : Yeah , basically ! Last year , she was like , " Would you co - host this with me ? I know it ’s crazy . But I just think you would be so awing . I would love for you to be my Colorado - host . " And I had no estimation what I was catch myself into . I ’m very newfangled to this world . Ashley infix me to this world . And so did my husband , who happens to be the director for the show this year , Jeremy Merrifield . They both allege , it ’s amazing , the fandom world of it all . And I tell you , it just blew my mind . It was just unlikely .

Star Wars

I conceive one of the things I bring to this is my showmanship . I ’m a Broadway thespian . And so it ’s a piddling bit different for me , but it works in a really beautiful means . And I recall that ’s a nice connection , being able to have that fun on degree and both of us come from two dissimilar places , and I call back that ’s probably one of the reasons why I ’m back this year . It ’s really exciting and an honor , especially to observe 10 years of Her Universe manner .

From your position , what make Her Universe fashion so limited ?

Michael James Scott : The inclusivity , that ’s easy . It ’s the inclusivity of it all . It ’s the welcome nature of ' come as you are . ' It does n’t matter , you cognize , where you number from , what colour your hide is , any of it . You are welcome , regardless . And you feel that in the room . That ’s what stick with me . You have sex , being a part of the LGBTQ+ residential area , being a part of being a part of the nonage biotic community , I have felt othered for many , many year .

To be able to connect with hoi polloi , a lot of other people who may feel othered in very dissimilar , various ways , we can be othered together and be the fierce one . That for me is really a wonderful , beautiful marrying of a force-out , if you will . And that has stuck with me and it just swash my mind . Ashley really founded a wonderful and inclusive community with Her Universe , and then with this new Her Universe fashion show .

One of my preferred lines is inThe Rise of Skywalkerwhen Poe sound out , " There ’s too many of them . " Lando shows up and says , " But there ’s more of us . " And so I take the great unwashed like you and Ashley to keep on doing stuff and nonsense like this , letting the people know that those loud voices out there , you know the ones I intend , those voices do n’t interpret all of us and that " there are more of us . "

Michael James Scott : Exactly . Well said , my admirer . Well said .

About Her Universe

The iconic Her Universe Fashion Show will return to San Diego Comic - Con ( SDCC ) for a celebratory 10th anniversary with host Ashley Eckstein ( voice of Ahsoka , Star Wars & Founder , Her Universe ) and come back co - legion Michael James Scott ( Broadway star , Aladdin , The Book of Mormon , Something Rotten ) on Thursday , July 25 at 6 p.m. PT in the Harbor Ballroom of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel San Diego . Additionally , award - winning conductor Jeremy Merrifield link the solemnization as the show ’s director .

This yr ’s show is stage by Mattel , leading spheric miniature and family amusement company , and owner of one of the most iconic stigma portfolios in the earth .

Her Universe is get it on as the innovative fandom fashion company and life-style brand primitively launch by Ashley Eckstein in 2010 . Her Universe strain to cultivate a fandom - centric community powered by women to be genuinely themselves and celebrate what they love by designing quality , fandom - centric , sizing - inclusive , stylish merchandise . For more data , visit heruniverse.com and espouse @heruniverse on Instagram , Twitter , Facebook and @officialheruniverse on TikTok .

This twelvemonth ’s Her Universe Fashion Show will take situation on July 25 at 6 pm PT in the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel .