ELYSA GARDNER: Welcome to Stage Door Sessions by Broadway Direct. In this podcast, we have in-depth conversations with Broadway’s brightest, bringing you what’s new, what’s noteworthy, and what’s coming next to a stage near you. I’m your host, Elysa Gardner, and this spring, we will be speaking with some of the artists whose talents are standing out at a very busy time in a very busy Broadway season. Before our conversations with each week’s guests this season we will be kicking off every episode with a look at what’s new on Broadway each week with Broadway Direct’s own Paul Art Smith. Paul, it is Tonys time, how are you?
PAUL ART SMITH: It is, it very much is, I’m doing well. Yeah, it’s – I feel like every week we get on here and we’re like, “Oh, it’s so busy.” Which, it just holds true to our intro how we say it is the very busy Broadway season and it just continues to be. This week, we got the Tony nominations, there was the Meet the Tony Nominees event which we’ll have content on Broadway Direct very soon. Always an exciting time.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, yeah, and leading the pack with 13 nominations we have Some Like It Hot followed by & Juliet, New York, New York, and Shucked. New musicals, of course, are always – they’re eligible for the most nominations so they’re going to be getting the most nominations. That’s how it goes. What struck you about this year’s list of awards or nominations I should say?
PAUL ART SMITH: Yeah, I think there was a lot of love for shows that were closed which seems to not be the case in a lot of past years. It feels like there’s always a recency bias. And like shows that like will open like in March and April just to like be fresh in like the voters’ heads and yet here was so much love, especially for the plays from the fall season and actually one of the freshest shows which was Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window which just opened on April 27, had a shocking omission I feel like – two shocking omissions maybe with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan not getting nominated which, I thought they were both incredible in that and of course the nominees that there are all great. It was a very packed season but it just goes to show that like you know, it made a great point of how like it doesn’t matter when you open, it seems like they’re changing that now which is great to see that like any time of year, you could be thought of for the award.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, well Some Like It Hot for instance was was back in the fall and that certainly did not hurt it’s turnout at all here. And I agree with you absolutely about Oscar Isaac in particular I mean, Anne Kaufman the director of that production described the part as a Jewish Hamlet and he is on stage throughout that whole production –
PAUL ART SMITH: The whole show.
ELYSA GARDNER: And it is just a blazing performance and I was very surprised that it was omitted as well. I agree with what you said as well about shows getting love that had already closed including Ain’t No Mo’ which did not run that long. Into the Woods, of course, which was a was a huge critical favorite and and KPOP did pretty well, got a few nominations.
PAUL ART SMITH: Yeah I was happy to see that score nomination for KPOP. And for Into the Woods, I was from the start like I was always you know, I knew Sara Bareilles would get a nomination I was like, she was the talk of the town I feel like, and I was like that has to be nominated. But what I was secreting from the first time I saw that production at City Center and you know there was already like rumors that I was going to transfer Broadway, I was like Julia Lester has to get a Tony nomination and I am so happy she snuck in there. She is just like one of our brightest young talents and her Little Red was just such a complete scene-stealer every single time she was on stage, so I’m so happy when they called her name.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, yeah, she was definitely a delight in that show.
PAUL ART SMITH: And speaking of Ain’t No Mo’, one of the plays that was from the fall that you know made it in despite a crazy packed season, Best Play is filled with Ain’t No Mo’, Between Riverside and Crazy, Cost of Living, Fat Ham, and Leopoldstatdt, with three of those being Pulitzer Prize winners and Leopoldstatdt coming in after winning the Olivier for Best Play so it is a very packed category of just some incredible plays.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, it really is, I mean this year it’s going to be very very difficult I would imagine for Tony voters, of who I am one I should confess, to choose. I am totally going to be stumped, I mean Between Riverside and Crazy I was on the Pulitzer panel when we chose that back in 2015 and it’s – I love Stephen Adly Guirgis I mean just wonderful, wonderful play. A great showcase for a great actor. And Fat Ham is was was such a sensational take on a twist on on a tragedy, on a Shakespearean tragedy, a comic twist on a Shakespearean tragedy, and Cost of Living I’m also a huge fan of. Leopoldstatdt is a glorious play, I mean it’s gonna be a very very tough choice this year
PAUL ART SMITH: Yeah, and all those plays had actors show up in the nominations. You know, I just saw Fat Ham recently and was so happy to see Nikki Crawford nominated. She is just so incredible in this show and totally like just makes like all of her moments the best.
ELYSA GARDNER: Oh, I agree with you. Yeah, that’s a great ensemble piece but she for me also really stood out. I just thought she was great.
PAUL ART SMITH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and also Brandon Uranowitz for Leopoldstatdt, he might have my vote for the win, I’ll just say that here but he was incredible. But yeah and Jordan E. Cooper, just all-around just a great showing of play and acting nominations.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, Jordan E. Cooper, nominated as playwright and featured actor, we should say. And something I’m really hoping is that Kimberly Akimbo doesn’t get ignored. It got eight nominations. I think in the design categories maybe it wasn’t as, I don’t know, flamboyant or flashy as some of the other big productions that got slightly more nominations or a few more in the case of Some Like It Hot. But I just think that’s such a lovely musical and I do hope it gets recognized in some of the categories at least.
PAUL ART SMITH: Definitely, it still had a great turnout and I mean it had 8 nominations and as you said it’s it’s not a show that’s as focused on the design aspects. It is a smaller show but like the cast, all got three nominations, Best Book. Best Score, Best Musical so I’m excited, definitely, that was definitely a favorite of the season.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Victoria Clark I think is going to be a strong contender for Best Actress. So though all the acting categories are quite competitive this year.
PAUL ART SMITH: I was gonna say this is probably like the strongest turnout, especially in Leading Actress in a Musical, what a great season.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, yeah.
PAUL ART SMITH: So this past Tuesday that’s when the nominations were announced and also shortly after that news came the news of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ closing. They will be closing on Broadway on May 14 after 17 previews and 65 regular performances. This news came shortly after the Tony nominations where Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ was completely shut out and it was just such a packed year that it didn’t seem to make it into the Best Revival nomination. But this seems to be a trend in years past where a show will get shut out and then announce they’re closing shortly after. So, you have the rest of the week to see Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, head on over to the Music Box.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, yeah, I was surprised by that, particularly Kolton Krouse. I mean all the performers are amazing in the show but that was really a standout performance and I believe they were nominated for other awards I’m not just that certainly the name has been circulating and that is there are a number of wonderful you know dancing and acting and singing performances in the show. I went to see that show actually with a friend of mine who was a ballet dancer and she was just completely transported by it. So I was a little surprised.
PAUL ART SMITH: Definitely and it’s just great to see all those dancers shine, but yeah, you have a little bit more time to catch it. 3. After listening to this week’s episode of Stage Door Sessions, you can head over to your streaming service or wherever you buy music and listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Shucked which was just released. The release comes fresh off the musical’s nine Tony nominations, which included a nomination for Best Score for the show’s composers Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yes, and Brandy and Shane are both big Nashville names. This is their first musical, but they’ve written for people like Kasey Musgraves and Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Brandi Carlile, right on down the line and I I love this score. I was really – I don’t want to say surprised because to me country songwriting and musical theater songwriting have a little in common in that they’re both driven by a narrative more so necessarily than rock and roll or blues. You know by, they’re very much driven by storytelling, and I just thought these songs were catchy and witty and I’m pleased that they were recognized.
PAUL ART SMITH: It’s such a great score and it’s great to hear the country music on Broadway there’s like shows like Bright Star for instance that have like this country aspect to it that just I always adored and this was just no exception and paired with a book from Robert Horn like it just really like made such a full and hilarious musical and I’ve already been streaming the album and Alex Newell’s songs are like always going to be the favorites. They are just like complete show-stoppers every single time.
ELYSA GARDNER: Oh yeah, and I think Brandy and Shane certainly have a sense of musical theater structure. They were both fans of musicals and you know there is that element to their songs. There is you know the the country, the blues, the jazz even, but they certainly are not ignorant when it comes to musical theater. You can hear that in the songs. They really drive the story. I think they may get some love there. We’ll see because it’s a competitive category as well.
PAUL ART SMITH: Yeah, yeah, so go ahead and give that a listen and form your own opinion on which you think should take the award later this season. And this week on Broadway Direct, we have a new piece with Elijah Rhea Johnson, the latest star of MJ on Broadway, discussing making his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical. And with Mother’s Day around the corner, Broadway Direct spoke with some of the working moms on Broadway about balancing their career and their home life, speaking with stars like Lea Michele and 2023 Tony nominees Victoria Clark and Betsy Wolfe. As always you can head to Broadway Direct for the latest coverage and news on Broadway as well as across all of our social platforms @BroadwayDirect.
ELYSA GARDNER: Well thank you Paul as always and on to our Stage Door Sessions of the week. Today I am lucky to be joined by Carolee Carmello and Grace McLean, the fabulous women who I think it’s fair to say truly put the bad in Bad Cinderella, the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical currently running at the Imperial Theatre.
Carolee Carmello, who plays the heroine’s wicked stepmother in the show, needs no introduction for anyone who has followed musical theater over the past 30 years. A three-time Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner, Carolee has given celebrated performances in the original casts of shows such as Falsettos, Parade, Scandalous, and Tuck Everlasting, and she’s won more praise starring in original productions of Mamma Mia and Urinetown and revivals of Kiss Me, Kate and 1776—two revivals of 1776, to be precise. That’s to say nothing of the iconic roles she’s played in Off-Broadway and regional productions, from Anna in The King and I to Dolly Levi and Mrs. Lovett. Or of her many screen credits, which include The Good Fight, Smash, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the acclaimed miniseries Dopesick.
Grace McLean, who plays the queen of Belleville—a place we’ll learn more about in short order—is an actress, singer, writer, and teacher who made her Broadway debut a few years ago in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. She’s dazzled audiences off-Broadway as well, and with her band, Grace McLean and Them Apples. Grace is also a writer in residence at Lincoln Center Theater, where her original musical In the Green earned her a Richard Rodgers Award as well as a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical. She’s also a solo performer and a contributor to the Obie Award-winning investigative theater company The Civilians’ cabaret series, “Let Me Ascertain You.” Love that title.
Grace, Carolee, welcome to Stage Door Sessions – thanks so much for joining us today.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Thank you for the lovely introduction.
ELYSA GARDNER: Well, it’s just what you ladies have done so – So, you ladies play, I think we can say, the heavies in this show—although Grace, your character sort of gets a chance to redeem herself a bit at the end.
GRACE MCLEAN: Well, she certainly tries.
ELYSA GARDNER: She tries, yeah, gets a B+ for effort maybe.
GRACE MCLEAN: Oh yeah, definitely! [laughter]
ELYSA GARDNER: But the queen and the stepmother are both pretty much consumed by vanity and self-interest—I don’t think that’s too harsh—and that puts you in sharp contrast with this so-called “Bad Cinderella,” who calls herself a loner and a freak but is really just fed up with these standards of beauty and conformity in the kingdom of Belleville, where everyone is supposed to look perfect and be perfect, in the most superficial way. The original book and story, we should say, are by Emerald Fennell, who everyone should know for her great work on the film Promising Young Woman and the TV series Killing Eve, and it’s definitely a very different take on the story of the fair maiden and the glass slipper. I’d love to know what appealed to both of you about it, and how you both became involved.
GRACE MCLEAN: Yeah. Well, first of all, you go to an audition and you say, “Hi, can I have this job?” Honestly, it was – Emerald Fennell, I am a huge fan of this woman’s work. I loved Promising Young Woman, I thought it was just so brave and and funny, and dark and wild, and I was surprised at every turn. I just think she’s extraordinary and I love the way she thinks and the way that she is just out for blood. She just is out to skewer. And I thought, “Gosh, if this woman is involved in a Cinderella story, I want to be too.” Mm-hmm. She was a big draw. And yeah, it’s been fun to play one of her weird little meanie, little characters. I think at one point Laurence, our director, told me that Emerald had referred to the Queen as sexy Putin which I quite like and I think is correct.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Wait, are you implying that actual Putin is not sexy?
GRACE MCLEAN: Well, Carolee, that’s a different podcast I think. [laughter]
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Because I think there are a few Russian women who would like to disagree with that.
GRACE MCLEAN: Certainly. I think you’re right. I think you’re right. But he doesn’t wear a ball gown the way I that I do.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: That you know of.
ELYSA GARDNER: I’d like to see those pictures. Uh, Pearl Lee, what, what about you?
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Well, as Grace was starting to say, you know, you go to an audition and sometimes you don’t really think about the project as much as, “Gee, I need a job. I hope this works out.” And for me, this, I made my Broadway debut 40 – is that right? – No, it can’t be 40 years ago. Is it? No, I think it’s about 35 years ago in a show called City of Angels, which had lyrics by David Zippel, who wrote the lyrics to Bad Cinderella. So he and I made our Broadway debuts together back then in City of Angels. And I’ve always admired his work and him as a person. And so when I heard that he was working on this, I was aware of it being done on the West End because I follow his career and I knew that the show in London had started during the pandemic and had had all these opens and closed and open and closed because of the, you know, challenges of that time in the world. So when the audition came up, I was excited because it was his work and I have never done an original Andrew Lloyd Webber show, so that was exciting. And I just went to the audition, not really knowing that much about it, but just wanting to be involved and about 27 auditions later, I got the part.
ELYSA GARDNER: Really? No. I think, I’m sure that’s an exaggeration.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: It’s a slight exaggeration, but there was, yeah, there was a lot of callbacks for this one.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, well, it’s a really meaty role and I think the show has evolved since it premiered in London a couple of years ago. Most notably, another playwright, also a woman, was brought on board, Alexis Scheer, who got a lot of attention a few years back with Our Dear Dead Drug Lord and I think she writes with a similar fearlessness and flair for sometimes dark and bawdy humor. In fact, there were a few times while watching the show that something made me laugh or even gasp a little, and I thought, “Who wrote that line? So which one was it?” So do you know how they worked together? Can you tell us anything about that process?
GRACE MCLEAN: I don’t really know. You know, Emerald she wasn’t around during this rehearsal process because she had another project she was working on. Yeah so this, which is why, why Alexis came on and, yeah, you know, there’s a whole other world behind the table that we don’t really get to see. So I’m not entirely sure how that collaboration worked out, we just get to, we get to deal with the fruit of it.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: That’s right. We’re handed pages. I mean, we had an original script that we started with, and then during previews they were, you know, changing things here and there. And we would get new lines and honestly, not really know if they came from Alexis or Emerald. Alexis was the one in the theatre with us, so if we had questions or you know, wanted clarification, she was the one that we went to. But I’m not really sure how they communicated with each other or whether they bounced things off each other. I’m not sure how that happened. But it was definitely a – there were a lot of creatives in the room, a lot of collaboration trying to take place during that process.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, I’ll bet. Your characters also have a mysterious backstory, which is explored comically in this great number called, “I Know You,” and throughout the show too, as Carolee, your character pines, to marry off one of her daughters to the prince, who’s the son of your character, Grace. What went into building the relationship between the queen and the stepmother, since that’s widely considered a highlight of this musical?
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Aw, that’s nice. We enjoy it.
GRACE MCLEAN: We do.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: It’s a highlight for me. I know that. Gosh. You know I remember the day that we first started staging the number and Laurence Connor, our director, had set aside like, I don’t know, four hours or something to stage the number. And I thought, what are we gonna do for four hours to stage this number? It’s not like a big dance number, it’s really just a conversation set to music. But – and we went through it, you know, and, and figured out beats and, and little comic moments together. And, you know, Grace and I sort of got to know each other over the course of the process, but I remember at the end of it that somebody said to me, “Oh, that went so quickly. You guys figured that out really quickly. And when, when they did it in London, it took an entire day to stage that number.” I thought –
GRACE MCLEAN: I didn’t hear that. Wow.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Yeah, no, that, that’s what they told me. So that’s why he had set aside so much time for us, and I think he was pleasantly surprised that we figured it out as quickly as we did.
GRACE MCLEAN: In a draft form, you know, I just, I remember, I, gosh, I just came with so many questions because the song itself is full of implication. Subtle implication. And my dumb little brain had just had to be like, “Well, what does that mean? What is, what does it mean this, or does it mean that it can mean all of these things? Can we talk it through?” You know, which I think is a useful thing as an actor to come with questions and, you know, is not afraid to ask them. And eventually, you know, the real fun of it is just the play. Getting to play with my scene partner and for us to lob the implications at each other in our own fun swishy pointed little ways.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Yeah, that’s the real –
GRACE MCLEAN: The fun of it is, yeah, is playing with the other person, playing with Carolee.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Right. And I think the, hopefully, the fun for the audience is watching the power get shifted from one side to the other and who’s getting the best of the other one at any given moment. I think that’s part of the fun of it.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah. Both these characters have, you know, some baggage, I would say –
CAROLEE CARMELLO: You think? [laughter]
ELYSA GARDNER: I mean, as just as women and as characters. Carolee, you’re playing a really iconic villainess, even though it’s kind of a new version and Grace, you’re playing a role that is not developed as much I think in the adaptations of Cinderella, we know best, certainly. But you’re also playing with these cliches we hold about queens and princesses that are sympathetic and not so sympathetic. In both cases, you clearly have to make your own mark on these fairytale figures that were in some way familiar. So how did you, aside from your chemistry with each other, how did you and the director Laurence Connor work to develop those independently?
GRACE MCLEAN: Yeah. Well, you know, for a queen, we’ve already got a position of power and a, and status and people in power, ooh, they kind of get to do whatever they want. Also, people in power are afraid of losing that power. So much of what is driving this queen is keeping her position. Yes, there’s a lot of like, ooh, sort of like seemingly goofiness and daffiness, but she knows what she’s doing, and what she’s doing is trying to cement her position, maintain it. When there’s a whiff of deviance, ooh, heads are gonna roll. Gosh, I wish we saw some heads roll. If we could only see a headless person in this show. You know, I just wish it were a little more absurdly violent. That’s my one wish. I know that that makes it not a family-friendly show, but that’s where my little head goes is, you know, what are, what are the strong-armed tactics that this woman thinks she needs to administer in order to maintain the order of a kind of beauty that she seems appropriate or more than appropriate, necessary.
ELYSA GARDNER: Right, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you could have like a talking head like they did in Pippin.
GRACE MCLEAN: That’s what I’m talking about, yes.
ELYSA GARDNER: There’s an idea. Some people have noted a certain irony in that both the director and the composer of Bad Cinderella are male. I have to admit that’s something I didn’t think about at all because, you know, with the two women you have writing the book especially and the strong female characters in the show. But identity is a big concern nowadays and this is a pretty young cast. So I’m wondering if gender differences were something that you and the directors especially ever discussed, or if maybe for that matter, having a male perspective was helpful or, you know, complimentary in a way.
GRACE MCLEAN: You know, I think there’s something about this show, the town of Belleville is aggressively heteronormative and that’s sort of like baked into its problem. And, you know, that thing gets cracked open at the end of the show with the return of our hero, my favorite son, Prince Charming. And you know, that’s, I think the way that this show is dealing with that, those kinds of, sort of identity politics is by showing a world that is so incredibly black and white in all of its candy color. You know what I mean? Like there are certain expectations and roles, sort of gender norms, I think, that are not necessarily pointed at directly. Like we don’t give voice to it, but you can see in the way that like, that is what a woman is going to look like and that is what those men are going to look like. And we just, that’s what we’re hit with in this show until we get to the point where that gets cracked open a little bit. Now I’m just gonna say something that I do think is interesting and sort of fun too, our Cinderella standby, Savvy Jackson is genderqueer and is like very open about that and it’s really, it’s fun to see them go on because they have just a different sensibility and a different take in the way that they embody Cinderella. You know, it’s different than Linedy. They just bring a sort of a different flavor because of who they are in their identity outside of the show. So that’s, that’s already percolating within their performance.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah. Carolee for you was, I mean, because I think Grace makes a really good point, actually. I hadn’t thought of that in asking that question. That, you know, the men are really just as shallow and stereotypical as the women in this kingdom, or they’re encouraged to be, they’re encouraged to be. So that’s, yeah, that’s definitely something about this musical that is a source of parody, a key point of its parody.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Right, right. And they certainly are objectified in a way that, that women have been for many, many generations. You know, the way they’re costumed and the way they’re choreographed, it’s clear that they are performing for the pleasure of the queen, in a way that, in a way that women have felt obligated to do for a very long time. So yeah, to answer your question, I think the fact that there were straight white men writing the show is helpful in a sense that they set the parameters, and then these women who are writing the book sort of crack it open, you know what I mean? It’s kind of the yin and yang of it all.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah, that’s, that’s interesting. And audiences have been loving this show. You’ve had some very prominent and enthusiastic supporters, that said – the marketing has been fabulous and you can really tell how people, you know, love to see it and see it again in many cases that’s become like the thing to do. I don’t know where people get the money, but it’s fine. It’s fine. That said, critics have not always been Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, biggest champions, and there were those really seemed to have their knives out for this show. I’ll be candid and admit, I haven’t loved all of his work, but I had so much fun at this show and for me, it was part of a pattern of his injecting more humor and whimsy into his musicals as he ets older, which I’ve really liked. While also, in this case, offering a clear perspective that was very plainly shaped by two really smart women. So, I know you both have gotten some great notices for your performances were you. surprised or disappointed by some of the reviews that were less positive overall and you know, how has that compared or contrasted with the feedback you’ve gotten from audiences?
GRACE MCLEAN: The audiences have been consistently wonderful. People come to this show to have a good time and they are, and that’s really great to see. Like, it feels good to go to work because people are coming to support us. And you know, I don’t read my own reviews, I can’t do that, I can’t do that to myself, in any position. It’s just that’s my own little thing to get over or not just deal with. But, you know, as a person who does, I do consume reviews of other things that I have seen. You know, I sometimes I’ll say like, well, “I had a thought about this, I wonder what other people are saying about it.” I just think that sometimes, reviewers don’t necessarily show up to take in the thing on its own terms, you know? I think sometimes there’s a, “Well, that’s not my taste,” or, “I think a musical should be this and this musical is not that.” As opposed to meeting the thing where it is, what was this thing setting out to do? Did it achieve the thing it was setting out to do? I don’t think that happens all the time with reviews, and that’s, honestly, that’s disappointing to me. Now I’m gonna say I didn’t read these reviews, so I don’t know, I don’t know if that’s what was happening, but, that’s just a pattern that I’ve, that I’ve seen sometimes. And I think that what this show has set out to do is, first of all, entertain, which we, we are, we objectively are. And we can tell that because of the people who are showing up and are being entertained and are having a good time and are walking away singing the songs and are laughing and are feeling the joy of the retelling of, you know, this classic fairytale. You know, I think that’s that’s where my period is.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: I agree with Grace that it’s so much more important to me what the audiences are feeling. I do read reviews, unlike Grace, I went home opening night after the party and read all the reviews that I could find. And, yeah, to answer your question, I was surprised at how sort of scathing they were because I just think you can’t deny the fact that people are enjoying it as much as they are. And I think maybe the people that came to write those reviews are not the people that are meant to see this show. That’s all. And the thousands of people that have seen it and loved it are so much more important to me than the people who are writing for newspapers.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah. Well, I just thought the book was a lot sharper than it got credit for in some of those reviews. You know, not belaboring the point, but I mean there are other shows I’ve seen that I did not think were as sharp that, you know, certain critics seemed, well, I’m not gonna go in that direction, but I just thought it was – I had a lot of fun and so did the people that I was surrounded by there. As a way of sort of wrapping up, what kind of feedback have you gotten? I mean, I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot of different feedback, but has anything been particularly meaningful or funny or entertaining from any of the people who’ve seen the show?
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Oh. I just think the comments that I’ve heard are just that people are having fun, and I think that as much as that can sound trivial, you know, so much is happening in the world right now that’s just so hard to digest and handle in our everyday lives and to just be able to go into a place with a thousand, 1500 other people and laugh and enjoy yourself and escape for two and a half hours, I think is invaluable right now.
GRACE MCLEAN: I completely agree Carolee, and I think that that is an important medicine. And you know, sometimes you need to have some medicine that, ooh, it really, oh, that hurts a little bit and I gotta really take some time to digest that medicine. And man, I love, I love, um, imbibing theater in that way as well, but also to truly be able to laugh and to feel surprise and joy is important and it, and to feel that with, yeah, right, a thousand other people, that’s what we’re, that’s the feedback that we’re getting from people and oh, it feels really good. It feels really good on a personal level, just personally speaking for myself to be a part of something that is fun. That’s – yeah, I like it. That’s the big takeaway.
ELYSA GARDNER: Yeah. No, it’s, it’s a heavy time right now. And on that note, I’m gonna go now and look for those pictures of Putin in a ballgown. [laughter] So if I, if I get pushed out a window or if I fall out a window for, for having said that, you’ll know what the deal is.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Yeah. Poisoning in your underpants. Look out.
ELYSA GARDNER: I’m on the 31st floor. So, thank you again so much for joining us, taking time out of your very busy schedules, playing these, very interesting women, Carolee, Grace. Thank you both so much for joining us today. We are very much looking forward to what you both do next.
CAROLEE CARMELLO: Thanks so much for having us.
GRACE MCLEAN: Elysa, thank you so much.
ELYSA GARDNER: You’re very welcome. And for all things Broadway, and to find tickets to your next show, visit BroadwayDirect.com. If you liked our show please follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And don’t forget to share and rate “Stage Door Sessions” so that other theater fans can find us too. This podcast is produced by Broadway Direct and the Nederlander Organization with Iris Chan, Erin Porvaznik-Wagner, and Paul Art Smith, and hosted and produced by me, Elysa Gardner. Thank you for listening, and we look forward to seeing you again on Broadway.
