January 16, 2025 • 33 mins
Nurse Penny herself is on the pod!
Phoebe Strole joins Jenna and Kevin to chat about her time on Glee, including what it was like joining the cast when they were all still grieving the loss of Cory Monteith, her thoughts about working closely with Chord Overstreet, and how she finally got on the show after auditioning for many Gleeking guest-starring roles over the years!
Phoebe also chats about her time on Broadway in Spring Awakening, starring alongside Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff, and Jenna! Plus, the song a casting director told her never to sing again during auditions!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Podcast, Welcome to you, and that's where you were in
this podcast guest edition, our dear friend Phoebe Stroll, who
played the wonderful Nurse Penny Kevin wonderful. We love Nurse Penny,
vibrant Penny, and we love Penny and Sam and we
(00:28):
love Phoebe.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
What is sweet?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
So Phoebe was always like Vibe and I did Spring
Awakening together prior to Glee, and she was always like
such a sound mind.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She was like one of the older.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Goals, which is funny because we're going she was like
twenty two, you know, but like elderly.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
She was one of the older ones.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And she was one of the original cast members and
it's funny to think about it like that, but she
was like just a wonderful, wonderful energy.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
In the theater all the time. And how fun was
it to have her on.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Set and we got to hang out with her. We
get into it. But like we had, all us who
were not in Spring Awakening met so much of the
Spring Awakening crew.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, it was like a second family.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, fully, and so it was so nice to actually
have her be a part of the show finally, you know,
in season five, because she had been there. I think
we'd all hung out since season one.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, her audition is so funny. Her audition story is
really really funny. All right, Well, enjoy Phoebe Stroll. Phoebe Stroll. Wah, Kevin,
So good to see you.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It's really really long time.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
It really has.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I mean, I haven't a person since I think I
was Yeah on the set.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, oh that hurts.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It was crazy to see you like pop up as well.
Like I knew it was coming, but you were. I
just felt like we knew you immediately. For those of
us who are not in Spring Awakening, all the Awakening
folk like came around. Yeah, and like our groups merged
and so it felt like a family member, like with
Skylar coming in or with grap coming in, like, oh,
(02:10):
these are just like the extended family. Well that's nice,
of course it came on.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you know every musical theater
performer in New York auditioned for the show for years.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I'm I don't remember how you got on the
show and if this was your first time auditioning for
the show. Can you just remind us of that tale?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Oh okay, no, I think I.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Auditioned for for multiple guest stars through the years, you know,
and then this was like this.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
I actually don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I'm curious what you know actually, because I never really
found out.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
It was very last minute.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
It was like my manager called me in a panic
at like five pm one day. I was like, there
a little right now, I got Jim cardhead for you,
and I was like, okay. Unfortunately I was already like
I was on my way to a concert, so I
already had like makeup and my hair done and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Oh yeah, right, we're good.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
So I just flew there on.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
This detoured on the way to a concert to go
to a tape.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah you know, actually it was it was the Dan band.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Oh okay, yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Did you have like a callback or did you have
to or did they just book you?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
They called me like three hours later, and you're coming.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
To Hollywood, you kind of Hollywood, babe. Did you know
that it was going to be more than one episode?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I knew that was kind of the idea, but I
also knew that y'all were in a lot of blocks oil.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was that like coming into that because it's like,
you booked this role that so many of your friends
like on the show that so many of your friends
are on, you also are sensitive to the fact that
we're all going through some crazy thing. Like what was
the vibe like when you got to said, do you remember?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I mean, I just I really, like, from what I
can remember, yeah, it was. But I know it probably
still like feels like yesterday to you because it was
so traumatic.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I'm sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I just remember feeling like I really felt admiration for
all of you because I had the sense that you
all were, i mean pushing through a lot, and you
all had a sense of like dark gallows humor about it.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I just yeah, I mean, you know kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Knew it's also all that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yes, yeah, I'm sure, but you know, when you're a
guest star, you're like you're going into your You're going
into a machine that's already in full motion, so you
kind of have to just like be flexible and go
with the flow. So I just try I don't know,
I tried to be I think I was. I was
aware that y'all were going through You're.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Smart, yeah, smart, and also like you knew us as well,
Like even though you didn't get to work with most
of us, but like you and Cord you were.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
On set though, like I could hang out a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I definitely have.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Yeah, I definitely hung out with you a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And yeah, you guys were all so welcoming and kind
really because it was a lot so for you to
even like take the time to be like, hey, what's
up and converse with me was really nice. But yeah, Kevin,
I don't know. I mean, I I assume I must
have like been there, yeah, twenty years before when I
was out in l A doing who knows what the
hell I was doing?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, right, Yeah, I remember, I distinctly remember like hanging
out with you a lot, like one on set or
like at somebody set. I don't know, just like a dinner.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Husband reminded me that we ran into you at Elsambrero
one time, and yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, see, I just feel like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Like you knew a lot of it. Everybody knew a
lot of this bringing crew, right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, Like like Daniel would come visit.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Like Lily came visit, yes, right him, Yeah, she came
during the pilot ran but she really went to like
Disneyland with her and Chris and.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
She just hung out with us. That's so funny. What
was it like playing Penny.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
We could have had way more of Penny with Sam, but.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
She's such a funny, like little character.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yeah, it's just like, yeah, just fun and silly, and
you know, you don't have a lot of time to really, like,
you know, do a whole character study.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
You have to show up and you know, do it.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
But I really thought the writing was funny and accessible,
and I loved working with Ian. He was very like, uh,
open to my weird ideas. So it was Cord obviously,
So I just thought it was.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
A good silly in the perfect group it.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, it kind of was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It means the funny person to work with for the
first time.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Oh really, how.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So he's just like a you know, we like to
call him like a golden retriever, Like he's like a
puppy who's like, I'll do anything. I love to make
people laugh. I just like to like be around people.
So it's just it's interesting to meet somebody like who
worked with him that closely right off the bat and
has to have this like chemistry, whereas like Cord, it
(07:15):
took a minute for me to warm up to Chord.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Really we have this thing where we're like Chord has
chemistry with everybody, like oh yeah immediately, and your scenes
together were like, oh, this is golden yeah, because both
of you the way your character is just so charming.
And also it is crazy that you did just have
to hop in because it does feel like a fully
thought out, full fledged character, Like it felt like, oh,
(07:43):
she knows exactly who this person is and it is
like embodying that with like her weird shit with like
just and I loved their dynamic because like Chord and
Sam are like weirdos, but because he's like pretty boy,
you don't necessarily think that. And I feel like your
(08:04):
guys dynamic like brought that out of him even more,
which is really nice to see. And like he is
so sweet and Sam is so sweet and you are
so Like this magical combination that happened on the way
to a concert of you auditioning for this and then
you just hopped in this role was sort of perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
And I also like a thing that can happen with
the show is that if you lean in, and we've
talked about it before, like if you lean in too
much to the crazy then they can go to like
really off the rails, where like your balance of playing
like the eccentricities. I don't know the way you did it.
(08:45):
I was like, oh, this is so refreshing.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
We haven't seen anything like this so much.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Wow, that's really nice. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I was just kind of like, well, I guess I'll
just do my little thing, and all I have to
would say you're doing it wrong and I'll change it.
But because really, you know, that's the kind of that's
the life of a guest star.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
You know, you just kind of shield.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, you're at the whim of like this other machine
that's already just built.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's fun.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
I think that's fun and exciting.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, it feels like a very good challenge. Like the
classes is like, okay, can I pick up can I
figure out what the tone is here?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
To match it?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I will say it was a bummer that you didn't
get to sing on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I know, I know she can sing.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, what the heck?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I never really found out the answer.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Okay, did you have to sing in your audition?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (09:40):
I did.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Do you remember I do because well, I think I
knew it was a Beatles show. I think I was
trying to remember this, so I used to sing Yesterday
all the time, Okay, for auditions.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Can I tell you a funny story about this, please? Okay?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
So I sang Yesterday because it's like I love the
Evacacidy version. If anyone hasn't heard the Evacacity version Yesterday,
go listen to it.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's so beautiful.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
So that's kind of like in my mind when I
sing it, it's kind of a go to. It fits
in my voice. It's easily accessible. I didn't have to
like warm up, you know what I mean. It was
so yeah, I was singing that forever. And then not
long after I think Glee, I auditioned for some I
actually don't want to.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Say what it was. I was justent for a Broadway
show and.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
They asked for a pop frog song and I was like,
I'll just do that. It's easy.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I don't have to think about it, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
And I went in and I could tell him when
I sang it, and it was just like flat. It was
like the room was just like thanks for coming, you know.
And the director I happened to have worked with the
director before and I respect him very much, so I
felt a little iffy and he came out of the
room after me, and I was he was like, he
pulled me aside. He was like, Hey, just want to say,
(10:57):
just because I respect you and I think you're great,
you should never sing that song at an audition again.
And I was like, oh okay.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
He was like, it just doesn't He said, it just
doesn't serve you. Oh got it? Okay.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So it was like, really nice of him to give
me that constructive criticism.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
But then I didn't immediately start drinking so.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Bad, Like, so I nailed it. Then that was a
tough I did good.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, it's well, this worked for Glee.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
So.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
It was a tough. It was a tough growing moment
for me.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh my god, is brutal.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The amount of times that I'm sure director thought that
and didn't come out of the room and tell me.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Tell me. I was like, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Like I have to go more, and the amount of
auditions I've sung this on now.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Then let me move forward. Yes, my god, it's crazy.
It's crazy. Where do you up to now, Phoebe? What's
going on in your life?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I mean I'm just I'm living on living in New York.
I got my husband, and I have a Jack Russell
who's merciful right now, or otherwise he'd be acting insane.
I don't know if you have experience with Jack Russell.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
They're crazy, right, all them?
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Yeah, great dog.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
But I do a lot of like I do a
lot of audiobook narration, which I'm really poor.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
It's hard.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It is.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
It is two audiobooks now, and it is like it's
another skill set that you have to like that and
take care of yourself and like look away from the page.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yes, I actually bet you're really good at it, because
I feel like reading an audiobook successfully is like reading
music while you're it's like playing It's like playing music
and reading sheep.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Your brain is doing like multiple things at once, and
it can go like completely off the rails and like
I don't know your experience, like the producers you've worked with,
like in your ear while you're recording, but like sometimes
they're like take a breath, take a sip of water,
look away from the page, and then come back because
(13:16):
you starts to like play with the letters and the words.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Like yeah, yeah, you're right. It's a totally different skill set,
but it's really fun. Yeah, I do love mostly young adult.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Both of your voices are very soothing though, that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
The radio voice.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Also, you had a dog while we were in Spring Awakening.
That's right, that we loved very dearly.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
God bless her.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And then your role on the show was named, right,
it was Kismet.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You were like, look at the page, I'm meant to
play this part.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Got that poor dog.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
So sweet she was, but she's just you know, you
met her, you got to know her very well.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
This is a dog that we never have survived.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She's very sweet, but she very small.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Puffy, oh like tiny tiny.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, she was really small, right, she was like four pounds.
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
And she had you know how babies have a fontanelle.
That's obviously you know, because you have this there's skull
plates come together. That never happened for poor Penny. Show
a soft spot right.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
At Penny.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
We got ten good years with her.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh wow, Yeah, did you get her during the show?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I did, Jenna, I did, right.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I remember that you.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Snuck her into that dressing room because we were on
the fifth floor, because no one came up there because
it was only accessible by stairs, that's right, and.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Nobody and when I was off stage swing I got
to hang out with him and she was on stage.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It's cutey. Did you both meet on Spring Awakening?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, they had started already, and obviously I came on.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
God for you, Thank God for you. I was just
thinking the other day about how you were always like nice,
always the one to say something really funny, like you
were always making us laugh. We were always so god
damn dramatic, so I can I curse? Yeah, and we
were always going through some trauma.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, well you guys had really been through it, not
unlike our show built You build a bond. Yeah, in
the process of creating something very magical, and that becomes
very public. And I mean, you guys were on like
billboards and on gap ads for like in Times Square,
(15:57):
and that's not normal for Broadway casts.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Like they were a.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
Phenomenon, especially like all henomenon New Wish people like you're
not necessarily yeah, you're.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Young, it is, hormones are raging, fame is happening. And
then I pop in like halfway through that after the Tonys,
and there they've already been through it all. So it's
like coming in as a guest star into like a
house that's not quite yours yet, but like you're like, I.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Hope maybe they'll have me.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I was only supposed to come with Lily went to
go do her musical at LaGuardia so that she could
come back and graduate, and then I was supposed to
be gone.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Oh, thank god, thank god for you. You just make
you could, Yeah, you could go into any role, like,
you're just amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I went into your role first. Actually do you remember this?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So everybody I had joined the cast, I had learned
four of the roles.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Which I don't understand.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
You won.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I don't understand how people are swings and have to
learn entire tracks from multiple people.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's actually banana, that is the I.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Think about it all the time, Honestly, anytime I hear
like crazy harmonies and shows and things, I'm like, what
is the swing doing here? Like how are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah? It is kind of bananas. Luckily it was only
four girls, so like it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Only four roles, yeah right, and the girls like we're
in tandem, so you just had to keep track of
like which one did what.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
But Phoebe was an understudy for Elsa. For Lauram Pritchard
and the like.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
A couple of weeks in after learning all the parts,
everybody got the flu. It was like widespread throughout the theater.
Everybody was calling out. Phoebe had to go on for
Elsa and I had not had a put in yet,
so I had never done it. I didn't have a costume.
I wore Jen's costume for the first one, my first
uh in, and it was just the craziest thing. And
(17:47):
I don't remember any of it. The lights like came
on and I remember being like, I don't know where
the fuck. I was utterly shocking, and you're just like,
I hope people just push me where I'm supposed to go,
and you just like yet through it. But I remember, yeah,
Ama was the first one I went on for Crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Even during the show though, like through the run of
the show, I would still have to go back to
my binder and refer to the Mama harmonies because there
were so like all small differences. But then I came back.
Funny story, I came back from the show from doing
Glee for eight weeks in LA from doing the pilot
(18:28):
while we waited to see if it was going to
get picked up, and you guys had already gone and
the new cast had already come in. But Amanda, who
played Marta at that time, she missed her train. It
was my first day back in the theater. The first
day back, I was going to go sit in the
back of the house watch the show, refresh my memory.
And of course they come back to the back of
(18:51):
the house and they're like, Jenna, you have to go on.
And I was like, I don't think I remember the
show at all, and I and you do. Your muscle
memory just goes and you're crazy. It's like riding a bike.
Your body just like takes you where you need to go.
But it was that was terrifying too, eight weeks away.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Terrifying but exhilarating, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I still got it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Like, well, it's gonna happen whether I like it or not.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And then you like stave the day.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah yeah, a little bit, a little bit. That's the
swing thing.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Right time you go on, you're like, ah, yes, you're
all welcome.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
No, truly though, like the the amount of talent that
it takes, I'm not tooting my own heart, just like
for swings in general.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
To be like, have to do that. It's crazy. It's
absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
They're amazing, which also makes sense why you both can
do these audiobook things if your brain is having to,
like I don't. It also makes sense of why you
were probably so sensitive also coming onto like the Glee set,
because you all had been just through this rollercoaster, right,
that was very similar and with people you knew, Like
(20:05):
it was not a huge jump from like Spring Awakening
cast to Glee cast. I felt like we always felt
like there was I don't know if you felt that,
but because like I felt that forever, and it felt
like we like, you know, Leah and john were They're like, yeah,
we were mom and dad like, well, sort of feels
(20:26):
like that here as well.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, and when Jonathan was on, Yeah, well that's so.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Funny because he also was like around from the very
beginning anyway, like just hanging out.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Yeah, oh I see, so he was always.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He was always, But that's what it always felt like,
even if we didn't hang out all the time, have
like the closest relationship, and it felt like anybody who
was in the Spring Awakening family was also in the
Glee family. So like having you on felt like, yeah, like,
oh yeah, of course, oh thank god, Like you understand
it was weird having like other people who we did
(20:59):
not know the vibe come on, especially that season.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I think you're onto something there, because like when you've
gone through something so crazy, you're kind of like, well,
I'm ready for crazy, Like it's fine, I can I
can handle the I can handle whatever weird stuff.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah, it's fine, but it is.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I mean, it's nice of you to say, but I mean,
jumping into a working TV set is like it's it's
it's a shock to the system at first for sure,
but it's so massive.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, you've been on a lot of massive TV shows,
so like I would be terrified you did you do
thirty Rock?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They did, Like I would be terrified.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
That's scary. Yeah it was, it was. It was okay, good,
it was.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
But it's that it's that jumping out of a plane thing.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
It's like, here I go, you know, just do it. Yeah,
and yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You happen to just be really good and talented and funny,
so it works out for you.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Going back to the whole thing of like having been
through something like Glee where there's like lots of drama, trauma,
relationship friendships, like very close knit going through something.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's kind of like lightning in a bottle.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
What your reflections are now because ours obviously we do
this podcast because we like to reflect on the time
that has passed, right and looking back now ten years later,
So I'm curious like your reflections on Spring Awakening from
that viewpoint as well, having had so much time and
then also doing the reunion and everybody coming back together.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
You know, I will say I have described doing the
Reunion concert it felt like being in a really fun
haunted house because it was like it felt kind of creepy,
but make thing, and we're doing this show again on
our like fully grown bodies.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Right, gross to say.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But that makes a lot of sense, And like as I'm.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Sure you all might feel the same way, It's like
the dynamics felt exactly the same, Like it almost felt
like to me, I don't know how long I want
to live in this again, and I don't in that
bad way, but just it felt so beautifully painful because
it was like that was such a specific time. It
(23:32):
was such a multuous good and bad, Like I think
I experienced every emotion possible doing that show, and so
it was just so like I feel like a lot
of us have talked a few of us have talked
about this. I feel like a lot of us got
some kind of weird closure. I feel like over the
(23:54):
fifteen years before we did that concert, I still had
some and I won't get into the details, I still
had some like almost open wounds. I had some unresolved
conflicts or issues or feelings that still kind of haunted
me a little bit haunted house. And I felt like
they got resolved in a way. It felt it felt
(24:16):
closed in a way for me personally, right, So, yeah,
I don't know if that really answers completely.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
It was so like it was a lot so I.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Will say, like the first night when we had rehearsal,
I told my husband, like, I'm sure we'll go out
because we had the rehearsal wasn't in the evening. I
was like, I'm sure I'll off for a drink or
something after, and I think we all stayed out till
like at least three in the morning. It was like,
all of a sudden, it was like I forgot it
wasn't twenty one twenty three when.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I you know, I'm like, I started getting texts from getting.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, what do you say?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Almost exactly what you just said. It was weird, the
exact same thing of like outer body. Yeah, and just
like the old wounds and like things that needed to
like have closure that you didn't even realize until like
you were there, like almost verbatim.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
What you just said.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Wow, And he's like, we're all out right now drinking.
I'm like, Okay, great, good luck. I hope you find
what you're looking for.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
My husband thought I was dead. I mean it was,
but at.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
The same time he knew I was out, he was,
you know, and I think I came home just like yeah,
oh yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Oh yeah, this is not my life, like this is
my life right. Yeah, No, that that resonates. That makes
total sense. I bet if we did a reunion, which
we do on our own sometimes anyway, like you know, gatherings,
but with smaller groups of people, not everybody, and like
you just you have your stuff or you don't have
(25:54):
your stuff, but like everything just goes back to like
you revert back to the twenty year old self and
people know.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You the way they know you and the way they
know you now, and you're just like we can just go,
we can just be like forever.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And I also think that going through those situations where
you do experience every known emotion under the sun in
a short period of time with all of these people
looking back at it now, it's like, well, you have
nothing to lose to sort of confront all those things
head on because you have this like deep foundation of
(26:27):
like respect and understanding for one another.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And so it's like, well, we can talk about this.
You don't have to agree, but like at this point,
we've experienced all of these things together, which makes that
relationship really really strong, for better or for worse. And
I like we've done that like with people that we've
needed to like talk to and things like that, or
(26:52):
so like, yeah, okay, let's just talk this out, not
even necessarily looking for closure. But then when it happens,
you're like, oh, oh that feels closed up in like
a good way. Didn't realize they needed that. And I've
seen you do it, and I've seen like other people
do it, so it I do think like you guys
had that reunion like under the guys like this healing
(27:15):
therapy therapeutic exchange under the guys of reunion exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Like let's just get Yeah, it's kind of like I
don't know if you will.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I'm sure we're all of therapy, aren't we.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
It's kind of like you can do all the actual
therapy you want, but then when you actually like go
home and are with your family, you're like, oh wait,
I was talking a big game.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Oh now I have to execute and implement hotly.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Jenna and I did that to each other once. Yeah,
I want to say it was someone and we're like, look,
I just need you to know that I'm going to
be really shameful in how I act because all of that,
like training, all the game I talk is going to
fly out the window and I'm not going to be
able to help myself. And I'm just moning. I'm just
warning you, and I feel ashamed. She's like me too.
(28:10):
I was like, okay, great, yeah, but that.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Is the most like self knowing thing you could say.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. I was like, I made up four years later,
but I was like I had to learn.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah, yeah you do.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
They'll do it.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
If Parenty, you could sing a song on the show,
what would you have had her sing other than my dog.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
With their soft spot?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Also also Penny, but you your character.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Oh my gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I guess it would have been well, either would have
been the Beatles episode or the Katie you know what.
She probably would have sung because you know how, I
actually rewatched them this morning.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
She has the moment with Sam where she's like, I actually.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Don't like scroll UKs, I like, you're so funny.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
So they probably would have done some like pop girl
duet together.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
I don't know how cute I think cute.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I love that storyline. I love that about like he
likes it. So, yeah, you believe, I say I can't.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I forgot the line where she's like, Scarlet spit in
a cup and threw it on me.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
That's some weird thing. Yeah, the dead pen way.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You also say that I lost it, just like, yeah, honey,
we love Penny.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Where were you like in high school?
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Oh my gosh, were you a musical theater girl?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Not till later. I started out very like I came from.
I was in a do you know what magnet schools are?
Speaker 5 (29:36):
They don't exist.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, I was in a magnet middle school for math
and science. You were?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You were?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
She's a smartie and this makes sense.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Glasses and braces and men's clothes and I was just miserable.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I didn't know the gift of song yet.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yeah, they just wanted a skater boy to like me
so bad. Same and yeah, it wasn't until I was
in Yeah, I don't know. It wasn't until I was
I had two of my very best girlfriends who are
still in my life, my very best friends who know
me like sister is Vanessa and Lane. They had done
community theater and took me along with them, and I
(30:20):
was like, Oh, this is where the weirdos are. I
like this because you feel seen a little bit.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I didn't even know it. But my but my family,
I say that.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
But I grew up around music and musical theater because
my grandparents were musical theater performers and opera singers. So
I grew up around like the hammer's fine and all
this stuff. But I never anticipated that I would that
I would do it. And then I just started doing
high school theater and I've been I thought, I don't
want to go to New York, never turning back. I'm
(30:50):
going to be off Broadway.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Here she is.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
I don't think a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
I think a lot of people were smiling and nodding
at me about it.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
But yeappened.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
You know what happens.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, we say this, It always takes a little
bit of delusion to get you there, though, you know
a healthy dose of delusion. We both are from Texas.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Wait are you?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I'm from Dallas?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Shut up?
Speaker 5 (31:15):
But be fort Worth.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's crazy?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Oh my god, what high school did you go to?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Well?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I technically moved freshman year of high school to la
Oh damn. So I would have gone to Island in Plano, Texas.
Oh so I would have gone to Plano East. It
would have been my high school.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
I know, I remember it's different now, but I remember
it being kind of like the heroin capital of like
it was.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
That's what I tell people, Like fun fact was the
heroin capital the US.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Well, Phoebe, we are so grateful for your time and
for you coming on, and we really really loved your
storyline and having you on the show, and we really
feel like we were robbed and we should have had more.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
That's so thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
It was really sweet much for saying that. I don't
remember what happened there, but you know, it was kind.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Of like it happens.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
That's what I heard.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
They aired before Corey's episode and then Corey's episode aired,
and then after that it was what Katie got go,
and then the whole rest of the season is completely unhinged.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So it's not you. Yeah, it was nice. I a hinged.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I'm figured, and you know, as you know in this in.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
The showbiz there's it's so much bigger than you.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
And so it's like, I'm just so glad that I
got to do it. It was so fun and I
so thank you for saying those nice things, and thank
you for having me on your amazing podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thanks for doing this.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You what is sweet sweet soul?
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Love her so much. Has not changed. Always since the
first time I met her. Always just like so sound
like cerebral, is thinking about everything, very calm.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's her that she's always.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
She went to a magnet school. He's smart, geek Penny.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Sweet Phoebe. Well, thank you Phoebe for coming on the show,
taking the time. We are so grateful. We loved having
a nurse Penny.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You're the best, Phoebe. So nice to talk to you.
And that's what you really missed. Thanks for listening and
follow us on Instagram at and that's what you really
miss pod. Make sure to write us a review and
leave us five stars. See you next time.
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Podcast, Welcome to you, and that's where you were in
this podcast guest edition, our dear friend Phoebe Stroll, who
played the wonderful Nurse Penny Kevin wonderful. We love Nurse Penny,
vibrant Penny, and we love Penny and Sam and we
(00:28):
love Phoebe.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
What is sweet?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
So Phoebe was always like Vibe and I did Spring
Awakening together prior to Glee, and she was always like
such a sound mind.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She was like one of the older.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Goals, which is funny because we're going she was like
twenty two, you know, but like elderly.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
She was one of the older ones.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And she was one of the original cast members and
it's funny to think about it like that, but she
was like just a wonderful, wonderful energy.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
In the theater all the time. And how fun was
it to have her on.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Set and we got to hang out with her. We
get into it. But like we had, all us who
were not in Spring Awakening met so much of the
Spring Awakening crew.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, it was like a second family.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, fully, and so it was so nice to actually
have her be a part of the show finally, you know,
in season five, because she had been there. I think
we'd all hung out since season one.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, her audition is so funny. Her audition story is
really really funny. All right, Well, enjoy Phoebe Stroll. Phoebe Stroll. Wah, Kevin,
So good to see you.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It's really really long time.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
It really has.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I mean, I haven't a person since I think I
was Yeah on the set.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, oh that hurts.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It was crazy to see you like pop up as well.
Like I knew it was coming, but you were. I
just felt like we knew you immediately. For those of
us who are not in Spring Awakening, all the Awakening
folk like came around. Yeah, and like our groups merged
and so it felt like a family member, like with
Skylar coming in or with grap coming in, like, oh,
(02:10):
these are just like the extended family. Well that's nice,
of course it came on.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you know every musical theater
performer in New York auditioned for the show for years.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I'm I don't remember how you got on the
show and if this was your first time auditioning for
the show. Can you just remind us of that tale?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Oh okay, no, I think I.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Auditioned for for multiple guest stars through the years, you know,
and then this was like this.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
I actually don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I'm curious what you know actually, because I never really
found out.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
It was very last minute.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
It was like my manager called me in a panic
at like five pm one day. I was like, there
a little right now, I got Jim cardhead for you,
and I was like, okay. Unfortunately I was already like
I was on my way to a concert, so I
already had like makeup and my hair done and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Oh yeah, right, we're good.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
So I just flew there on.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
This detoured on the way to a concert to go
to a tape.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah you know, actually it was it was the Dan band.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Oh okay, yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Did you have like a callback or did you have
to or did they just book you?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
They called me like three hours later, and you're coming.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
To Hollywood, you kind of Hollywood, babe. Did you know
that it was going to be more than one episode?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I knew that was kind of the idea, but I
also knew that y'all were in a lot of blocks oil.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was that like coming into that because it's like,
you booked this role that so many of your friends
like on the show that so many of your friends
are on, you also are sensitive to the fact that
we're all going through some crazy thing. Like what was
the vibe like when you got to said, do you remember?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I mean, I just I really, like, from what I
can remember, yeah, it was. But I know it probably
still like feels like yesterday to you because it was
so traumatic.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I'm sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I just remember feeling like I really felt admiration for
all of you because I had the sense that you
all were, i mean pushing through a lot, and you
all had a sense of like dark gallows humor about it.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
I just yeah, I mean, you know kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Knew it's also all that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yes, yeah, I'm sure, but you know, when you're a
guest star, you're like you're going into your You're going
into a machine that's already in full motion, so you
kind of have to just like be flexible and go
with the flow. So I just try I don't know,
I tried to be I think I was. I was
aware that y'all were going through You're.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Smart, yeah, smart, and also like you knew us as well,
Like even though you didn't get to work with most
of us, but like you and Cord you were.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
On set though, like I could hang out a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
I definitely have.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Yeah, I definitely hung out with you a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And yeah, you guys were all so welcoming and kind
really because it was a lot so for you to
even like take the time to be like, hey, what's
up and converse with me was really nice. But yeah, Kevin,
I don't know. I mean, I I assume I must
have like been there, yeah, twenty years before when I
was out in l A doing who knows what the
hell I was doing?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, right, Yeah, I remember, I distinctly remember like hanging
out with you a lot, like one on set or
like at somebody set. I don't know, just like a dinner.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Husband reminded me that we ran into you at Elsambrero
one time, and yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, see, I just feel like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Like you knew a lot of it. Everybody knew a
lot of this bringing crew, right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, Like like Daniel would come visit.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Like Lily came visit, yes, right him, Yeah, she came
during the pilot ran but she really went to like
Disneyland with her and Chris and.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
She just hung out with us. That's so funny. What
was it like playing Penny.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
We could have had way more of Penny with Sam, but.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
She's such a funny, like little character.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yeah, it's just like, yeah, just fun and silly, and
you know, you don't have a lot of time to really, like,
you know, do a whole character study.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
You have to show up and you know, do it.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
But I really thought the writing was funny and accessible,
and I loved working with Ian. He was very like, uh,
open to my weird ideas. So it was Cord obviously,
So I just thought it was.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
A good silly in the perfect group it.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Yeah, it kind of was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It means the funny person to work with for the
first time.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Oh really, how.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So he's just like a you know, we like to
call him like a golden retriever, Like he's like a
puppy who's like, I'll do anything. I love to make
people laugh. I just like to like be around people.
So it's just it's interesting to meet somebody like who
worked with him that closely right off the bat and
has to have this like chemistry, whereas like Cord, it
(07:15):
took a minute for me to warm up to Chord.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Really we have this thing where we're like Chord has
chemistry with everybody, like oh yeah immediately, and your scenes
together were like, oh, this is golden yeah, because both
of you the way your character is just so charming.
And also it is crazy that you did just have
to hop in because it does feel like a fully
thought out, full fledged character, Like it felt like, oh,
(07:43):
she knows exactly who this person is and it is
like embodying that with like her weird shit with like
just and I loved their dynamic because like Chord and
Sam are like weirdos, but because he's like pretty boy,
you don't necessarily think that. And I feel like your
(08:04):
guys dynamic like brought that out of him even more,
which is really nice to see. And like he is
so sweet and Sam is so sweet and you are
so Like this magical combination that happened on the way
to a concert of you auditioning for this and then
you just hopped in this role was sort of perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
And I also like a thing that can happen with
the show is that if you lean in, and we've
talked about it before, like if you lean in too
much to the crazy then they can go to like
really off the rails, where like your balance of playing
like the eccentricities. I don't know the way you did it.
(08:45):
I was like, oh, this is so refreshing.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
We haven't seen anything like this so much.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Wow, that's really nice. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I didn't.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I was just kind of like, well, I guess I'll
just do my little thing, and all I have to
would say you're doing it wrong and I'll change it.
But because really, you know, that's the kind of that's
the life of a guest star.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
You know, you just kind of shield.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, you're at the whim of like this other machine
that's already just built.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's fun.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
I think that's fun and exciting.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, it feels like a very good challenge. Like the
classes is like, okay, can I pick up can I
figure out what the tone is here?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
To match it?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I will say it was a bummer that you didn't
get to sing on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I know, I know she can sing.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, what the heck?
Speaker 5 (09:32):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I never really found out the answer.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Okay, did you have to sing in your audition?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (09:40):
I did.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Do you remember I do because well, I think I
knew it was a Beatles show. I think I was
trying to remember this, so I used to sing Yesterday
all the time, Okay, for auditions.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Can I tell you a funny story about this, please? Okay?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
So I sang Yesterday because it's like I love the
Evacacidy version. If anyone hasn't heard the Evacacity version Yesterday,
go listen to it.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's so beautiful.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
So that's kind of like in my mind when I
sing it, it's kind of a go to. It fits
in my voice. It's easily accessible. I didn't have to
like warm up, you know what I mean. It was
so yeah, I was singing that forever. And then not
long after I think Glee, I auditioned for some I
actually don't want to.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Say what it was. I was justent for a Broadway
show and.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
They asked for a pop frog song and I was like,
I'll just do that. It's easy.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I don't have to think about it, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
And I went in and I could tell him when
I sang it, and it was just like flat. It was
like the room was just like thanks for coming, you know.
And the director I happened to have worked with the
director before and I respect him very much, so I
felt a little iffy and he came out of the
room after me, and I was he was like, he
pulled me aside. He was like, Hey, just want to say,
(10:57):
just because I respect you and I think you're great,
you should never sing that song at an audition again.
And I was like, oh okay.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
He was like, it just doesn't He said, it just
doesn't serve you. Oh got it? Okay.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So it was like, really nice of him to give
me that constructive criticism.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
But then I didn't immediately start drinking so.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Bad, Like, so I nailed it. Then that was a
tough I did good.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, it's well, this worked for Glee.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
So.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
It was a tough. It was a tough growing moment
for me.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Oh my god, is brutal.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The amount of times that I'm sure director thought that
and didn't come out of the room and tell me.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Tell me. I was like, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Like I have to go more, and the amount of
auditions I've sung this on now.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Then let me move forward. Yes, my god, it's crazy.
It's crazy. Where do you up to now, Phoebe? What's
going on in your life?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I mean I'm just I'm living on living in New York.
I got my husband, and I have a Jack Russell
who's merciful right now, or otherwise he'd be acting insane.
I don't know if you have experience with Jack Russell.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
They're crazy, right, all them?
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Yeah, great dog.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
But I do a lot of like I do a
lot of audiobook narration, which I'm really poor.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
It's hard.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It is.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
It is two audiobooks now, and it is like it's
another skill set that you have to like that and
take care of yourself and like look away from the page.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yes, I actually bet you're really good at it, because
I feel like reading an audiobook successfully is like reading
music while you're it's like playing It's like playing music
and reading sheep.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Your brain is doing like multiple things at once, and
it can go like completely off the rails and like
I don't know your experience, like the producers you've worked with,
like in your ear while you're recording, but like sometimes
they're like take a breath, take a sip of water,
look away from the page, and then come back because
(13:16):
you starts to like play with the letters and the words.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Like yeah, yeah, you're right. It's a totally different skill set,
but it's really fun. Yeah, I do love mostly young adult.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Both of your voices are very soothing though, that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
The radio voice.
Speaker 6 (13:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Also, you had a dog while we were in Spring Awakening.
That's right, that we loved very dearly.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
God bless her.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And then your role on the show was named, right,
it was Kismet.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You were like, look at the page, I'm meant to
play this part.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Got that poor dog.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
So sweet she was, but she's just you know, you
met her, you got to know her very well.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
This is a dog that we never have survived.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She's very sweet, but she very small.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Puffy, oh like tiny tiny.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, she was really small, right, she was like four pounds.
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
And she had you know how babies have a fontanelle.
That's obviously you know, because you have this there's skull
plates come together. That never happened for poor Penny. Show
a soft spot right.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
At Penny.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
We got ten good years with her.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh wow, Yeah, did you get her during the show?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I did, Jenna, I did, right.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I remember that you.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Snuck her into that dressing room because we were on
the fifth floor, because no one came up there because
it was only accessible by stairs, that's right, and.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Nobody and when I was off stage swing I got
to hang out with him and she was on stage.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It's cutey. Did you both meet on Spring Awakening?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, they had started already, and obviously I came on.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
God for you, Thank God for you. I was just
thinking the other day about how you were always like nice,
always the one to say something really funny, like you
were always making us laugh. We were always so god
damn dramatic, so I can I curse? Yeah, and we
were always going through some trauma.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, well you guys had really been through it, not
unlike our show built You build a bond. Yeah, in
the process of creating something very magical, and that becomes
very public. And I mean, you guys were on like
billboards and on gap ads for like in Times Square,
(15:57):
and that's not normal for Broadway casts.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Like they were a.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
Phenomenon, especially like all henomenon New Wish people like you're
not necessarily yeah, you're.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Young, it is, hormones are raging, fame is happening. And
then I pop in like halfway through that after the Tonys,
and there they've already been through it all. So it's
like coming in as a guest star into like a
house that's not quite yours yet, but like you're like, I.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Hope maybe they'll have me.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I was only supposed to come with Lily went to
go do her musical at LaGuardia so that she could
come back and graduate, and then I was supposed to
be gone.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Oh, thank god, thank god for you. You just make
you could, Yeah, you could go into any role, like,
you're just amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I went into your role first. Actually do you remember this?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So everybody I had joined the cast, I had learned
four of the roles.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Which I don't understand.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
You won.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I don't understand how people are swings and have to
learn entire tracks from multiple people.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's actually banana, that is the I.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Think about it all the time, Honestly, anytime I hear
like crazy harmonies and shows and things, I'm like, what
is the swing doing here? Like how are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah? It is kind of bananas. Luckily it was only
four girls, so like it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Only four roles, yeah right, and the girls like we're
in tandem, so you just had to keep track of
like which one did what.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
But Phoebe was an understudy for Elsa. For Lauram Pritchard
and the like.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
A couple of weeks in after learning all the parts,
everybody got the flu. It was like widespread throughout the theater.
Everybody was calling out. Phoebe had to go on for
Elsa and I had not had a put in yet,
so I had never done it. I didn't have a costume.
I wore Jen's costume for the first one, my first
uh in, and it was just the craziest thing. And
(17:47):
I don't remember any of it. The lights like came
on and I remember being like, I don't know where
the fuck. I was utterly shocking, and you're just like,
I hope people just push me where I'm supposed to go,
and you just like yet through it. But I remember, yeah,
Ama was the first one I went on for Crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Even during the show though, like through the run of
the show, I would still have to go back to
my binder and refer to the Mama harmonies because there
were so like all small differences. But then I came back.
Funny story, I came back from the show from doing
Glee for eight weeks in LA from doing the pilot
(18:28):
while we waited to see if it was going to
get picked up, and you guys had already gone and
the new cast had already come in. But Amanda, who
played Marta at that time, she missed her train. It
was my first day back in the theater. The first
day back, I was going to go sit in the
back of the house watch the show, refresh my memory.
And of course they come back to the back of
(18:51):
the house and they're like, Jenna, you have to go on.
And I was like, I don't think I remember the
show at all, and I and you do. Your muscle
memory just goes and you're crazy. It's like riding a bike.
Your body just like takes you where you need to go.
But it was that was terrifying too, eight weeks away.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Terrifying but exhilarating, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I still got it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Like, well, it's gonna happen whether I like it or not.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And then you like stave the day.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah yeah, a little bit, a little bit. That's the
swing thing.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Right time you go on, you're like, ah, yes, you're
all welcome.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
No, truly though, like the the amount of talent that
it takes, I'm not tooting my own heart, just like
for swings in general.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
To be like, have to do that. It's crazy. It's
absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
They're amazing, which also makes sense why you both can
do these audiobook things if your brain is having to,
like I don't. It also makes sense of why you
were probably so sensitive also coming onto like the Glee set,
because you all had been just through this rollercoaster, right,
that was very similar and with people you knew, Like
(20:05):
it was not a huge jump from like Spring Awakening
cast to Glee cast. I felt like we always felt
like there was I don't know if you felt that,
but because like I felt that forever, and it felt
like we like, you know, Leah and john were They're like, yeah,
we were mom and dad like, well, sort of feels
(20:26):
like that here as well.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, and when Jonathan was on, Yeah, well that's so.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Funny because he also was like around from the very
beginning anyway, like just hanging out.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Yeah, oh I see, so he was always.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He was always, But that's what it always felt like,
even if we didn't hang out all the time, have
like the closest relationship, and it felt like anybody who
was in the Spring Awakening family was also in the
Glee family. So like having you on felt like, yeah, like,
oh yeah, of course, oh thank god, Like you understand
it was weird having like other people who we did
(20:59):
not know the vibe come on, especially that season.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I think you're onto something there, because like when you've
gone through something so crazy, you're kind of like, well,
I'm ready for crazy, Like it's fine, I can I
can handle the I can handle whatever weird stuff.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah, it's fine, but it is.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I mean, it's nice of you to say, but I mean,
jumping into a working TV set is like it's it's
it's a shock to the system at first for sure,
but it's so massive.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, you've been on a lot of massive TV shows,
so like I would be terrified you did you do
thirty Rock?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They did, Like I would be terrified.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
That's scary. Yeah it was, it was. It was okay, good,
it was.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
But it's that it's that jumping out of a plane thing.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
It's like, here I go, you know, just do it. Yeah,
and yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You happen to just be really good and talented and funny,
so it works out for you.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Going back to the whole thing of like having been
through something like Glee where there's like lots of drama, trauma,
relationship friendships, like very close knit going through something.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That's kind of like lightning in a bottle.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
What your reflections are now because ours obviously we do
this podcast because we like to reflect on the time
that has passed, right and looking back now ten years later,
So I'm curious like your reflections on Spring Awakening from
that viewpoint as well, having had so much time and
then also doing the reunion and everybody coming back together.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
You know, I will say I have described doing the
Reunion concert it felt like being in a really fun
haunted house because it was like it felt kind of creepy,
but make thing, and we're doing this show again on
our like fully grown bodies.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Right, gross to say.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But that makes a lot of sense, And like as I'm.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Sure you all might feel the same way, It's like
the dynamics felt exactly the same, Like it almost felt
like to me, I don't know how long I want
to live in this again, and I don't in that
bad way, but just it felt so beautifully painful because
it was like that was such a specific time. It
(23:32):
was such a multuous good and bad, Like I think
I experienced every emotion possible doing that show, and so
it was just so like I feel like a lot
of us have talked a few of us have talked
about this. I feel like a lot of us got
some kind of weird closure. I feel like over the
(23:54):
fifteen years before we did that concert, I still had
some and I won't get into the details, I still
had some like almost open wounds. I had some unresolved
conflicts or issues or feelings that still kind of haunted
me a little bit haunted house. And I felt like
they got resolved in a way. It felt it felt
(24:16):
closed in a way for me personally, right, So, yeah,
I don't know if that really answers completely.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
It was so like it was a lot so I.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Will say, like the first night when we had rehearsal,
I told my husband, like, I'm sure we'll go out
because we had the rehearsal wasn't in the evening. I
was like, I'm sure I'll off for a drink or
something after, and I think we all stayed out till
like at least three in the morning. It was like,
all of a sudden, it was like I forgot it
wasn't twenty one twenty three when.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I you know, I'm like, I started getting texts from getting.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, what do you say?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Almost exactly what you just said. It was weird, the
exact same thing of like outer body. Yeah, and just
like the old wounds and like things that needed to
like have closure that you didn't even realize until like
you were there, like almost verbatim.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
What you just said.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Wow, And he's like, we're all out right now drinking.
I'm like, Okay, great, good luck. I hope you find
what you're looking for.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
My husband thought I was dead. I mean it was,
but at.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
The same time he knew I was out, he was,
you know, and I think I came home just like yeah,
oh yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Oh yeah, this is not my life, like this is
my life right. Yeah, No, that that resonates. That makes
total sense. I bet if we did a reunion, which
we do on our own sometimes anyway, like you know, gatherings,
but with smaller groups of people, not everybody, and like
you just you have your stuff or you don't have
(25:54):
your stuff, but like everything just goes back to like
you revert back to the twenty year old self and
people know.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You the way they know you and the way they
know you now, and you're just like we can just go,
we can just be like forever.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And I also think that going through those situations where
you do experience every known emotion under the sun in
a short period of time with all of these people
looking back at it now, it's like, well, you have
nothing to lose to sort of confront all those things
head on because you have this like deep foundation of
(26:27):
like respect and understanding for one another.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And so it's like, well, we can talk about this.
You don't have to agree, but like at this point,
we've experienced all of these things together, which makes that
relationship really really strong, for better or for worse. And
I like we've done that like with people that we've
needed to like talk to and things like that, or
(26:52):
so like, yeah, okay, let's just talk this out, not
even necessarily looking for closure. But then when it happens,
you're like, oh, oh that feels closed up in like
a good way. Didn't realize they needed that. And I've
seen you do it, and I've seen like other people
do it, so it I do think like you guys
had that reunion like under the guys like this healing
(27:15):
therapy therapeutic exchange under the guys of reunion exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Like let's just get Yeah, it's kind of like I
don't know if you will.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
I'm sure we're all of therapy, aren't we.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
It's kind of like you can do all the actual
therapy you want, but then when you actually like go
home and are with your family, you're like, oh wait,
I was talking a big game.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Oh now I have to execute and implement hotly.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Jenna and I did that to each other once. Yeah,
I want to say it was someone and we're like, look,
I just need you to know that I'm going to
be really shameful in how I act because all of that,
like training, all the game I talk is going to
fly out the window and I'm not going to be
able to help myself. And I'm just moning. I'm just
warning you, and I feel ashamed. She's like me too.
(28:10):
I was like, okay, great, yeah, but that.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Is the most like self knowing thing you could say.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. I was like, I made up four years later,
but I was like I had to learn.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah, yeah you do.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
They'll do it.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
If Parenty, you could sing a song on the show,
what would you have had her sing other than my dog.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
With their soft spot?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Also also Penny, but you your character.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Oh my gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I guess it would have been well, either would have
been the Beatles episode or the Katie you know what.
She probably would have sung because you know how, I
actually rewatched them this morning.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
She has the moment with Sam where she's like, I actually.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Don't like scroll UKs, I like, you're so funny.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
So they probably would have done some like pop girl
duet together.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
I don't know how cute I think cute.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I love that storyline. I love that about like he
likes it. So, yeah, you believe, I say I can't.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I forgot the line where she's like, Scarlet spit in
a cup and threw it on me.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
That's some weird thing. Yeah, the dead pen way.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You also say that I lost it, just like, yeah, honey,
we love Penny.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Where were you like in high school?
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Oh my gosh, were you a musical theater girl?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Not till later. I started out very like I came from.
I was in a do you know what magnet schools are?
Speaker 5 (29:36):
They don't exist.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, I was in a magnet middle school for math
and science. You were?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
You were?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
She's a smartie and this makes sense.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Glasses and braces and men's clothes and I was just miserable.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I didn't know the gift of song yet.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yeah, they just wanted a skater boy to like me
so bad. Same and yeah, it wasn't until I was
in Yeah, I don't know. It wasn't until I was
I had two of my very best girlfriends who are
still in my life, my very best friends who know
me like sister is Vanessa and Lane. They had done
community theater and took me along with them, and I
(30:20):
was like, Oh, this is where the weirdos are. I
like this because you feel seen a little bit.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I didn't even know it. But my but my family,
I say that.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
But I grew up around music and musical theater because
my grandparents were musical theater performers and opera singers. So
I grew up around like the hammer's fine and all
this stuff. But I never anticipated that I would that
I would do it. And then I just started doing
high school theater and I've been I thought, I don't
want to go to New York, never turning back. I'm
(30:50):
going to be off Broadway.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Here she is.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
I don't think a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
I think a lot of people were smiling and nodding
at me about it.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
But yeappened.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
You know what happens.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, we say this, It always takes a little
bit of delusion to get you there, though, you know
a healthy dose of delusion. We both are from Texas.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Wait are you?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I'm from Dallas?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Shut up?
Speaker 5 (31:15):
But be fort Worth.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That's crazy?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Oh my god, what high school did you go to?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Well?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I technically moved freshman year of high school to la
Oh damn. So I would have gone to Island in Plano, Texas.
Oh so I would have gone to Plano East. It
would have been my high school.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
I know, I remember it's different now, but I remember
it being kind of like the heroin capital of like
it was.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
That's what I tell people, Like fun fact was the
heroin capital the US.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Well, Phoebe, we are so grateful for your time and
for you coming on, and we really really loved your
storyline and having you on the show, and we really
feel like we were robbed and we should have had more.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
That's so thank you.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
It was really sweet much for saying that. I don't
remember what happened there, but you know, it was kind.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Of like it happens.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
That's what I heard.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
They aired before Corey's episode and then Corey's episode aired,
and then after that it was what Katie got go,
and then the whole rest of the season is completely unhinged.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So it's not you. Yeah, it was nice. I a hinged.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I'm figured, and you know, as you know in this in.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
The showbiz there's it's so much bigger than you.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
And so it's like, I'm just so glad that I
got to do it. It was so fun and I
so thank you for saying those nice things, and thank
you for having me on your amazing podcast.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thanks for doing this.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You what is sweet sweet soul?
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Love her so much. Has not changed. Always since the
first time I met her. Always just like so sound
like cerebral, is thinking about everything, very calm.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's her that she's always.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
She went to a magnet school. He's smart, geek Penny.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Sweet Phoebe. Well, thank you Phoebe for coming on the show,
taking the time. We are so grateful. We loved having
a nurse Penny.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You're the best, Phoebe. So nice to talk to you.
And that's what you really missed. Thanks for listening and
follow us on Instagram at and that's what you really
miss pod. Make sure to write us a review and
leave us five stars. See you next time.
Host
Jenna Ushkowitz
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