March 20, 2025 • 45 mins
Friendship is one of the most important bonds we can form throughout our lives. Whether we find our people at a young age or not until later in life, it's the family we develop along the way that provides so many of us with the strength we need to face difficulties. This bond is front and center in Vanities the Musical, which is making its Michigan Premiere at Meadow Brook Theatre! Before its previews, we sat down to talk to the cast, Caroline Moulios, Em Hadick, and Katherine Alexis Thomas, about their experience in Vanities the Musical!
In this exclusive Box Seat Babes interview, all three cast members talk about what drew them to this musical and how it has challenged them as actors. From a show that only features three people to a story that spans decades and life experiences, there are plenty of ways Vanities has pushed Moulios, Hadick, and Thomas in their craft, although all of them are up to the task! Also, discover which themes speak to each one of them the most and how they feel the musical enhances the show. The chemistry amongst these three is intoxicating, making us even more excited to see Meadow Brook Theatre's production of Vanities The Musical! Watch and discover that energy for yourself!
Find the video of this podcast on YouTube
For more Broadway coverage, visit Box Seat Babes
Follow us on social media @boxseatbabes or visit check out our Linktree!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Thank you so much for joining me today.
How has the rehearsal process for Vanities been going?
It's been going well.
Yes, it's been going well.
The first week felt very fast as we did a stumble through at the end of it, or actuallythe beginning of the next week.
(00:27):
But now we've just been cleaning stuff up and it's going well and I feel like it's beenfun diving into these characters and...
Yeah, figuring out what makes them tick throughout the show as we get older, which is partof the plot line.
Yeah.
Okay, so what is the story of Vanities The Musical?
(00:49):
Because I'm not familiar with this one and, you know, so it's always good to kind of, youknow, listeners want to know what it's about.
So I'm actually going to ask you, what is Vanities The Musical about?
Sure.
It's about a group of three friends and we follow them from high school to college to late20s to adulthood and the way their friendship grows and changes throughout that.
(01:14):
It also starts in 1963 and goes all the way to 1990s.
So you get to see how they all respond to these culture shifts.
know, some get more conservative, some get more liberal.
And it's really about what connects us in the end.
I the power of friendship, that sounds cheesy, but I think it is about the power offriendship.
(01:34):
So this is just like charmed.
my gosh, I love Charmed.
We don't have magical powers, unfortunately.
Hmm.
the theater is the magical powers though.
The singing and the coming together, that's where the magic is.
So for Caroline, you're playing Joanne.
(01:55):
So who is she and how does she fit into the narrative of Vanities?
Yeah, Joanne is one of the three girls in the show.
She's very quirky.
She's super, she's just lighthearted and fun, but you know, she kind has a little bit of ajudgy side to her and she, all she's ever wanted to do was be a wife and a mother and I
(02:21):
connect to her.
Like I love her.
She's great.
Yeah, she has this ideal life that she strives.
to pursue every day and she has a boyfriend who we see her get engaged to and you know,comes to find out that her life isn't as perfect as she always thought it was.
(02:43):
And she's, she realizes that it's always been that her two best friends have always beenthere for her.
And even though they may change, they may grow up and see the world in different ways.
They're always there for her and
Yeah, she's a beautiful character and I feel like she has a lot of growth.
(03:05):
She's just kind of quirky at the beginning, but then, you know, kind of has a full come torealization moment.
hers happens way later than everyone else, but doesn't take away from that.
Absolutely, as long as they have that moment, know, as long as...
(03:26):
So what do you feel like Joanne's motivations in this musical is?
Because you kind of mentioned, you know, she wants to be a wife and a mom, so that seemslike very central motivation.
But what do you feel like her motivations are?
I honestly, her motivation is to get married, have a family, go live out in the country.
(03:51):
Like her whole life is not about herself.
It's about becoming someone for someone else and something for someone else.
I think the whole time as she's growing, she has this...
picture perfect world that she wants and that's truly what drives her to make every singledecision and it's yeah
(04:19):
And you can get lost in that.
As a character, as a person, you can get lost in trying to please everybody else andpursue that dream.
and I think you said that perfectly.
Like she's always trying to please someone else.
She's always trying.
She's always trying.
She's looking up to Kathy and she's looking up to Mary and she wants to be with them.
She's always trying to fit into a group of three and you how there's always that like twobut then there's always that third on the out.
(04:43):
She's always wanting to insert herself and be in there and she's you know always just kindof straggling a little bit behind but at the end of the day you
love her and she does get there and but having that ideal life is kind of what motivatesher and she comes to realize that that's not always what it's made out to be.
(05:09):
The grass isn't always greener on the other side, you know.
for sure.
Catherine, you're playing Cathy.
So who's Cathy within this narrative?
Kathy is, I feel like she has a big arc throughout the show.
I don't feel like she's the same throughout necessarily, but she starts out as a teenagerwho's pretty type A, who likes everything to be organized and perfect as possible and is a
(05:45):
natural leader.
and kind of leads the two girls in the cheerleading group in the beginning of the show.
And toward the end, I feel like she has this journey of finding herself and finding outhow she can get through this life without being so, I don't wanna say uptight, but just
(06:14):
without being so.
Type A and kind of figuring out how to just let things happen and go with the flow.
So how do you feel like she kind of changes throughout the show?
(06:34):
yeah, she goes from being this really type A teenager into young adulthood in college.
And, you see her go through a really tough breakup.
and I kind of feel like that's, that's a pivotal moment where she realizes, you know, loveis not always lasting.
(07:00):
It's not always.
faithful and yeah, I feel like that's kind of a breaking point because she's plannedeverything out.
She's and this is the first time something has really blown up and gone terribly wrong andfiguring out how to deal with the aftermath of that, you know, this event, this trauma
(07:27):
that sticks with her for years and years.
Yeah.
I love that you said that about the pivotal moment being something like a breakup, becausefor type A personalities, we predict everything.
We try to predict everything, at least, every outcome.
And breakups are one of those things that you can't predict.
And so that does throw people into turmoil with how do you deal with something that's sounpredictable when you've tried to factor everything into their life?
(07:59):
and Em you're playing Mary.
Sure am.
So who is Mary and how do they factor into the story of Vanities the musical?
Yeah, Mary's kind of a rebel.
She's certainly not focused on her academic pursuits in any way.
She doesn't love her life in Texas, which is where they all start out.
(08:19):
So she's kind of the first one to break away.
She goes to Europe.
She becomes an exhibitionist.
She's really on the rebellious side of things as opposed to her other two friends.
And some of it's cool and some of it...
she ends up regretting.
So it's interesting to watch her go through all the years and see what those choices bringher.
(08:45):
What's interesting is that Carolina kind of said about how she was, her character kind offeels on the outside, but your character is kind of pushing towards the outside, know,
kind of completely breaking away from the other two.
Yeah, yeah, and it comes from a lot of, I think she's got a lot of shame going on, a lotof stuff that she's not ready to face, which is interesting culturally for the time
(09:06):
period.
A lot of people weren't doing a lot of introspective work.
So instead she just kind of runs away.
What is that kind of like for you, that character journey?
Like how do you grow as an actor with that?
know, like what's that journey for you?
Uh, it's interesting.
(09:27):
I haven't played a character that spans this long of an age range.
We all go from like 17 to 44.
Um, and you know, I've done, I've done a 10 year gap, but that's a big one.
So it's, it's how does this character move when they're young?
How does this character move once they're older?
How do they speak?
How do they relate to the people around them?
(09:48):
It's a big one.
Um, and it's weird for me because I, I went to school here.
So I'm like in the area where I was when I was 18 years old and now it's 10 years laterand I can feel those differences.
But then as playing this character, I need to go even further.
So it's an exploration and I'm still in it and I think the two of us are still, the threeof us are all still figuring out where these characters go.
(10:15):
Yeah.
For all of you, as you're developing these characters, you kind of think you have thescript, you have the source material, but how, you mentioned about kind of developing as
you go, how do you develop these characters?
And how do you make them kind of your own?
Caroline we'll kind of start with you with this one.
How do you develop Joanne compared to what's on the script?
(10:39):
Yeah, I think, I feel like when I read it at first, I connected so much to her justpersonality wise.
I was like, like it is what, that is something that I see for myself.
I think there's aspects of her that I was like, wow, I totally connect to her.
(11:01):
And we honestly are working with a fantastic director.
We're working with Travis and
He truly, he is fan, he is amazing.
And this, I will say like this role has been, for me it's been kind of tricky because I'mon the younger end.
So I connect way more to high school and college aged Joanne, where late twenties andlater on, I don't know.
(11:34):
And I'm pulling from people like I asked my mom, like,
what, you know, like I'm trying, I'm working on trying to figure that out, like wassaying.
And I'm just really grateful for Travis because we've gone through these scenes and hepulls out things that I would never, never even think about.
(11:56):
And he, I feel like a lot of it is relying on everyone around me to try to like bring out
the mature side of Joanne and try to find that part just because I'm still searching forthat myself in life.
(12:18):
So a lot of it is doing research watching Catherine and work.
And let me tell you, both of them are incredible.
And it's been an honor getting to work with them.
So watching them and pulling from that and being like, okay, I'm watching how Em is
doing this.
(12:39):
I need to kind of...
so it's not...
I feel like for me Joanne personality-wise is so me, but trying to figure out how to bethe mature and older version is really like studying my peers and taking from how they're
doing things and then kind of putting my quirky twist on it if that kind of answers that.
(13:04):
It absolutely answers that.
Catherine, kind of the same question for you.
It's just like, how do you find the balance?
How do you approach, like, what's in the script to also, like, making Cathy your own?
I think I'm gonna be a little theater nerd right now, but I think a lot of it has to dowith creating your own backstory.
(13:30):
You know, like we start out with what is on the page and that's the information that'spresented to us.
But in order to like get it across in the best way possible, I feel like
you need to create depth within this character.
So I feel like part of my journey with this has been...
(13:59):
Being able to portray this character in a way as myself, being Black, where it's like, shemight not have been the head cheerleader in 1963, we don't know.
But it's my job to come up with that backstory of what is her family life like?
(14:23):
Why is she wanting to be the leader?
Why does she need everything to be perfect?
Why does she need everything to be organized and on a list?
Like what drives those qualities?
And yeah, I feel like the same thing with her later on in life.
(14:45):
She has a big change in personality and they don't, the script doesn't tell you why, youknow?
So it's my job to figure out like,
what the why is and have that influence and color everything that I'm saying from thescript.
(15:06):
So it's really like, the script is the guiding force, but also there's a lot of back workwhere you have to kind of find out who this person is.
Yeah, definitely.
it's stuff, you know, the audience will never hear or necessarily know, but it is a hugefactor in character development, I think.
(15:29):
In those moments though, as we're watching as the audience, I'm not an actor at all.
Psychologist by day, reviewer by night.
But it's the little moments when you're seeing your characters do something that you knowthat there had to be some knowledge that dictates that.
You're like, the way that she looks in that scene, or the way she tilts her head, or allthose little moments.
(15:50):
And so for you to do that work, it does make for that well-rounded show.
And how about for you?
Like, do you have an approach to how you balance the script and your character?
Yeah, I mean, I do some of the nerdier stuff of like, I don't know if people have talkedabout the notebook of what my character says about themselves, what other people say about
(16:11):
my character, you know, just like script analysis stuff.
I always find it helpful just in creating a picture, but I'm like kind of a TV freak.
Like I love TV, I always rewatch.
So if there's a show that I like that's in the same time period, I do a little watchthrough that.
It's like I've been rewatching Mad Men to remind myself.
what the culture was in that time, because I think it affects it.
(16:32):
And then you just kind of let your imagination go.
Similar to what Catherine was saying, you have to answer a lot of questions, becauseespecially in this piece, it's not day by day you get a snapshot into different years of
their life.
So there's a lot of stuff that we never know what actually happened, and you gotta come upwith it for yourself, and that creates this well-rounded character.
(16:57):
I know it's probably a bad comparison, like the way you're describing the story, I keepgoing back to like Yellow Jackets almost, being like how there's like these different time
periods and you're kind of trying to have to piece together some of that middle section,even though there's no like cannibalism.
Maybe.
Come see the show, you'll find out.
Well, I'll be there in like two weeks, but now I'm gonna have to read up all about it now.
(17:23):
So I'm gonna start with you again.
Like what drew you to this role?
So like what made you decide like I have to be in the show?
Did you say me?
I'm sorry.
Okay.
I was really excited by the fact that it's such a small cast.
It's been a while since I've done a show that's this small of a cast.
(17:44):
You the last few contracts I've done has been an ensemble big show, which is fun for verydifferent reasons, but there's a level of challenge to being on stage the whole time and
bearing so much of the brunt.
I mean, there's three people, so.
for the entire show, all of the songs and all the lines are split between just you three.
So there's a responsibility to that.
(18:04):
Yeah, I mean, it's tough.
It's been like a real brain challenge, but I've been wanting that.
And I really love the trust that a small cast creates.
Like I feel so close to the two of you, Caroline and Catherine already, and it hasn't evenbeen two weeks.
Just because we've gotten to play and be so creative together, there's a lot of joy to it.
(18:25):
Sorry, my dog is growling.
Ignore him.
take it out with background noise, it's fine.
I didn't realize it was such a small cast because usually, know, we see at least, I wantto say the least I've seen at Meadowbrook is like five people, you know, but this is all
three of you are just like the whole show is on your shoulders.
(18:48):
Is there pressure to that, Caroline?
Oh, a ton of pressure, a ton of pressure.
For me, I will say this is a show that's totally out of my comfort zone.
Totally out of my comfort zone.
And when I was approached about this show, I was a little like, I'm not sure.
I don't know.
(19:09):
But it has truly been the biggest gift because like Em was saying, you have to work.
You have to figure it out.
you're not going off stage.
There's nothing like you have to work with your scene partners and you have to figure itout and you have to go on the journey.
You just got to allow yourself to do the jumps, you know, with this show.
(19:35):
But like I was saying, this is totally out of my comfort zone.
I just got done doing Footloose at Meadowbrook.
And so going from that big of a cast with such a crazy A-
age range because it was the collaboration with Oakland University.
And so going from that where I was in the ensemble doing all the dancing stuff to nowbeing in this small of a cast and it's so intimate and we're sitting and going through
(20:04):
everything and really figuring out who these people are.
It's a huge challenge and it's every day I come home and I'm like, wow.
Okay, there's a lot that I really, I've had a lot to think about saying, A lot ofdifferent things being thrown, you know?
(20:27):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yeah, I think we had like, I think there was like 20 plus people maybe in it.
It was crazy.
this feels very, like I keep saying, I feel very naked in this show.
Like I feel very like.
I'm standing there and it's just us out there.
(20:50):
There's no one else to rely on to come in.
We keep joking that this show's actually been kind of hard to memorize just because wejump from so many different topics and we bring up this.
We bring up boyfriends and we bring up sororities and we bring up so many different thingsand it's hard because we're the ones who have to come up with those ideas and just
(21:13):
remember
Okay, now we're going jump to this topic.
There's no one who comes in and brings in the new energy.
It's just us.
So it's been a huge challenge, especially.
Yeah, especially for me.
So I'm super excited though.
Catherine, drew you to this role?
What's my you to this role?
(21:35):
Oh Okay, now I understand What drew me to this role honestly, I am kind of a person who
(21:59):
I want to say that I go with the flow, but there I have my little, my little, for lack ofa better term, like OCD-isms, you know, which does help me relate to Cathy sometimes.
I'm like, well, yeah, of course this is what she wants because that's what makes sense.
(22:19):
It's me as Catherine thinking that.
But I feel like the challenge is that
I've never seen myself as like the leader of any group.
And so having to be the character who really takes charge, at least during the first halfof the show and runs things and tells the girls what to do and what is cool, what is not,
(22:50):
who's cool, who's not, it's a little bit of a challenge for me.
especially like in the way that Caroline was describing that there's nobody else out therebut us and the fact that she's a leader kind of means or at least it comes off as like
(23:13):
that means she's the one who's starting each scene.
She's starting each dialogue.
She's like, okay, we've got to have another plan.
Okay, now we're going to do this.
Now we're going to do that.
And so
Back to what Caroline was saying, it's been a bit of a challenge to memorize all of thisbecause I'm usually the one who starts the conversation.
(23:41):
So if I don't have it, then it's like, no, where do we go from here?
Yeah, yeah.
And that's not the whole show, but yeah, definitely like the first half.
until she has that change in her personality, I guess, kind of.
(24:03):
Would you say that's how the show's challenged you the most as an actor?
It's just like all the memorization for starting off the show, like the scenes?
I...
The biggest challenge...
Yeah, honestly, I would say it has been the biggest challenge so far.
(24:24):
It's not one that I feel like afraid of.
I know that I can memorize lines.
I've had a lot of lines to learn before in a show, but it's like we're doing a lot of workoutside of rehearsals.
Yeah, there are some shows where it's like, okay, I got this.
(24:46):
Like, I don't need to.
necessarily drill things on my own.
But this one, like before this call, I was running lines with myself for about an hourtrying to really memorize this third scene of the show.
(25:06):
And yeah, it just takes a lot of work.
And for me, I'm not a dancer either.
there's
not super super intense dancing but there's there's a lot of movement in this show and sothat has been a bit of a challenge for me but again i'm just like no i'll have it i know
that i'll have it it's just a journey it's just you know practice makes perfect
(25:32):
Absolutely.
10,000 hours, right?
How has this show challenged you as an actor?
I already talked about the age thing, but that has really been, it's tough.
Cause like, like Caroline was saying, we don't leave the stage and if we do, it's formaybe a couple minutes.
(25:53):
So to have to sort of reset while you're still on stage and travel four years, then eightyears, then I think the next jump is like 14.
That's tough.
That's tough to remain the same person and hop through.
big life changes.
And it's feeling a little weird for me just at the age that I'm at now.
(26:17):
I'm like smack dab in the middle of this character's journey.
And so it's hard to visualize the future.
Sure.
Yeah, it's been fun, it's been good, but it's got my noggin going.
A big theme in this, I mean, it's called Vanities.
So a big theme is how they see themselves and how they create like an image for themselvesand how they present.
(26:40):
And that's interesting too, you know, in this year, 2025, image is so huge and yeah.
So there's just a lot swirling with all of that.
As these characters grow, how do they see themselves?
And how do I see myself as this character on stage in front of people?
(27:00):
You know?
Absolutely, totally understandable.
So for all three of you, we talked about a lot of the story, but we haven't really talkedabout the music part of it, and this is a musical.
So how do we feel like the music enhances the story?
Like how does it kind of further the storyline, or how does it just make that picture kindof more well-rounded?
(27:23):
Whoever wants to go.
Yeah.
so it moves.
like, yeah, it's like 60s poppy music.
And it feels young the way these characters are.
And then when you get into the 70s, it's a little bit more groovy.
It's all really fun.
A lot of earworms, I'll say.
I think that it's very catchy, very boppy music.
(27:45):
So that's been really fun.
I mean, that's the best part about it is like when you want people to walk away with thatmusic stuck in their ear.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, go on.
Yeah, I feel like not necessarily every single song, because some of the songs are justabout togetherness, I would say.
(28:12):
But a lot of the songs are storytelling songs.
So they're pretty pertinent to the show because, you know, like
we're still continuing the storyline and explaining stuff that's going on in these girls'lives.
(28:32):
so I would say the songs are pretty important in this musical.
Hopefully you would hope they are for any musical.
for this one especially, yeah, I feel like you would not have the storyline if it weren'tfor the music in this one.
(28:54):
Caroline, would you agree with that?
Oh, 100%.
Yeah, exactly what they were saying.
It's super cute.
I think if you're a musical theater nerd, Vanities you don't really hear a lot of.
But I know for me, I didn't really know about Vanities before coming in to this show, but.
(29:20):
I did know two of the songs and it's what Mary and Kathy both sang, Keep Boys with ShortHaircuts and Fly into the Future.
Right?
That's that I keep, I always want to say Back to the Future, but it's not.
I don't know why.
But I, as a, you know, a girl who's been a part of the musical theater community, like Ihave heard those songs and I did know that they were from bandies, but I will say like,
(29:49):
walking away from this whole thing.
I'm walking away with so many bops.
I'm like, Joanne has a cute song too that's really fun to sing.
There's a lot of great music and it's been a challenge because we're singing the wholetime.
while we're also doing these, while we're making these time jumps, we're not leaving thestage and we're singing through.
(30:19):
through them and we're changing while singing and growing up at the same time.
So there's so many challenges within this show.
It's really a beautiful show.
Um, that sounds like a lot of acrobatics almost like try trying to keep going.
(30:40):
I am.
could never know.
Um, so with this, um, so vanities is based off of a play, is described as like a comedydrama.
How do we feel like the tones are balanced in this show?
Do you like, do feel like it's a little more drama, a little more comedy?
Do you feel like it's a little bit of both?
(31:00):
think it's both.
Yeah.
I mean, you're bound to have some drama in, well really any relationship.
But with a group of three, especially, you know, I can say from personal experience,sometimes things get a little bit, a little bit tricky.
(31:24):
But there's a lot of comedy in the show as well, I think.
And...
It's, what I like is that it's just like their span, their age range span.
It's jokes for everybody, it feels like.
So I feel like some stuff is kind of era specific that certain demographic of the audienceis gonna understand more than others.
(31:54):
And then kind of the same as it evolves.
yeah, I feel like the comedy goes with the time changes, which is cool.
As an actor, Catherine, do you find yourself ever like leaning into the comedy of thosescenes?
especially as the audience is there, do you feel, do you kind of shift into that a littlebit?
(32:18):
yeah, totally.
It's rare that I get to play a role that's funny, but I can think of one in particularfrom my past where it's just like, it's rewarding because I don't want to say it's harder,
but in some ways it's harder than just playing like a dramatic role because timing.
(32:47):
of lines and timing of laughs is a whole other element to doing anything that's funny.
And the satisfaction of when it lands is very fulfilling as an actor.
But knowing the line between doing too much and losing the joke versus doing this likeit's real life.
(33:18):
and just having the scenario be funny.
Yeah.
finding that balance for yourself and not letting the audience dictate all of that.
Right, and like, yeah, as a kid I loved to just ham it up.
And I have to kind of draw a little bit of that back sometimes.
(33:42):
How about for you?
Do you ever lean into the comedy aspect, especially as the audience is reacting to it?
Yeah, I mean, I try to.
We're so lucky with Travis.
He's, know, Meadowbrook loves a comedy and Travis loves a comedy.
He loves to laugh.
So he does a really good job of orchestrating the moments that we know are gonna get alaugh.
(34:02):
The straight up punch lines in the script are delivered as so.
So that's fun.
There's also the, I mean, you can't rely on an audience laugh because...
nothing feels worse than thinking you're gonna get a laugh and then not getting it.
That's the thing that's harder than drama because if a dramatic moment doesn't land, youdon't really know.
But if a comedic moment doesn't land, you know, and it feels horrible.
(34:28):
So it's just about rehearsing and trusting that you've crafted a good show without beggingthe audience for it, you know?
totally, especially with Joanne.
she kinda, she'll, she randomly will say the most, like, the most random things at themost random time that honestly,
(34:52):
would be so painful to for anyone in real life.
And that's just kind of the beauty of her.
So yeah, like, like they were both saying, you, we have to lean into it with this show,especially because there's so much growth that does happen, especially at the beginning.
You have to, you just have to be lighthearted and have have a good time because that'swhen all all the jokes come out.
(35:19):
And as
as we age, there's less moments of like, this is a joke and more of just like, just cute,like, just cute moments.
So.
How do you find yourself getting into the mindset of Joanne?
(35:39):
Like do you have a specific routine to kind of becoming her?
Bye!
I don't want to say, I feel like, I don't know, I don't want to say like, I feel like I'mJoanne, but I feel like so many things connect and I feel like energy wise, I kind of sit
(36:00):
in that like, quirky, like, like kind of loud energy that she kind of has.
Before we start every time, I don't know, I really try to just like,
I really try to get into the moment right before of like taking a deep breath and like,okay, like you're about to kind of go on a roller coaster of this whole thing and.
(36:32):
It's I think what's challenging with that is we start young so it is kind of like you haveto like keep the energy lifted.
I don't I mean I've also like like they were both saying done the scene work of writingdown Joanne and like what her subtext is through all of this and how she how she would see
(36:59):
things and
kind of where her little brain is at the beginning and her little brain even when she's inher 30s, you know, and how having truth like changed her.
But I have to say before we start, I'm just right now I'm at least trying to get theenergy going.
(37:22):
Because there's a lot to give with her.
So I don't have a specific thing that I do right at the beginning.
But just kind of be and let her kind of take over.
Yeah.
Katherine, how about for you?
Do you have anything specific you do to get into the mind of Cathy
(37:42):
My first thought was go over my lines.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, try to be as prepared as possible.
But also, like what Caroline said, they do start out pretty young.
(38:10):
Despite only having run the show in its entirety twice now, think.
Yeah, I'm the eldest of the group in real life.
And so it's not like it's super hard to identify with my younger self, but there is adifferent energy that we need to bring to these 18 year olds who are
(38:39):
boy crazy and college crazy and cheerleading crazy and yeah everything is just so fast andso new and yeah right yeah very much.
We all remember what was like being teenagers.
It's a tough life.
(39:00):
It is a tough life.
how about for you?
there anything specific that you do to get into the mindset?
haven't found it yet.
For most shows, I end up with like a routine that I'll do beforehand, a little physicalvocal warmup, course.
my gosh, especially this show.
(39:20):
But I usually find something that I do every time.
So I'm still figuring that one out for Mary.
and you still have plenty of time, so that's the best part, you Are there any themes thatresonate from Vanities the musical that resonate with you the most?
(39:51):
You go, Catherine, you go.
I see you ready.
you
I did have a friend group of three girls growing up in high school.
(40:13):
And even in middle school, actually, they were different girls, but...
There was the dynamic of one person feeling left out, feeling like two of the girls werebetter friends.
I don't want to get too real, but kind of similar to this story, one of them, one of myfriends wound up kind of being an alcoholic and which is a theme that we deal with in this
(40:50):
show.
kind of drifted away and things change and people change and your tolerance for dramachanges and it doesn't always work out in the way that you foresee it working out when
(41:14):
you're 16 and 18.
But knowing that that's okay and
accepting people for who they are and not taking away from the good times and all of thespecial things that we used to bond over.
(41:36):
It's unfortunate, but it doesn't mean that it's bad for everybody at the same time.
Yeah.
I love that.
Caroline, how about for you?
Which themes really kind of resonate with you?
You're like, don't make me follow up that.
I know, was like, I was like, wow, that was, but no, truly like just friendship and changeand accepting change and accepting that everyone, everyone's going through something in
(42:13):
life.
know, everyone has
the baggage that they bring into relationships.
Everyone has something that they're going through, some type of mind game that they'redealing with.
And understanding that you're not alone and you can rely on people is really beautifulabout this show.
(42:34):
And Catherine just said it so nicely.
I truly like, was, that's kind of right.
I'm like, that's exactly.
Amen.
about for you?
Yeah, the friendship themes I definitely relate to.
(42:56):
Like I said, I'm in the middle of the age groups of these characters and seeing how theychange from age 18.
I'm so lucky to still have friends that I've had from high school, but things shift, so Icertainly relate to that.
But like I said, the theme of image, I think it's so interesting in 2025, the age ofOzempic and filler and...
(43:19):
And all these, and social media where you're posting pictures of yourself all the time andTikTok where content creation is now a part of every job somehow.
Whereas these characters, the image theme is completely different because they had, theydidn't have those things.
(43:39):
I'm finding that very fascinating throughout.
So yeah.
right.
It is very interesting to reflect it on kind of our society today.
Mm hmm.
yeah, how we grow versus how these girls grew.
And how that changes friendship dynamics as well, because these characters, you candisappear from a friend for 10 years and never see them again, because you need to look
(44:02):
them up in the phone book.
Whereas now you still see them.
They're still going to pop up in your suggested posts.
Yeah.
kind of stuck with them no matter what.
Sort of.
Yeah.
Last question for all of you.
And Catherine, we'll start with you.
It's just, are you hoping audiences take away from Vanities The Musical?
(44:25):
I hope that they take away.
Hmm.
I haven't thought about this yet, so bear with me, please.
I hope that they take away...
the sentiment of, of course, of lasting friendships and relationships.
(44:51):
But,
formulating, but sorry.
The fact that so much can change and so much can bring you back around, you know, there'sinfinite possibility in relationships, I feel.
(45:17):
Like even referencing back to what I said before with my friend group, I still am in apoint or in a place where I'm like, look,
people change and come back around in your life in cycles sometimes.
And I think that that's beautiful, honestly.
Having all of this groundwork with my friend who I'm kind of somewhat estranged from, tome, I'm just like, that is still valid, that still means a lot.
(45:51):
And you're...
like you've changed in a lot of ways, but the foundation is still the same.
I think, yeah, just being open to your relationships growing and blossoming along thejourney of ups and downs and how things work themselves out or sometimes don't and just
(46:21):
the beauty of that, honestly.
Okay, and how about for you?
What do you hope an audience is taking away from this?
think it's a similar answer.
I think I want them to take away the idea of acceptance, of accepting yourself, acceptingyour chosen family.
And letting go, I mean, you'll see it if you see the show.
(46:48):
It's the last song of the show.
It's called Letting Go.
And I think it's actually kind of a beautiful idea of letting go of the things that feltreally important at the beginning of your life and caused such drama.
And instead,
Choosing love.
It sounds cheesy again, but yeah, yeah.
Acceptance.
mean, there's a level of cheese with everything we do here, right?
(47:10):
right.
So we accept it.
Caroline, how about for you?
are you hoping audiences take away?
Exactly that, just live, reflect, and accept, honestly.
I think it's, yeah.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, all three of you, for being here and for talking with me.
I greatly appreciate it.
(47:33):
Vanities, the musical runs from March 19th through April 13th, so get your tickets nowfrom Meadowbrook Theatre's website.
What?
Hehehehe
Thank you so much for joining me today.
How has the rehearsal process for Vanities been going?
It's been going well.
Yes, it's been going well.
The first week felt very fast as we did a stumble through at the end of it, or actuallythe beginning of the next week.
(00:27):
But now we've just been cleaning stuff up and it's going well and I feel like it's beenfun diving into these characters and...
Yeah, figuring out what makes them tick throughout the show as we get older, which is partof the plot line.
Yeah.
Okay, so what is the story of Vanities The Musical?
(00:49):
Because I'm not familiar with this one and, you know, so it's always good to kind of, youknow, listeners want to know what it's about.
So I'm actually going to ask you, what is Vanities The Musical about?
Sure.
It's about a group of three friends and we follow them from high school to college to late20s to adulthood and the way their friendship grows and changes throughout that.
(01:14):
It also starts in 1963 and goes all the way to 1990s.
So you get to see how they all respond to these culture shifts.
know, some get more conservative, some get more liberal.
And it's really about what connects us in the end.
I the power of friendship, that sounds cheesy, but I think it is about the power offriendship.
(01:34):
So this is just like charmed.
my gosh, I love Charmed.
We don't have magical powers, unfortunately.
Hmm.
the theater is the magical powers though.
The singing and the coming together, that's where the magic is.
So for Caroline, you're playing Joanne.
(01:55):
So who is she and how does she fit into the narrative of Vanities?
Yeah, Joanne is one of the three girls in the show.
She's very quirky.
She's super, she's just lighthearted and fun, but you know, she kind has a little bit of ajudgy side to her and she, all she's ever wanted to do was be a wife and a mother and I
(02:21):
connect to her.
Like I love her.
She's great.
Yeah, she has this ideal life that she strives.
to pursue every day and she has a boyfriend who we see her get engaged to and you know,comes to find out that her life isn't as perfect as she always thought it was.
(02:43):
And she's, she realizes that it's always been that her two best friends have always beenthere for her.
And even though they may change, they may grow up and see the world in different ways.
They're always there for her and
Yeah, she's a beautiful character and I feel like she has a lot of growth.
(03:05):
She's just kind of quirky at the beginning, but then, you know, kind of has a full come torealization moment.
hers happens way later than everyone else, but doesn't take away from that.
Absolutely, as long as they have that moment, know, as long as...
(03:26):
So what do you feel like Joanne's motivations in this musical is?
Because you kind of mentioned, you know, she wants to be a wife and a mom, so that seemslike very central motivation.
But what do you feel like her motivations are?
I honestly, her motivation is to get married, have a family, go live out in the country.
(03:51):
Like her whole life is not about herself.
It's about becoming someone for someone else and something for someone else.
I think the whole time as she's growing, she has this...
picture perfect world that she wants and that's truly what drives her to make every singledecision and it's yeah
(04:19):
And you can get lost in that.
As a character, as a person, you can get lost in trying to please everybody else andpursue that dream.
and I think you said that perfectly.
Like she's always trying to please someone else.
She's always trying.
She's always trying.
She's looking up to Kathy and she's looking up to Mary and she wants to be with them.
She's always trying to fit into a group of three and you how there's always that like twobut then there's always that third on the out.
(04:43):
She's always wanting to insert herself and be in there and she's you know always just kindof straggling a little bit behind but at the end of the day you
love her and she does get there and but having that ideal life is kind of what motivatesher and she comes to realize that that's not always what it's made out to be.
(05:09):
The grass isn't always greener on the other side, you know.
for sure.
Catherine, you're playing Cathy.
So who's Cathy within this narrative?
Kathy is, I feel like she has a big arc throughout the show.
I don't feel like she's the same throughout necessarily, but she starts out as a teenagerwho's pretty type A, who likes everything to be organized and perfect as possible and is a
(05:45):
natural leader.
and kind of leads the two girls in the cheerleading group in the beginning of the show.
And toward the end, I feel like she has this journey of finding herself and finding outhow she can get through this life without being so, I don't wanna say uptight, but just
(06:14):
without being so.
Type A and kind of figuring out how to just let things happen and go with the flow.
So how do you feel like she kind of changes throughout the show?
(06:34):
yeah, she goes from being this really type A teenager into young adulthood in college.
And, you see her go through a really tough breakup.
and I kind of feel like that's, that's a pivotal moment where she realizes, you know, loveis not always lasting.
(07:00):
It's not always.
faithful and yeah, I feel like that's kind of a breaking point because she's plannedeverything out.
She's and this is the first time something has really blown up and gone terribly wrong andfiguring out how to deal with the aftermath of that, you know, this event, this trauma
(07:27):
that sticks with her for years and years.
Yeah.
I love that you said that about the pivotal moment being something like a breakup, becausefor type A personalities, we predict everything.
We try to predict everything, at least, every outcome.
And breakups are one of those things that you can't predict.
And so that does throw people into turmoil with how do you deal with something that's sounpredictable when you've tried to factor everything into their life?
(07:59):
and Em you're playing Mary.
Sure am.
So who is Mary and how do they factor into the story of Vanities the musical?
Yeah, Mary's kind of a rebel.
She's certainly not focused on her academic pursuits in any way.
She doesn't love her life in Texas, which is where they all start out.
(08:19):
So she's kind of the first one to break away.
She goes to Europe.
She becomes an exhibitionist.
She's really on the rebellious side of things as opposed to her other two friends.
And some of it's cool and some of it...
she ends up regretting.
So it's interesting to watch her go through all the years and see what those choices bringher.
(08:45):
What's interesting is that Carolina kind of said about how she was, her character kind offeels on the outside, but your character is kind of pushing towards the outside, know,
kind of completely breaking away from the other two.
Yeah, yeah, and it comes from a lot of, I think she's got a lot of shame going on, a lotof stuff that she's not ready to face, which is interesting culturally for the time
(09:06):
period.
A lot of people weren't doing a lot of introspective work.
So instead she just kind of runs away.
What is that kind of like for you, that character journey?
Like how do you grow as an actor with that?
know, like what's that journey for you?
Uh, it's interesting.
(09:27):
I haven't played a character that spans this long of an age range.
We all go from like 17 to 44.
Um, and you know, I've done, I've done a 10 year gap, but that's a big one.
So it's, it's how does this character move when they're young?
How does this character move once they're older?
How do they speak?
How do they relate to the people around them?
(09:48):
It's a big one.
Um, and it's weird for me because I, I went to school here.
So I'm like in the area where I was when I was 18 years old and now it's 10 years laterand I can feel those differences.
But then as playing this character, I need to go even further.
So it's an exploration and I'm still in it and I think the two of us are still, the threeof us are all still figuring out where these characters go.
(10:15):
Yeah.
For all of you, as you're developing these characters, you kind of think you have thescript, you have the source material, but how, you mentioned about kind of developing as
you go, how do you develop these characters?
And how do you make them kind of your own?
Caroline we'll kind of start with you with this one.
How do you develop Joanne compared to what's on the script?
(10:39):
Yeah, I think, I feel like when I read it at first, I connected so much to her justpersonality wise.
I was like, like it is what, that is something that I see for myself.
I think there's aspects of her that I was like, wow, I totally connect to her.
(11:01):
And we honestly are working with a fantastic director.
We're working with Travis and
He truly, he is fan, he is amazing.
And this, I will say like this role has been, for me it's been kind of tricky because I'mon the younger end.
So I connect way more to high school and college aged Joanne, where late twenties andlater on, I don't know.
(11:34):
And I'm pulling from people like I asked my mom, like,
what, you know, like I'm trying, I'm working on trying to figure that out, like wassaying.
And I'm just really grateful for Travis because we've gone through these scenes and hepulls out things that I would never, never even think about.
(11:56):
And he, I feel like a lot of it is relying on everyone around me to try to like bring out
the mature side of Joanne and try to find that part just because I'm still searching forthat myself in life.
(12:18):
So a lot of it is doing research watching Catherine and work.
And let me tell you, both of them are incredible.
And it's been an honor getting to work with them.
So watching them and pulling from that and being like, okay, I'm watching how Em is
doing this.
(12:39):
I need to kind of...
so it's not...
I feel like for me Joanne personality-wise is so me, but trying to figure out how to bethe mature and older version is really like studying my peers and taking from how they're
doing things and then kind of putting my quirky twist on it if that kind of answers that.
(13:04):
It absolutely answers that.
Catherine, kind of the same question for you.
It's just like, how do you find the balance?
How do you approach, like, what's in the script to also, like, making Cathy your own?
I think I'm gonna be a little theater nerd right now, but I think a lot of it has to dowith creating your own backstory.
(13:30):
You know, like we start out with what is on the page and that's the information that'spresented to us.
But in order to like get it across in the best way possible, I feel like
you need to create depth within this character.
So I feel like part of my journey with this has been...
(13:59):
Being able to portray this character in a way as myself, being Black, where it's like, shemight not have been the head cheerleader in 1963, we don't know.
But it's my job to come up with that backstory of what is her family life like?
(14:23):
Why is she wanting to be the leader?
Why does she need everything to be perfect?
Why does she need everything to be organized and on a list?
Like what drives those qualities?
And yeah, I feel like the same thing with her later on in life.
(14:45):
She has a big change in personality and they don't, the script doesn't tell you why, youknow?
So it's my job to figure out like,
what the why is and have that influence and color everything that I'm saying from thescript.
(15:06):
So it's really like, the script is the guiding force, but also there's a lot of back workwhere you have to kind of find out who this person is.
Yeah, definitely.
it's stuff, you know, the audience will never hear or necessarily know, but it is a hugefactor in character development, I think.
(15:29):
In those moments though, as we're watching as the audience, I'm not an actor at all.
Psychologist by day, reviewer by night.
But it's the little moments when you're seeing your characters do something that you knowthat there had to be some knowledge that dictates that.
You're like, the way that she looks in that scene, or the way she tilts her head, or allthose little moments.
(15:50):
And so for you to do that work, it does make for that well-rounded show.
And how about for you?
Like, do you have an approach to how you balance the script and your character?
Yeah, I mean, I do some of the nerdier stuff of like, I don't know if people have talkedabout the notebook of what my character says about themselves, what other people say about
(16:11):
my character, you know, just like script analysis stuff.
I always find it helpful just in creating a picture, but I'm like kind of a TV freak.
Like I love TV, I always rewatch.
So if there's a show that I like that's in the same time period, I do a little watchthrough that.
It's like I've been rewatching Mad Men to remind myself.
what the culture was in that time, because I think it affects it.
(16:32):
And then you just kind of let your imagination go.
Similar to what Catherine was saying, you have to answer a lot of questions, becauseespecially in this piece, it's not day by day you get a snapshot into different years of
their life.
So there's a lot of stuff that we never know what actually happened, and you gotta come upwith it for yourself, and that creates this well-rounded character.
(16:57):
I know it's probably a bad comparison, like the way you're describing the story, I keepgoing back to like Yellow Jackets almost, being like how there's like these different time
periods and you're kind of trying to have to piece together some of that middle section,even though there's no like cannibalism.
Maybe.
Come see the show, you'll find out.
Well, I'll be there in like two weeks, but now I'm gonna have to read up all about it now.
(17:23):
So I'm gonna start with you again.
Like what drew you to this role?
So like what made you decide like I have to be in the show?
Did you say me?
I'm sorry.
Okay.
I was really excited by the fact that it's such a small cast.
It's been a while since I've done a show that's this small of a cast.
(17:44):
You the last few contracts I've done has been an ensemble big show, which is fun for verydifferent reasons, but there's a level of challenge to being on stage the whole time and
bearing so much of the brunt.
I mean, there's three people, so.
for the entire show, all of the songs and all the lines are split between just you three.
So there's a responsibility to that.
(18:04):
Yeah, I mean, it's tough.
It's been like a real brain challenge, but I've been wanting that.
And I really love the trust that a small cast creates.
Like I feel so close to the two of you, Caroline and Catherine already, and it hasn't evenbeen two weeks.
Just because we've gotten to play and be so creative together, there's a lot of joy to it.
(18:25):
Sorry, my dog is growling.
Ignore him.
take it out with background noise, it's fine.
I didn't realize it was such a small cast because usually, know, we see at least, I wantto say the least I've seen at Meadowbrook is like five people, you know, but this is all
three of you are just like the whole show is on your shoulders.
(18:48):
Is there pressure to that, Caroline?
Oh, a ton of pressure, a ton of pressure.
For me, I will say this is a show that's totally out of my comfort zone.
Totally out of my comfort zone.
And when I was approached about this show, I was a little like, I'm not sure.
I don't know.
(19:09):
But it has truly been the biggest gift because like Em was saying, you have to work.
You have to figure it out.
you're not going off stage.
There's nothing like you have to work with your scene partners and you have to figure itout and you have to go on the journey.
You just got to allow yourself to do the jumps, you know, with this show.
(19:35):
But like I was saying, this is totally out of my comfort zone.
I just got done doing Footloose at Meadowbrook.
And so going from that big of a cast with such a crazy A-
age range because it was the collaboration with Oakland University.
And so going from that where I was in the ensemble doing all the dancing stuff to nowbeing in this small of a cast and it's so intimate and we're sitting and going through
(20:04):
everything and really figuring out who these people are.
It's a huge challenge and it's every day I come home and I'm like, wow.
Okay, there's a lot that I really, I've had a lot to think about saying, A lot ofdifferent things being thrown, you know?
(20:27):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yeah, I think we had like, I think there was like 20 plus people maybe in it.
It was crazy.
this feels very, like I keep saying, I feel very naked in this show.
Like I feel very like.
I'm standing there and it's just us out there.
(20:50):
There's no one else to rely on to come in.
We keep joking that this show's actually been kind of hard to memorize just because wejump from so many different topics and we bring up this.
We bring up boyfriends and we bring up sororities and we bring up so many different thingsand it's hard because we're the ones who have to come up with those ideas and just
(21:13):
remember
Okay, now we're going jump to this topic.
There's no one who comes in and brings in the new energy.
It's just us.
So it's been a huge challenge, especially.
Yeah, especially for me.
So I'm super excited though.
Catherine, drew you to this role?
What's my you to this role?
(21:35):
Oh Okay, now I understand What drew me to this role honestly, I am kind of a person who
(21:59):
I want to say that I go with the flow, but there I have my little, my little, for lack ofa better term, like OCD-isms, you know, which does help me relate to Cathy sometimes.
I'm like, well, yeah, of course this is what she wants because that's what makes sense.
(22:19):
It's me as Catherine thinking that.
But I feel like the challenge is that
I've never seen myself as like the leader of any group.
And so having to be the character who really takes charge, at least during the first halfof the show and runs things and tells the girls what to do and what is cool, what is not,
(22:50):
who's cool, who's not, it's a little bit of a challenge for me.
especially like in the way that Caroline was describing that there's nobody else out therebut us and the fact that she's a leader kind of means or at least it comes off as like
(23:13):
that means she's the one who's starting each scene.
She's starting each dialogue.
She's like, okay, we've got to have another plan.
Okay, now we're going to do this.
Now we're going to do that.
And so
Back to what Caroline was saying, it's been a bit of a challenge to memorize all of thisbecause I'm usually the one who starts the conversation.
(23:41):
So if I don't have it, then it's like, no, where do we go from here?
Yeah, yeah.
And that's not the whole show, but yeah, definitely like the first half.
until she has that change in her personality, I guess, kind of.
(24:03):
Would you say that's how the show's challenged you the most as an actor?
It's just like all the memorization for starting off the show, like the scenes?
I...
The biggest challenge...
Yeah, honestly, I would say it has been the biggest challenge so far.
(24:24):
It's not one that I feel like afraid of.
I know that I can memorize lines.
I've had a lot of lines to learn before in a show, but it's like we're doing a lot of workoutside of rehearsals.
Yeah, there are some shows where it's like, okay, I got this.
(24:46):
Like, I don't need to.
necessarily drill things on my own.
But this one, like before this call, I was running lines with myself for about an hourtrying to really memorize this third scene of the show.
(25:06):
And yeah, it just takes a lot of work.
And for me, I'm not a dancer either.
there's
not super super intense dancing but there's there's a lot of movement in this show and sothat has been a bit of a challenge for me but again i'm just like no i'll have it i know
that i'll have it it's just a journey it's just you know practice makes perfect
(25:32):
Absolutely.
10,000 hours, right?
How has this show challenged you as an actor?
I already talked about the age thing, but that has really been, it's tough.
Cause like, like Caroline was saying, we don't leave the stage and if we do, it's formaybe a couple minutes.
(25:53):
So to have to sort of reset while you're still on stage and travel four years, then eightyears, then I think the next jump is like 14.
That's tough.
That's tough to remain the same person and hop through.
big life changes.
And it's feeling a little weird for me just at the age that I'm at now.
(26:17):
I'm like smack dab in the middle of this character's journey.
And so it's hard to visualize the future.
Sure.
Yeah, it's been fun, it's been good, but it's got my noggin going.
A big theme in this, I mean, it's called Vanities.
So a big theme is how they see themselves and how they create like an image for themselvesand how they present.
(26:40):
And that's interesting too, you know, in this year, 2025, image is so huge and yeah.
So there's just a lot swirling with all of that.
As these characters grow, how do they see themselves?
And how do I see myself as this character on stage in front of people?
(27:00):
You know?
Absolutely, totally understandable.
So for all three of you, we talked about a lot of the story, but we haven't really talkedabout the music part of it, and this is a musical.
So how do we feel like the music enhances the story?
Like how does it kind of further the storyline, or how does it just make that picture kindof more well-rounded?
(27:23):
Whoever wants to go.
Yeah.
so it moves.
like, yeah, it's like 60s poppy music.
And it feels young the way these characters are.
And then when you get into the 70s, it's a little bit more groovy.
It's all really fun.
A lot of earworms, I'll say.
I think that it's very catchy, very boppy music.
(27:45):
So that's been really fun.
I mean, that's the best part about it is like when you want people to walk away with thatmusic stuck in their ear.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, go on.
Yeah, I feel like not necessarily every single song, because some of the songs are justabout togetherness, I would say.
(28:12):
But a lot of the songs are storytelling songs.
So they're pretty pertinent to the show because, you know, like
we're still continuing the storyline and explaining stuff that's going on in these girls'lives.
(28:32):
so I would say the songs are pretty important in this musical.
Hopefully you would hope they are for any musical.
for this one especially, yeah, I feel like you would not have the storyline if it weren'tfor the music in this one.
(28:54):
Caroline, would you agree with that?
Oh, 100%.
Yeah, exactly what they were saying.
It's super cute.
I think if you're a musical theater nerd, Vanities you don't really hear a lot of.
But I know for me, I didn't really know about Vanities before coming in to this show, but.
(29:20):
I did know two of the songs and it's what Mary and Kathy both sang, Keep Boys with ShortHaircuts and Fly into the Future.
Right?
That's that I keep, I always want to say Back to the Future, but it's not.
I don't know why.
But I, as a, you know, a girl who's been a part of the musical theater community, like Ihave heard those songs and I did know that they were from bandies, but I will say like,
(29:49):
walking away from this whole thing.
I'm walking away with so many bops.
I'm like, Joanne has a cute song too that's really fun to sing.
There's a lot of great music and it's been a challenge because we're singing the wholetime.
while we're also doing these, while we're making these time jumps, we're not leaving thestage and we're singing through.
(30:19):
through them and we're changing while singing and growing up at the same time.
So there's so many challenges within this show.
It's really a beautiful show.
Um, that sounds like a lot of acrobatics almost like try trying to keep going.
(30:40):
I am.
could never know.
Um, so with this, um, so vanities is based off of a play, is described as like a comedydrama.
How do we feel like the tones are balanced in this show?
Do you like, do feel like it's a little more drama, a little more comedy?
Do you feel like it's a little bit of both?
(31:00):
think it's both.
Yeah.
I mean, you're bound to have some drama in, well really any relationship.
But with a group of three, especially, you know, I can say from personal experience,sometimes things get a little bit, a little bit tricky.
(31:24):
But there's a lot of comedy in the show as well, I think.
And...
It's, what I like is that it's just like their span, their age range span.
It's jokes for everybody, it feels like.
So I feel like some stuff is kind of era specific that certain demographic of the audienceis gonna understand more than others.
(31:54):
And then kind of the same as it evolves.
yeah, I feel like the comedy goes with the time changes, which is cool.
As an actor, Catherine, do you find yourself ever like leaning into the comedy of thosescenes?
especially as the audience is there, do you feel, do you kind of shift into that a littlebit?
(32:18):
yeah, totally.
It's rare that I get to play a role that's funny, but I can think of one in particularfrom my past where it's just like, it's rewarding because I don't want to say it's harder,
but in some ways it's harder than just playing like a dramatic role because timing.
(32:47):
of lines and timing of laughs is a whole other element to doing anything that's funny.
And the satisfaction of when it lands is very fulfilling as an actor.
But knowing the line between doing too much and losing the joke versus doing this likeit's real life.
(33:18):
and just having the scenario be funny.
Yeah.
finding that balance for yourself and not letting the audience dictate all of that.
Right, and like, yeah, as a kid I loved to just ham it up.
And I have to kind of draw a little bit of that back sometimes.
(33:42):
How about for you?
Do you ever lean into the comedy aspect, especially as the audience is reacting to it?
Yeah, I mean, I try to.
We're so lucky with Travis.
He's, know, Meadowbrook loves a comedy and Travis loves a comedy.
He loves to laugh.
So he does a really good job of orchestrating the moments that we know are gonna get alaugh.
(34:02):
The straight up punch lines in the script are delivered as so.
So that's fun.
There's also the, I mean, you can't rely on an audience laugh because...
nothing feels worse than thinking you're gonna get a laugh and then not getting it.
That's the thing that's harder than drama because if a dramatic moment doesn't land, youdon't really know.
But if a comedic moment doesn't land, you know, and it feels horrible.
(34:28):
So it's just about rehearsing and trusting that you've crafted a good show without beggingthe audience for it, you know?
totally, especially with Joanne.
she kinda, she'll, she randomly will say the most, like, the most random things at themost random time that honestly,
(34:52):
would be so painful to for anyone in real life.
And that's just kind of the beauty of her.
So yeah, like, like they were both saying, you, we have to lean into it with this show,especially because there's so much growth that does happen, especially at the beginning.
You have to, you just have to be lighthearted and have have a good time because that'swhen all all the jokes come out.
(35:19):
And as
as we age, there's less moments of like, this is a joke and more of just like, just cute,like, just cute moments.
So.
How do you find yourself getting into the mindset of Joanne?
(35:39):
Like do you have a specific routine to kind of becoming her?
Bye!
I don't want to say, I feel like, I don't know, I don't want to say like, I feel like I'mJoanne, but I feel like so many things connect and I feel like energy wise, I kind of sit
(36:00):
in that like, quirky, like, like kind of loud energy that she kind of has.
Before we start every time, I don't know, I really try to just like,
I really try to get into the moment right before of like taking a deep breath and like,okay, like you're about to kind of go on a roller coaster of this whole thing and.
(36:32):
It's I think what's challenging with that is we start young so it is kind of like you haveto like keep the energy lifted.
I don't I mean I've also like like they were both saying done the scene work of writingdown Joanne and like what her subtext is through all of this and how she how she would see
(36:59):
things and
kind of where her little brain is at the beginning and her little brain even when she's inher 30s, you know, and how having truth like changed her.
But I have to say before we start, I'm just right now I'm at least trying to get theenergy going.
(37:22):
Because there's a lot to give with her.
So I don't have a specific thing that I do right at the beginning.
But just kind of be and let her kind of take over.
Yeah.
Katherine, how about for you?
Do you have anything specific you do to get into the mind of Cathy
(37:42):
My first thought was go over my lines.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, try to be as prepared as possible.
But also, like what Caroline said, they do start out pretty young.
(38:10):
Despite only having run the show in its entirety twice now, think.
Yeah, I'm the eldest of the group in real life.
And so it's not like it's super hard to identify with my younger self, but there is adifferent energy that we need to bring to these 18 year olds who are
(38:39):
boy crazy and college crazy and cheerleading crazy and yeah everything is just so fast andso new and yeah right yeah very much.
We all remember what was like being teenagers.
It's a tough life.
(39:00):
It is a tough life.
how about for you?
there anything specific that you do to get into the mindset?
haven't found it yet.
For most shows, I end up with like a routine that I'll do beforehand, a little physicalvocal warmup, course.
my gosh, especially this show.
(39:20):
But I usually find something that I do every time.
So I'm still figuring that one out for Mary.
and you still have plenty of time, so that's the best part, you Are there any themes thatresonate from Vanities the musical that resonate with you the most?
(39:51):
You go, Catherine, you go.
I see you ready.
you
I did have a friend group of three girls growing up in high school.
(40:13):
And even in middle school, actually, they were different girls, but...
There was the dynamic of one person feeling left out, feeling like two of the girls werebetter friends.
I don't want to get too real, but kind of similar to this story, one of them, one of myfriends wound up kind of being an alcoholic and which is a theme that we deal with in this
(40:50):
show.
kind of drifted away and things change and people change and your tolerance for dramachanges and it doesn't always work out in the way that you foresee it working out when
(41:14):
you're 16 and 18.
But knowing that that's okay and
accepting people for who they are and not taking away from the good times and all of thespecial things that we used to bond over.
(41:36):
It's unfortunate, but it doesn't mean that it's bad for everybody at the same time.
Yeah.
I love that.
Caroline, how about for you?
Which themes really kind of resonate with you?
You're like, don't make me follow up that.
I know, was like, I was like, wow, that was, but no, truly like just friendship and changeand accepting change and accepting that everyone, everyone's going through something in
(42:13):
life.
know, everyone has
the baggage that they bring into relationships.
Everyone has something that they're going through, some type of mind game that they'redealing with.
And understanding that you're not alone and you can rely on people is really beautifulabout this show.
(42:34):
And Catherine just said it so nicely.
I truly like, was, that's kind of right.
I'm like, that's exactly.
Amen.
about for you?
Yeah, the friendship themes I definitely relate to.
(42:56):
Like I said, I'm in the middle of the age groups of these characters and seeing how theychange from age 18.
I'm so lucky to still have friends that I've had from high school, but things shift, so Icertainly relate to that.
But like I said, the theme of image, I think it's so interesting in 2025, the age ofOzempic and filler and...
(43:19):
And all these, and social media where you're posting pictures of yourself all the time andTikTok where content creation is now a part of every job somehow.
Whereas these characters, the image theme is completely different because they had, theydidn't have those things.
(43:39):
I'm finding that very fascinating throughout.
So yeah.
right.
It is very interesting to reflect it on kind of our society today.
Mm hmm.
yeah, how we grow versus how these girls grew.
And how that changes friendship dynamics as well, because these characters, you candisappear from a friend for 10 years and never see them again, because you need to look
(44:02):
them up in the phone book.
Whereas now you still see them.
They're still going to pop up in your suggested posts.
Yeah.
kind of stuck with them no matter what.
Sort of.
Yeah.
Last question for all of you.
And Catherine, we'll start with you.
It's just, are you hoping audiences take away from Vanities The Musical?
(44:25):
I hope that they take away.
Hmm.
I haven't thought about this yet, so bear with me, please.
I hope that they take away...
the sentiment of, of course, of lasting friendships and relationships.
(44:51):
But,
formulating, but sorry.
The fact that so much can change and so much can bring you back around, you know, there'sinfinite possibility in relationships, I feel.
(45:17):
Like even referencing back to what I said before with my friend group, I still am in apoint or in a place where I'm like, look,
people change and come back around in your life in cycles sometimes.
And I think that that's beautiful, honestly.
Having all of this groundwork with my friend who I'm kind of somewhat estranged from, tome, I'm just like, that is still valid, that still means a lot.
(45:51):
And you're...
like you've changed in a lot of ways, but the foundation is still the same.
I think, yeah, just being open to your relationships growing and blossoming along thejourney of ups and downs and how things work themselves out or sometimes don't and just
(46:21):
the beauty of that, honestly.
Okay, and how about for you?
What do you hope an audience is taking away from this?
think it's a similar answer.
I think I want them to take away the idea of acceptance, of accepting yourself, acceptingyour chosen family.
And letting go, I mean, you'll see it if you see the show.
(46:48):
It's the last song of the show.
It's called Letting Go.
And I think it's actually kind of a beautiful idea of letting go of the things that feltreally important at the beginning of your life and caused such drama.
And instead,
Choosing love.
It sounds cheesy again, but yeah, yeah.
Acceptance.
mean, there's a level of cheese with everything we do here, right?
(47:10):
right.
So we accept it.
Caroline, how about for you?
are you hoping audiences take away?
Exactly that, just live, reflect, and accept, honestly.
I think it's, yeah.
Perfect.
Thank you so much, all three of you, for being here and for talking with me.
I greatly appreciate it.
(47:33):
Vanities, the musical runs from March 19th through April 13th, so get your tickets nowfrom Meadowbrook Theatre's website.
What?
Hehehehe
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!