November 4, 2025 • 45 mins
Broadway Actress
What does a real Broadway career look like behind the spotlight? In this episode, we talk with actress Lauren Blackman—whose credits include Hello, Dolly!, Anastasia, Lempicka, Ragtime, and The Music Man alongside Hugh Jackman—about the true job behind the dream.
Lauren gives rare career insights into the grind of the theater world: the early-morning audition lines, the union rules that shape every paycheck, the constant cycle of rejections and callbacks, and the electric payoff of making someone in the front row feel seen.
We talk money-making without euphemism—what a “production contract” really means, how union minimums and commissions work, and why even established performers still hustle to keep their health insurance and next role.
If showbiz is your dream, this episode is a must listen!
Lauren's website- https://www.laurenblackman.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laurblackman/?hl=en&utm_source=chatgpt.com
Please write is a review - Thanks!
Want us to cover a specific job? Shoot us an email!
Music credit: Kate Pierson & Monica Nation
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
You arrive at 6 a.m.
and there's a line of people onthe street just sitting there.
People would always walk by andsay, What is this?
Like, is this a fashion call?
Is there some sale happening?
No, it's just a bunch of actors.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Hi, I'm Raposeri, and welcome to How Much Can I
Make.
I am a curious journalist,fascinated by what people do for
a living, what their jobs arereally like, and how much they
can earn.
Join me as we dive into storiesbehind careers, uncovering
insights and details, which Ihope you'll find as intriguing
as I do.
(00:36):
So let's get started.
This is another segment abouttheater, and we have with us
Lauren Blackman, whom I am a fanof.
She's an actress on Broadway,off Broadway.
I've seen her in all in a fewshows.
If your dream is to be intheater, you need to listen to
this segment.
First of all, Lauren, thanks alot for doing it.
(00:58):
Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you for asking.
Of course.
Happy to be here.
So let's dive right in and tellus how and when did you discover
your love for theater?
I think you'll hurt you'll learnfrom a lot of theater people we
were born that way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
We I mean, I knew it probably from my mom having me
watch old movie musicals, butfrom the moment I saw a from you
know what's called the goldenage of Hollywood, as soon as I
saw a movie musical, I was donefor.
Like any white dress withfeathers on the rim that was tap
dancing, that was that was itfor me.
SPEAKER_02 (01:32):
How old were you?
SPEAKER_01 (01:33):
I I can't remember when I first fell in love.
I know I had my first solo whenI was four and singing Someday
My Prince Will Come and I wasalready done for then.
But I did not admit it untilvery much maybe my senior year
of high school, how serious Iwas about it to my family.
I just knew I'm gonna be onBroadway.
(01:54):
It's so easy, right?
I'm gonna be on Broadway.
And then I think my familythought, okay, yeah, sure.
It's just one of those dreams.
And then as I got like, what areyou gonna study in college?
I said, I'm gonna study theater.
And are you sure?
Really?
Are you sure?
That was a question for a longtime, all throughout my freshman
year of college.
Are you sure?
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
So okay, so well, you did end up on Broadway.
They chose them.
I did.
You also did regional theater.
I saw you in the main.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
I did a I did a lot of regional theater.
I actually didn't even end up onBroadway until a lot later in my
career, which was perfect timingfor me, but some people may have
given up by that point.
But when you don't have, youknow, you're met with faculty
and friends and family thatinevitably actors, performers,
especially theater performers,hear the phrase if there's
(02:46):
anything else you want to do,anything else in the world, do
it.
Because it's so difficult.
Uh and so it really took me awhile to get my stride, which I
had known from a young age.
Casting had said, if you canhang on to your 30s, because
you're a leading lady, you havean older soul, you're gonna, you
will be successful if you canhang on.
(03:08):
And I think what they mean byhang on is when you move here,
is get those regional theaterjobs and have a good day job, a
good side job, and keep yourpassion and you don't get too
negative, you're you'll succeed.
A lot of this career isperseverance.
And so I was very fortunate tobe swooped up by a few regional
(03:29):
theaters that gave me some dreamroles and beautiful communities
that I got to meet, like yousaid in Maine.
Also here in New York, there wasa theater called Westchester
Broadway Theater that reallystarted the career for me.
And then and another theatercalled the Fulton.
There's a little bit of a familythat I've worked for.
Um family of theater.
A family of theater directors,artistic directors, and then
(03:53):
that spawns off into actors thatI feel the most fortunate to
have created.
Because when a Broadway show'sover, what do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
I know.
We're gonna get into that.
We're gonna get into that.
But before we do, tell me thedifference between regional
theater and Broadway.
SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
Okay, so the biggest difference is the budget and the
address and the pay.
And I would say the business ofBroadway and regional theater is
different, mostly monetarily.
The heart of it all is for me nodifferent.
I, the audience is no different.
I don't do any more or less,depending where the location is.
(04:34):
It's always, you know, regionaltheater is done a lot quicker.
You have sometimes 10 days ofrehearsal.
Broadway, you have what is stillvery small.
You have four weeks usually ofrehearsal, sometimes six, and
then you have one month ofpreviews before you open.
But it's still for hugeproductions, it's all very fast
and furious, whether you'redoing a regional gig.
(04:56):
There is a certain theater thatyou've got, I think, six days to
put up the show, and they justrehearsal and everything.
That's rehearsal, that's tech.
You do maybe two nights of tech.
Technical, that's when you gointo the theater, you've staged
the whole thing, and you nolonger work on the show, you
work on the technical aspects,the set, your entrances and
(05:16):
exits, the the pieces that haveto come on and off, the lights,
lighting everything.
And so you lose your show as anactor for in regional theaters
two days, and then you have anaudience.
On Broadway, the tech process ismuch longer.
Um is it nerve-wracking when youfirst night when you have the
audience?
I try not to get nervousanymore.
(05:36):
You know it's so interesting.
I get more nervous when I'mdoing smaller things because you
have l you have lessresponsibility, which it is is
such an odd thing to say becauseeverybody in the show has a huge
responsibility.
But I I find if I'm in a showwhere I've got four lines, I I'm
horrified I'm gonna miss it.
I'm gonna forget it.
(05:57):
I'm gonna, you know, and whenI'm saying everything, say when
I did Mary Poppins, when youhave every line, it just has to
keep flowing.
You don't have time to think orbe nervous, it just has to keep
going.
Whereas if you're sitting therefor a whole show and you go,
This is my one moment, betterget it right.
And I'm sure I've had nightswhere just gibberish has come
(06:19):
out of my mouth and you justlaugh because other people, you
you get it.
This happens.
This happens.
SPEAKER_02 (06:24):
Wow.
Okay.
Does an aspiring actor need aformal training?
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
There are a lot of people that are naturally born
with talent that are justnatural actors.
They know how to bring a lot ofthemselves to any character or
just a natural ability to berelaxed into any character.
There are natural singers.
I was sort of blessed.
You are one.
SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
I mean, I've seen you perform.
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
I was a natural singer, and my mom, when I
decided to go this direction,really wanted me to go into
opera because that's where myvoice lived.
And I was wise enough to know,and I was a scaredy cat.
I didn't go away to summer camp,I didn't want to leave my
family.
I sleepovers I did, but I didnot.
I love I grew up in California,I loved it there.
(07:06):
And I knew two things.
If I didn't go east for college,and if I didn't study acting, I
was never gonna go to New York.
And that was because I neededfriends on the East Coast to
make me make that transitioninto New York City easier.
And I already knew how to sing.
So I was smart enough to knowyou're scared of acting, you
don't think you can act, so youneed to go to an acting program
(07:28):
and forget the singing.
I mean, and then you get throughit all and you're like, oh, I
still do need voice lessons andthe Did you go to acting
classes?
I did.
I went to Syracuse Universityfor musical theater, and then I
continued to do classes when Igraduated here in Manhattan, but
more that was more audition andperformance, like continuing
(07:49):
education.
It wasn't necessarily going tothe Meisner studio or the Adler.
You know, it was we at Syracusehad to, the musical theater
students had to get an actingdegree first.
So I had to do all myShakespeare, all my Lincoln, all
my Meisner, all anything you canthink of.
We were introduced to it all.
(08:10):
And there was a lot ofimportance based on musical
theater is not, at Syracuse atleast, it's not just singing and
dancing, which I appreciated andI had learned before I accepted
and decided to go there.
I thought this is where my I'mgonna get pushed.
And I was.
It was not an easy four yearsfor me by any means.
(08:30):
It got easier.
I ended up really succeeding bysenior year, being very
fortunate in roles and insupport.
And that was like anotherdecision I made.
All my friends went abroad for asemester, which in hindsight I
really wished I had.
But I also knew while they'regone, I had not been cast in a
show yet, and it was junioryear, and I went, while they're
(08:50):
gone, I'll I'll get a show.
So they're gonna leave andthey're gonna have to put me in
the show because no one's here,you know.
And they did, and they did justensemble of secret garden, but
it was great.
And I got to know the teachersbetter, and by senior year, I
had formed relationships withthe faculty where they had
really pushed me.
SPEAKER_02 (09:09):
You mentioned before that you had to move to the East
Coast.
Why?
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Is it easier to make it in theater in on the East
Coast versus You know, I'm notsure anymore because during
COVID everything kind ofswitched to Zoom, so you have
there's so many moreopportunities.
But when I was when it was timefor me to move to New York and
try Broadway, Broadway's only inManhattan, so the auditions were
only in Manhattan.
Maybe you'd audition in LAsometimes, but you'd eventually
(09:35):
have to fly out for your final,which is still true.
But you still wouldn't have evenan ounce of getting seen unless
you were here.
And I used to wake up, there arethese things called open calls
or chorus calls or equityprinciple auditions where you
would have to wait, say they'dstart at nine, you'd have to
wait until 8 a.m., maybe it was7:30, to sign up on a list, and
you'd you'd arrive at 6 a.m.
(09:57):
and there's a line of people onthe street just sitting there.
People would always walk by andsay, What is this?
Like, this is a fashion call?
Is there some sale happening?
No, it's just a bunch of actorssitting on the street, on the
ground, desperate for a job,starting at 5:30 a.m., desperate
at this point for just a slot toaudition, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (10:16):
And how do you find about auditions?
SPEAKER_01 (10:18):
Well, they're always online.
There's a few outlets, there'sthings called Actors Access,
there's Playbill has auditions,there's the breakdowns,
Breakdown Express is where weused to get all of our
auditions.
Those are the public ones.
There's a few casting officesthat you needed to have
appointments for.
A lot of Broadway shows you haveto have appointments for, but
(10:38):
they are also required.
Now, those appointments I meanbeing through your agent or a
manager, but they are alsorequired to do an EPA, an equity
principle audition, and a choruscall.
So that means you have to sitoutside or I I'm not, I think
it's online now, to be honest.
That's how dated I am.
You have to get up and early andtry and get your slot for the
(10:58):
audition.
Now, every show is stillrequired to do that.
Just so that people that don'thave representation have
opportunity.
But nowadays, um, there's acouple casting office offices
that have true transparency, andso they're announcing on their
Instagram what they're castingand what they're looking for,
which is great.
I don't know how you're supposedto get those appointments, even
(11:20):
if you have that information, ifyou don't have an agent.
But self-submission, mostlikely.
SPEAKER_02 (11:24):
You mentioned before an agent.
How does one go about getting anagent?
SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
There's a few ways.
There's um self-submission.
There's never you're never gonnalose by self-submitting, you
know, yourself, even as You meanby just sending them a query
letter?
Yeah, like it used to be thatyou could send hard copies
nowadays.
I'm sure everything is digital.
There's also if you go to aprogram, a theater program, you
(11:49):
there's what's called a showcaseat the end of the year for the
seniors, and they bring thetalent to New York City, and the
whole class will showcase.
They'll do whether you're indrama or musical theater, you'll
do a song, you'll do amonologue, you'll do a scene,
you'll do something thatshowcases your talent.
They've really turned into theseevents.
And agents that are looking andcasting directors will all go.
(12:11):
I mean, when I did it, therewere soap operas that showed up,
and that's and Guiding Light wasa huge New York City soap.
And that it was so funny.
I got absolutely no bites frommusical theater or anything
except an opera manager, thankyou, mom, who was like, you
should go into opera, and soapoperas.
(12:32):
So two things I do not do.
SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
So you never went to the soap opera?
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
No, you know, it was so I never knew how there are
these things called under twos,which is two lines in a show.
Uh-huh.
And they used to call people andsay, we want you on the show for
an under-two or an under-five,I'm not sure.
And I didn't realize the gamethat it was whoever called back
first got the job.
The audition for Guiding Lightwas an interview with the head
(13:00):
of casting.
It I didn't read anything.
It was an interview, and then itwas these phone calls that would
just come to be basically anextra with a couple lines.
But if you didn't call backfirst, you didn't get it, and I
never called back first.
Because in those days we hadservice numbers, so we didn't
have cell phones.
So you would call your servicenumber maybe every hour, but
they called, you know, a minuteafter you had last checked, and
(13:22):
so somebody else got it.
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Do they ever call you after an audition, even if
you don't get it?
Or you theater in general, notsoftware.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:30):
Oh yeah.
I didn't get Music Man, and theycalled me months later and had
offered me the job.
So I didn't have to re-audition.
SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
Yeah.
Isn't that crazy?
Crazy.
So let me ask you something.
How do you recover fromrejection?
SPEAKER_01 (13:43):
You know, I think that's my superpower is I have
never been upset.
I had a casting director oncesay to me, it was the same one
who said, if you can hold outuntil you're 30.
She had said something like,You're not competitive.
And not in a bad way, because weall need a competitive edge.
But I wasn't upset to seesomebody else get the role.
I just realized I'm five nineand a half.
(14:04):
Like, well, maybe she's five'sseven, or maybe they can't
imagine me with blonde hair andthat girl was blonde.
Or maybe she was more talented.
Who knows?
But it's not.
I had enough faith in my talent.
I don't think I'm the best.
I didn't think I'm the best.
I think I'm wonderful at certainthings.
SPEAKER_02 (14:21):
No, I think you're the best, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Well, what parts of us have to believe we're the
best.
There's certain things, yeah,I'm the best at that.
It's my superpower to not letrejection get me down.
It's not being rejected, it'sjust a different direction.
And when casting will say toyou, we just were going another
direction, or it just didn't fitthe mix, the mix didn't fit.
I do believe, and maybe this isme just being naive, that most
(14:45):
of the time that's true.
The biggest part of auditioningis make sure they like you
enough to ask you to auditionfor something again.
I audition for to stay oncasting's mind to keep momentum
happening in my career.
So it's always casting first.
I audition to impress thatoffice and show them my
versatility and show them I'mdependable, like and prepared,
(15:07):
that I'll if my manager callsfor something I didn't get an
appointment for, they're gonnasay yes, bring Lauren in.
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
So usually when they announce audition or they uh
publish about an audition, theytell you the details of the role
and how do you prepare for that?
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
You are sent a what's called a breakdown where
it lists all the characters, avery short paragraph, few
sentences about the character.
Sometimes the script isattached.
Most often now, at least myauditions have always have music
from the show attached that Ihave to learn that come with the
accompaniment of the song youhave to learn or two.
It comes with a plunk track soyou can learn it, and the sheet
(15:45):
music.
Sometimes it'll come with ademo.
This is like the feel of whatwe're looking for.
I mean, you're getting a lot ofinformation now.
And it's also usually firstrounds are done as self-tapes
still.
SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
What's your favorite genre?
Is it musical?
So is it because I've seen youin a comedic role and you were
hysterical?
Your comedic timing is perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (16:06):
I'm a goofball in real life.
Like I'm very quirky.
My mom, every time I would comehome from a long visit, my
mother would always say, OhLaura, you're so funny.
And I finally realized it's likeyou're a little strange, you're
a little weird.
I would just come like runningdownstairs, slide across the
floor.
Oh, you're so funny.
It's not like the rest of us.
(16:28):
Um, I love, I'm verysentimental.
And so I personally love a rolethat is gonna let me be comedic
and at some point let me breakyour heart.
That's a dream.
SPEAKER_02 (16:39):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
That's a dream role.
And then kind of lets you singeverything, which now that I'm
thinking about it, did you seeMusic Man?
That role.
SPEAKER_02 (16:47):
Yes, you were amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:49):
It kind of allowed me to do that.
Yes.
It really let me and that's notalways with Marion.
That was this production thatreally promoted her playfulness.
And I love that.
And I you've seen me do othercomedic roles where I get to
dance too.
And comedy is hard.
For me, with comedy, it has tobe something I can relate to as
a person where I'm like, where Ican see this is something that
(17:10):
suits what I do in daily life.
I'm not as much of a comicgenius to be able to like SN
SNL, like improv.
I can improv, but there's manylevels of comedy, and musical
theater comedy is something Ilove.
I love the Carol Burnett world.
You watch Carol Burnett andJulie Andrews do a show
together.
That is my dream mix of me.
(17:31):
I don't know if I've achievedit, but my dream is to be half
Julie Andrews and half CarolBurnett in one in every show.
Oh that would be you get tobelt, sing the high stuff, be,
you know, the late, the granddame, and then the grand dom of
comedy.
That is the dream.
SPEAKER_02 (17:48):
Right.
I want to talk about money, butbefore we get there, I want to
know what is your day like whenyou prepare in rehearsal and
then in performance.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Uh they are usually eight-hour days, it's 10 to 6,
and uh you have about an hourlunch, and it really depends.
The ensemble is almost alwayscalled every hour of every day,
whether you're working or not,because you are, I like to think
you're the engine of the fullmachine, the ensemble.
And so there's a lot of times ina Broadway show and a regional
(18:19):
show where you're they don'tknow when you're gonna be needed
or not.
And I think for the most part,every director and choreographer
does their best and stagemanager to not waste people's
time.
But if you're an understudy,you're gonna be at every
rehearsal all day.
And we work six days a week.
So one day off.
During rehearsals, that'susually Sunday.
During performances, that'sMonday.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
Do you get overtime for the sixth day?
SPEAKER_01 (18:41):
No, it's a lot of hours, but you're also well, I
want usually you're working withpeople you love.
For me, it flies by.
I love rehearsal processes themost.
I've always loved the thought ofcreating.
And then there's this greatrelief when the show is frozen
and they're not allowed tochange anything anymore, even if
you want to change.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Um, it's called frozen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
It's called freezing a show, yeah.
The show's frozen, so it can nolonger change.
Which is technically everysingle opening night the show
has to be frozen.
Directors usually try to do it,especially on Broadway, a couple
nights before opening.
But I was in a Broadway openingwhere we changed one of the
biggest dance numbers, went inwith new wigs, new costumes, new
choreography on opening night.
(19:21):
Oi! And never was tested on anaudience, and then it was stuck.
And how did it work?
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Was it a success?
SPEAKER_01 (19:27):
I think they still never figured that one out.
But it might have been the bestversion we had done.
SPEAKER_02 (19:33):
But let me ask you something.
So you actually have to startpreparing before rehearsals
start.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
You do, especially principals.
As an ensemble, unless you'reunderstudying, you don't have
much information about whatyou're going to be doing unless
you did what's called a workshopor a lab where the choreographer
has selected certain people tostart doing pre-production and
testing material out on whatthey want to do.
But when you're in the ensemble,you're really focusing on being
(19:59):
in shape for whatever the jobis.
If you're dancing, you want tomake sure your body is healthy
and your voice is healthy.
If you're an understudy, you'retrying to, at least for me, I'm
trying to get ahead of the gameand have almost all my lines
memorized and material.
But you want to know as much asyou can.
If you're regional, you're gonnahave your stuff memorized before
you get there.
Almost all memorized because theshow's not gonna change.
(20:21):
They legally can't change a showwhen you're in a regional it's
the legality.
Legally because they've licenseda show.
So they license ragtime and youcan't change it because it's
licensed from the writerswritten that way.
But when you're on Broadway,they're creating, and so it can
be frustrating if you come offbook for something, your lines
are gonna change all the time.
It's really a matter of ifyou've done out-of-town versions
(20:43):
of it before and it's basicallystayed the same, or which songs
I know when I just did Limpika.
I worked on two songs for monthsbefore we ever got into
rehearsals because they theywere vocally not natural to me.
You know, I was I'm a naturalsoprano, but this was a lot of
theater belting, and I just hadto build that muscle and have
(21:04):
that ease for the terrifyingmoment of when you have to go
on.
Um, so I built, I made surethose muscles as an ensemble
member.
I wanted my vocal muscles forthose two songs to be solid
before I started.
So I guess it's to prepare eachshow is gonna ask something
different of you, and just toprepare what you think is gonna
(21:24):
be the hardest.
What is your biggest challengeto overcome?
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
So you mentioned memorizing.
Did it happen to you that youforgot your lines on stage?
Oh, yes.
I what do you do?
SPEAKER_01 (21:35):
Eventually it comes, and you just have to trust like
something's gonna happen whereit will come.
And sometimes it doesn't.
I call it you walk into thewhite room, you know, the white
room, the white padded roomwhere you just everything goes
white and blank.
You don't know what's happened.
It happened to me inchoreography a few times on
stage where I just went into thewhite room and went, I have no
(21:56):
idea what I'm supposed to bedoing with my body right now.
So then you hope you just don'tinjure anyone.
I have a harder time, not onstage, but when I do concerts,
especially if I'm performingwith a friend and we are really
enjoying each other in ourwhatever duet or moment we're
doing.
I recently did one with myfriend Natalie, Natalie Joy
Johnson, another incredibleperformer.
(22:18):
We sang this song together, andI thought for sure it was her
who messed up the lyrics.
And she just I watched thevideo.
I went back and watched thevideo.
No, sure enough, she is liketrying to feed me the clues.
And I'm staring at her, whyaren't you singing?
Why don't you know this?
She had learned the she hadlearned the lyrics two days
(22:38):
before we had to do thisconcert, and I had learned them
a week or two before, and I justwas so sure it was Natalie's
fault, and it was all my fault,and we just started laughing,
and the audience really was intoit, and we finally came back
around.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
But what do you do about physical challenging
roles?
I mean, you dance, you sing, youact.
I mean, that's physicallychallenging.
What how do you prepare forthat?
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
You say there's a saying that you have to be
stronger than your show.
So if you are doing a lot ofcardio, which to me is you know,
dancing is very muscular, but ifthere's shows where you feel
like you're kind of runningaround the whole show and
there's light choreography, butyou never stop moving.
So it can be exhausting.
(23:22):
Anything in a show is repetitivemovement.
It's Groundhog's Day.
You're doing the exact samething, the exact same steps, a
number of steps on the samefeet, or only that leg is
kicking, eight shows a week foras long as that run is.
So you have to figure out ifit's what I call a cardio show
where you have to work on yourmuscle training during the week.
(23:43):
You have to make sure yourmuscles are engaging and that
you're strong enough because youcan hurt I have a big feet
problem.
You can hurt your toes, you canhurt your ankle, you if your
tend if your muscles aren'tsupporting you, then you're
gonna go to your tendons andyour ligaments, you know.
So you want to make sure you'rephysically stronger than your
show.
And if there is, I pay attentionnow, I never did before, to how
(24:07):
many times they've had me kickon the right or kick on the left
and saying to the choreographer,we need to switch that leg
eventually in this show.
I have been entirelyright-heavy, and I've got to go
to my left or down the line,this is gonna be a problem.
And I used to be scared to saythat stuff, but now I even want
to say it to the youngergeneration, and I would have
(24:28):
been this way too.
They're more stubborn to hear itbecause they're young and
nothing hurts, and they want todo everything and just say yes.
And I too want to be a yesperson only in the room.
Like, yes, I'm here, happy to behere, easy to work with.
But there are things that aregonna be helpful to everyone,
and so if you can be aware, I'monly turning on this foot.
(24:49):
Um, turning may not be as muchof a problem.
I don't do as that much anymore.
But jumping, yeah, jumping.
I'm only landing on my right inthis jump.
I need to switch over to theleft.
I have a I got an injury from ashow where I wasn't doing
anything big, but I realized Iwas compensating for an older
injury, and so I put all myweight on my left and I got
(25:11):
myself a left foot injury.
Everything's better now, but Inever would never have had to go
through that had I been morecognizant of how heavy the show
was in certain areas of my body.
And just walking the stairs in aBroadway theater, walking the
stairs in your theater is one ofthe hardest things.
What?
SPEAKER_02 (25:28):
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
So the stairs are metal, and you never realize the
stairs to the stage?
Stairs to the stage, stairs toyour dressing room, stairs.
You're doing stairs.
Stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs.
You wanna know what Broadway is?
Stairs.
Stairs everywhere.
No elevators, it's stairs.
And it gets unbelievably painfulto walk up and down the stairs
every day.
And I don't mean because you'reout of shape.
(25:50):
It just eventually startshurting your knees, your ankles.
It people, you'll see peoplestart walking down backwards.
I remember there was an olderwoman, and older than me, not
old, in the show, walkingbackwards down the stairs.
And I thought, what is that?
Why is she doing that?
And I and I probably in my headwas like, oh, poor her.
She's not doing well.
(26:11):
No, she was protecting herself.
When you go backwards, holdingonto the railing, nobody try
this at home and fall.
When you go backwards down thestairs, it just takes pressure
off your hip flexors, offdifferent parts of your joints.
And so she would do like everyother up and down, would change
direction.
And I would start doing,especially on days where I hurt,
(26:31):
you will see me walking down thestairs backwards.
SPEAKER_02 (26:33):
Wow.
Oh my God.
What's the biggest challenge ofbeing a working actress in on
Broadway original?
SPEAKER_01 (26:41):
One of the hardest challenges, you you're gonna
think it's getting the job,which that's a that's a given.
Getting the job will always bewhat is next is always the
hardest challenge.
What is next?
What's gonna come next?
I did a stint where I didn'twork for two years in my 20s,
and you would think that wouldbe my prime.
So what did you do?
But it wasn't.
Uh I had other jobs.
So I had get yourself a goodside gig and something that
(27:06):
makes you happy.
It doesn't have to be waitingtables, but something that gives
you the availability to go toauditions and um have
flexibility in your life andpursue your passion.
My time is not over.
That's the biggest mind game fora lot of actors is am I still
valuable?
Do I still have a place here?
Have I lost it?
SPEAKER_02 (27:25):
So all the insecurities come in and play
with it.
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
And it it's always there, and you haven't, and you
have to be excited about thenext phase.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
So, do you remember all of this in between shows?
You said you didn't work for twoyears.
Did you freak out?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (27:40):
I freaked out, and I was it was the time where I was
sitting on the street and youknow, sitting on gum in the
morning or whatever is on thatstreet, and then you you finally
are led inside the building, andthen you're in line in the
building, and there's hundredsof people there, and you're
waiting for your slot, and I wassurrounded by a lot of
negativity.
And I was raised Catholic.
It was the first year, you know,you as a Catholic, you give up
(28:02):
something at Lent, like sugar oralcohol, or you know, whatever.
It was the first year I decidedto give up negativity.
Oh.
Because I just thought thisisn't helping me, and why are we
giving up things like candy?
Let's give up something that'sactually gonna I s I sound so
profound right now.
I do you do?
I don't think I was trying to beprofound.
(28:24):
I just thought I'm I can't givein to the negativity because
then I'm not gonna get anywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (28:29):
Okay, so we talked about the challenge.
What is the biggest reward?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Oh, it's always that person that you tell you can
tell you had an impact on thatnight.
SPEAKER_02 (28:39):
You know, I You meant the person in the
audience?
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
The person in the audience.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
You see them?
SPEAKER_01 (28:43):
Sometimes, yeah.
Wow.
Or when you leave the stage doorand you and you meet, or if you
have a repeat um audience memberthat comes a lot and you've
you're making a difference intheir life.
But when you hear people laugh,that is that is hugely
fulfilling.
And when you see that somebodyis invested in the show, it's
usually in the first few rows.
(29:04):
You can feel it too.
Even if an audience is quiet,you can feel when they're with
you.
And knowing that you are lettingpeople this is also an age-old
phrase, that you're lettingpeople escape for a couple hours
from their own life, and justeverybody's experiencing one
thing at at the same time in thesame moment.
And when you know you've had animpact or you can make eye
(29:26):
contact with somebody, that'sjust either I just did a show,
Lempico, where you could tellpeople were going through,
people felt seen.
There were audience members thatfelt very seen by this story.
Um, it was a queer story, and aqueer community really came out
to support it.
And there's that where you feellike you are giving people
something they've been missingand they feel seen.
(29:46):
And then there's the littlegirl, there's the little Lauren
in the audience, which I get Iget weepy every time I talk
about it.
That loves it so much.
I used to feel sick.
I used to feel nauseous and kindof heartbroken.
Broken after every show becauseI wanted it so badly.
I remember seeing Carol Channingin Hello Dolly on the national
tour.
(30:07):
She was had to be in her 80s.
And I saw it twice and I criedthe whole ride home because she
just gave me something I didn'tknow, you know, visibly.
She popped out of the moviescreen and I saw that thing that
fills me with joy.
A lot of people will think welove the applause, we love the
city.
SPEAKER_02 (30:25):
That's what I thought you were gonna say.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
Standing ovation, applause.
Oh god, no, no, no.
It's it's giving the dream backto somebody else.
It's like paying it forward,inspiring somebody else and
letting them know they can doit.
Or inspiring them through thestory that you're telling.
And I can't name a Broadway showthat has a bad message.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Right, well, of course not.
But you know, you mentionedLampica, and I had a lot of
friends that wanted to see it,really wanted to see it, and it
closed all of a sudden becausethe mistakes of the producers.
How do you feel after somethinglike this?
So out of your control.
You invested months in that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:58):
Yeah.
I don't know whose mistake itwas in the end.
I think there's a show sweptaway right now who is closing
this weekend and they gotcritics pick from the New York
Times.
Why are they closing?
And they are closing same as us,uh, exactly a month after their
opening date.
And they got their notice, theyonly had a week and a half
notice.
We had two weeks' notice.
(31:19):
Everything's heartbreaking.
We're in a different time nowwhere it's if you don't even
have the budget to markethugely, and and I say that and
at the same time as I'm sayingthat, I keep thinking about this
one show that I do see theircommercial every day, and they
too are closing.
So there's a lot out there, andthe audience is not fully back
the way everybody thinks we areafter COVID.
(31:42):
Um ticket prices are high, it'svery expensive to come to
Broadway.
So the families that are comingto Broadway are going to the
family shows, they're going towhat they know.
There were shows that closedopening night.
Back in the 30s and 40s, 50s,they closed opening night.
That's why the break a leg camefrom.
You want to break a leg, youwant to get past the wing.
(32:03):
You want to break the wings inthe on the stage were called the
legs.
And if you broke the leg, yougot to opening night and it
happened.
Oh.
Because you might be closed bythe end of the show.
SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
So you mentioned that they didn't pay you.
I want to talk about money.
As an actress on Broadway and insmaller theater, how much money
can you make?
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Oh gosh.
I mean, that runs the gamut.
The range is huge.
I think if you're, depending onthe role, if you're a star, if
you have won a Tony Award, ifyou're a movie star, it could be
kind of endless.
I know that our union creates aminimum.
Are you in the union?
I'm in the union.
You have to be in the union tobe on Broadway or a certain
level regional theaters.
(32:41):
Anything that's equity, you haveto be in the union.
And it's I'm a big union fan.
We are so protected by simplethings like you have to take
breaks.
You you know, if you're when Iwas non-union, you don't ever
have to take a break.
You don't have to be paidanything.
SPEAKER_02 (32:55):
You They know you love it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
Yeah.
One thing on Broadway, there's aminimum, and that salary gets
negotiated, I believe, everythree years.
It might be two years.
What's the minimum now?
The minimum I cannot tell youfor sure.
I think it's$2,600 is theminimum a week.
That's all.
You can look it up online, butthat is all for eight shows a
week.
That is the minimum.
So every the ensemble memberwill start there.
(33:19):
Every principal will startthere.
There's no principal minimum.
Um, but principals usually get abump immediately.
And then it's up tonegotiations.
SPEAKER_02 (33:28):
Do you get more if you are in a musical and have to
sing as well as acting?
SPEAKER_01 (33:33):
The production contract.
So this is called a productioncontract, is the same across the
board, the minimum.
Broadway is productioncontracts.
SPEAKER_02 (33:40):
Do you have any negotiating power or your agent,
or you just have to go by theunion?
SPEAKER_01 (33:46):
You have the negotiating power is really
depends on what you're doing inthat show as a principal, as
somebody who's won a Tony, ifit's vocally or physically
demanding.
Let's say on the smallest level,as an ensemble member, you can
always negotiate small thingslike for your health.
You want an extra bit of moneyfor hell what's called health
(34:09):
and wellness.
So getting your feet taken careof, getting massage, getting
acupuncture, voice lessons.
It's expensive to run a Broadwayshow.
It's$20 million sometimes.
And so you will often hear, wehave nothing, we have no room
for negotiation.
Or we'll give you these littlethings, and that's health and
wellness.
There's no more there's no suchthing as high risk anymore, um,
(34:30):
which would be if you wereclimbing a ladder or climbing
that's kind of why where healthand wellness came in.
SPEAKER_02 (34:36):
So what happens if you you get injured while
performing?
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
Well, you're so that's part of the union, and
that is wonderful.
If you're injured, it's called aC2 form.
If you're injured whileperforming, even if it's small,
uh uh you think it's gonna benothing, uh stage management
will want you and producers willwant you, company management to
fill out a form.
That's a C it's called a C2form, and that is kept on file.
And if at any time it becomesworse or you need to see a
(35:03):
doctor, um, it will also ask youthat day, are you going to see a
doctor or not?
SPEAKER_02 (35:08):
But let's say you out of the performance for two
or three weeks because of that.
Will they pay you full salaryduring those two or three weeks?
SPEAKER_01 (35:15):
For that, you know, I I don't want to misspeak on
this.
I believe so, yes.
You still get paid for an injurythat happened during the show.
SPEAKER_02 (35:24):
Did you ever have a thought of like, oh shit, I
should have gone to a differentprofession or anything?
SPEAKER_01 (35:30):
Never.
SPEAKER_02 (35:31):
Never.
SPEAKER_01 (35:31):
No.
I still I'm like, I can still goto another profession if I want.
I'll make it work.
I don't know.
No, never.
I have had the thoughts ofshould I have gone into TV?
Should I have gone into opera?
You know, you have those, shouldI have done this differently?
Should I go into voiceover?
It's that, where do I shift inthis is a constant thought, but
no.
SPEAKER_02 (35:51):
Right.
That's another thing I wanted toknow.
What are the option orpossibilities for an actress or
an actor to grow?
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
There's it's kind of endless as long as you're open
to it.
I think, but if you have anysort of bitterness towards this
business, just get outcompletely.
Just get out completely.
Even if you've got bitternesstowards producers and the union,
get out.
It's because you're it's notgonna go away.
The the world is never moving asfast in the direction that we
want it to move.
(36:19):
And so a lot of dancers moveinto choreography, or they move
into dance teachers, or theymove into stage managers.
I have a lot of stage managersthat have turned into that were
former dancers or even dressersin the business.
Dressers, very hard job.
I don't know how to sew, I don'tknow how to fix things that
fast.
(36:39):
So it's not something I would gointo, but you do think about it,
and that's a whole union aswell.
You can become a producer.
There's a lot of youngergeneration people right now that
I've noticed have turned intoproducers while they still
perform.
It's really, we have a stagemanager who's a producer and
he's open to fund for youngchildren.
I have a friend who's becoming astylist for other actors while
(37:03):
she's still performing andassistant choreographing, she's
also styling, which is verycool.
SPEAKER_02 (37:08):
So usually people stay within the theater world
not only because they love it,but because they know it.
SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
Yeah, it's where you've made your connections,
right?
Where it's who you know thatwhere you can build the next
business for you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:20):
Right.
Okay, so what advice would yougive somebody completely new who
wants to break into theater?
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
Always be kind.
Don't become negative.
Um, negativity will not changethe outcome.
Never stop being a student.
SPEAKER_02 (37:35):
That's good.
You mean taking courses, takingschools, or learning from the
people that are around you.
SPEAKER_01 (37:40):
If you can't afford to take a class but you're in a
show or you're too busy to takea class or take a voice lesson
or take whatever, learn fromwho's around you, whoever's in
front of you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:50):
What is one thing that you wish you had known
before you went into the worldof theater?
Wow.
So many things.
SPEAKER_01 (37:59):
I mean, there's so many things, and there's you
know what?
I wish I had known your valuedoes not matter on the number of
Broadway shows you've done orwhat age you made your Broadway
debut.
Before I made my debut,everybody thought I already had.
Just because of who I'd met atparties, like you were saying,
networking or out at functions,or seeing friends readings, or
doing readings, or doingregional shows, or doing
(38:22):
national tours.
Everybody thought I'd alreadybeen on Broadway because the
community just accepts you.
That's what I wish I had known.
That you are going to be, youare a part of this community,
whether you are on Broadway ornot.
What role was your favoriterole?
I don't know.
There are three that come tomind.
There's the show you alwaysdreamed of playing, and I say
(38:43):
it's your dream role onlybecause you knew it existed.
Like when you were a kid, yourdream role is that show you know
existed and that role you knowyou wanted to play.
And those for me were two roles.
Um, it was Mary and MaryPoppins, and it was Marion and
Music Man.
And I got to do Marion onBroadway.
And so that blew my mind whenthat happened.
When they told me I was gonna goon, it was the understudy, and
(39:03):
then I was gonna have a week.
I was like, the stage managertold me, and I had to stay very,
I tried to stay very cool, and Iwent, okay, um, my dream is
coming true right now.
And he was I don't we were inthe middle of a show and he
called me to his office to tellme, and I just had to keep it
quiet then because they hadn'tweren't telling the cast for
like a week.
And so I was just living in thislike whole thing of this isn't
(39:25):
gonna happen.
Oh my god.
Um, but also playing MaryPoppins, and then the biggest
surprise is a role.
Her name is Lady Jackie and meand my girl.
It was the biggest surprise andthe most fun I think I've ever
had, that was a surprise to me.
She had to have this veryquirky, annoying voice, British
accent, very high-pitched, verynasally.
(39:45):
And I bring her along anytimeI'm asked to do a little snippet
or a very character-y thing,Lady Jackie will come out.
That was the most fun surprisethat I did not see coming so
far.
And it's to this day my dad'sfavorite thing I've ever done.
SPEAKER_02 (39:59):
Oh wow.
Do you have any funny story ofsomething that happens to you
while performing?
SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
Oh, yeah.
On um the final preview ofAnastasia, I was the Tsarina and
I had a 30-foot train.
Right, I remember.
The dress was 50 pounds, and Ihad a I th maybe I I could be
exaggerating.
In my head, it's a 30-foottrain.
And there's an explosion at theend of this number, and we have
to, everybody has to run, andthe family has to run off to
(40:27):
escape this explosion.
It happens in a blackout, and sowe run off, and there's sort of
a red light where you can see usrunning.
And I remember thinking that itwas one of the teams last
night's and thinking, I reallywant this to feel dramatic.
And so I go to run off, and theflash happens, and I'm gathering
my children, and we're runningoff, and I run over the front of
(40:48):
my skirt and I fall flat on myface, and I don't think my feet
were sticking out, but the trainwas sticking out.
And I'm in this bustle, thedress is heavy, I can't get up
off the floor.
Mary Beth Peel is waiting tomake her profound entrance as
the Dowager Empress, and I'veblocked her.
So imagine this she's holding upagainst the wall for me to exit,
(41:09):
so then she can enter.
Well, now my body is lying infront of her with a huge hoop
skirt in the air and a bustleand a train on stage.
And I look up and nobody'smoving.
Stage management is staring atme, and I've got my arms out in
front like Superman, and I'mpulling myself with my hands
because I've got gloves on too.
I'm trying to pull myself.
I can't bend my knees, pullmyself off stage, and you're
(41:31):
watching this train like dragoff.
But in my head, I was thinking,just step on me.
And she just stepped on me,stepped on the bustle, walked
over me, made her entrance.
And then I looked up at stagemanagement and I went, help me.
And finally we got me to myknees and off.
And everyone just, everyonenoticed it.
I thought maybe they audience.
(41:51):
Oh, oh.
I mean, I know from everyone onthe team that they know.
The thought just has the thoughtof me flat there on the ground.
And I believe I had already doneit once before, where I had
backed over my dress doing thewaltz entrance, and the
choreographer goes, Well, we'velearned something.
The czarina never goesbackwards.
SPEAKER_02 (42:12):
I forgot to ask you one question about the money.
Do you get the same amount ofpay in rehearsal or in uh during
performance?
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
Oh, really good question.
We do not.
Regionally, you do not.
It's a very little less.
Or sometimes, if you do, youragent or manager gets less.
So they only get a 5% kickback,and then once you're open, it's
10%.
So whether it's due to a lowersalary or an agent manager
percentage, yes, you make less.
It's kind of minimal.
(42:40):
But yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:40):
You have to give your agent 10% of your earnings?
Always, yes.
Of course.
And a manager also?
SPEAKER_01 (42:46):
Uh managers can be more.
They can be 10 to 15%.
So you could sometimes pay 25%off your if you have an agent
and a manager, you are paying,you are undoubtedly paying 20%
every year.
SPEAKER_02 (42:58):
Is it worth it?
Do they get you a lot of work?
SPEAKER_01 (43:01):
Oh, yes.
To have one, you must.
I think you just yes.
Unless you're so established inyour career that people are
calling you.
You know, left if you're a moviestar and you don't need, you
know, if you're Nicole Kidman,you can probably not have your
manager.
I'm sure she still wants him orher, whoever it is.
But I think they're beneficial,absolutely, especially because
(43:22):
shows can last a second.
Even if I'm doing a show thatshe didn't get me, she's trying
to get me other work.
And so I just believe whileshe's got to work around
whatever project I'm doing andmake sure that everything fits
and I can get my appointmentsand she is arranging my audition
life, or dates that I need offfrom places or I can do this,
whatever she's negotiating, evenif she had nothing to do with my
(43:45):
current project, she's stillhaving to work in my future
around this project.
So for me, it's important tohonor her rate for our
relationship.
SPEAKER_02 (43:55):
If you could have had past or present, any role to
choose from to play, what wouldthat be?
SPEAKER_01 (44:01):
Oh, that's always gonna be the role I created for
the very first time in the showI haven't met yet that you know
wins all the awards.
It's not even about winning theawards.
I don't care about that.
It's that everybody that peoplelove and respect and cherish.
Being a part of the show,originating a role in a show
that goes down in history assomething loved and cherished.
(44:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:22):
I believe you can do it.
I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01 (44:25):
I know it will happen.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
It will.
Thank you so much.
That was not only interesting,it was entertaining.
Yeah.
You know, usually from theoutside, it sounds like a very
sexy job and incredible, butthen when you start learning all
the little different things thatcan happen that happened
actually.
SPEAKER_01 (44:44):
Yeah, you have to have another job as well to
support you in the downtime.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (44:50):
Well, thanks a million.
Thank you.
Okay, that's a wrap for today.
If you have a comment orquestion, or would like us to
cover a certain job, please letus know.
Visit our website at how muchcani make that info.
We would love to hear from you.
And on your way out, don'tforget to subscribe and share
this episode with anyone who iscurious about their next job.
(45:14):
See you next time.
You arrive at 6 a.m.
and there's a line of people onthe street just sitting there.
People would always walk by andsay, What is this?
Like, is this a fashion call?
Is there some sale happening?
No, it's just a bunch of actors.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Hi, I'm Raposeri, and welcome to How Much Can I
Make.
I am a curious journalist,fascinated by what people do for
a living, what their jobs arereally like, and how much they
can earn.
Join me as we dive into storiesbehind careers, uncovering
insights and details, which Ihope you'll find as intriguing
as I do.
(00:36):
So let's get started.
This is another segment abouttheater, and we have with us
Lauren Blackman, whom I am a fanof.
She's an actress on Broadway,off Broadway.
I've seen her in all in a fewshows.
If your dream is to be intheater, you need to listen to
this segment.
First of all, Lauren, thanks alot for doing it.
(00:58):
Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you for asking.
Of course.
Happy to be here.
So let's dive right in and tellus how and when did you discover
your love for theater?
I think you'll hurt you'll learnfrom a lot of theater people we
were born that way.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
We I mean, I knew it probably from my mom having me
watch old movie musicals, butfrom the moment I saw a from you
know what's called the goldenage of Hollywood, as soon as I
saw a movie musical, I was donefor.
Like any white dress withfeathers on the rim that was tap
dancing, that was that was itfor me.
SPEAKER_02 (01:32):
How old were you?
SPEAKER_01 (01:33):
I I can't remember when I first fell in love.
I know I had my first solo whenI was four and singing Someday
My Prince Will Come and I wasalready done for then.
But I did not admit it untilvery much maybe my senior year
of high school, how serious Iwas about it to my family.
I just knew I'm gonna be onBroadway.
(01:54):
It's so easy, right?
I'm gonna be on Broadway.
And then I think my familythought, okay, yeah, sure.
It's just one of those dreams.
And then as I got like, what areyou gonna study in college?
I said, I'm gonna study theater.
And are you sure?
Really?
Are you sure?
That was a question for a longtime, all throughout my freshman
year of college.
Are you sure?
SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
So okay, so well, you did end up on Broadway.
They chose them.
I did.
You also did regional theater.
I saw you in the main.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
I did a I did a lot of regional theater.
I actually didn't even end up onBroadway until a lot later in my
career, which was perfect timingfor me, but some people may have
given up by that point.
But when you don't have, youknow, you're met with faculty
and friends and family thatinevitably actors, performers,
especially theater performers,hear the phrase if there's
(02:46):
anything else you want to do,anything else in the world, do
it.
Because it's so difficult.
Uh and so it really took me awhile to get my stride, which I
had known from a young age.
Casting had said, if you canhang on to your 30s, because
you're a leading lady, you havean older soul, you're gonna, you
will be successful if you canhang on.
(03:08):
And I think what they mean byhang on is when you move here,
is get those regional theaterjobs and have a good day job, a
good side job, and keep yourpassion and you don't get too
negative, you're you'll succeed.
A lot of this career isperseverance.
And so I was very fortunate tobe swooped up by a few regional
(03:29):
theaters that gave me some dreamroles and beautiful communities
that I got to meet, like yousaid in Maine.
Also here in New York, there wasa theater called Westchester
Broadway Theater that reallystarted the career for me.
And then and another theatercalled the Fulton.
There's a little bit of a familythat I've worked for.
Um family of theater.
A family of theater directors,artistic directors, and then
(03:53):
that spawns off into actors thatI feel the most fortunate to
have created.
Because when a Broadway show'sover, what do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
I know.
We're gonna get into that.
We're gonna get into that.
But before we do, tell me thedifference between regional
theater and Broadway.
SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
Okay, so the biggest difference is the budget and the
address and the pay.
And I would say the business ofBroadway and regional theater is
different, mostly monetarily.
The heart of it all is for me nodifferent.
I, the audience is no different.
I don't do any more or less,depending where the location is.
(04:34):
It's always, you know, regionaltheater is done a lot quicker.
You have sometimes 10 days ofrehearsal.
Broadway, you have what is stillvery small.
You have four weeks usually ofrehearsal, sometimes six, and
then you have one month ofpreviews before you open.
But it's still for hugeproductions, it's all very fast
and furious, whether you'redoing a regional gig.
(04:56):
There is a certain theater thatyou've got, I think, six days to
put up the show, and they justrehearsal and everything.
That's rehearsal, that's tech.
You do maybe two nights of tech.
Technical, that's when you gointo the theater, you've staged
the whole thing, and you nolonger work on the show, you
work on the technical aspects,the set, your entrances and
(05:16):
exits, the the pieces that haveto come on and off, the lights,
lighting everything.
And so you lose your show as anactor for in regional theaters
two days, and then you have anaudience.
On Broadway, the tech process ismuch longer.
Um is it nerve-wracking when youfirst night when you have the
audience?
I try not to get nervousanymore.
(05:36):
You know it's so interesting.
I get more nervous when I'mdoing smaller things because you
have l you have lessresponsibility, which it is is
such an odd thing to say becauseeverybody in the show has a huge
responsibility.
But I I find if I'm in a showwhere I've got four lines, I I'm
horrified I'm gonna miss it.
I'm gonna forget it.
(05:57):
I'm gonna, you know, and whenI'm saying everything, say when
I did Mary Poppins, when youhave every line, it just has to
keep flowing.
You don't have time to think orbe nervous, it just has to keep
going.
Whereas if you're sitting therefor a whole show and you go,
This is my one moment, betterget it right.
And I'm sure I've had nightswhere just gibberish has come
(06:19):
out of my mouth and you justlaugh because other people, you
you get it.
This happens.
This happens.
SPEAKER_02 (06:24):
Wow.
Okay.
Does an aspiring actor need aformal training?
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
There are a lot of people that are naturally born
with talent that are justnatural actors.
They know how to bring a lot ofthemselves to any character or
just a natural ability to berelaxed into any character.
There are natural singers.
I was sort of blessed.
You are one.
SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
I mean, I've seen you perform.
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
I was a natural singer, and my mom, when I
decided to go this direction,really wanted me to go into
opera because that's where myvoice lived.
And I was wise enough to know,and I was a scaredy cat.
I didn't go away to summer camp,I didn't want to leave my
family.
I sleepovers I did, but I didnot.
I love I grew up in California,I loved it there.
(07:06):
And I knew two things.
If I didn't go east for college,and if I didn't study acting, I
was never gonna go to New York.
And that was because I neededfriends on the East Coast to
make me make that transitioninto New York City easier.
And I already knew how to sing.
So I was smart enough to knowyou're scared of acting, you
don't think you can act, so youneed to go to an acting program
(07:28):
and forget the singing.
I mean, and then you get throughit all and you're like, oh, I
still do need voice lessons andthe Did you go to acting
classes?
I did.
I went to Syracuse Universityfor musical theater, and then I
continued to do classes when Igraduated here in Manhattan, but
more that was more audition andperformance, like continuing
(07:49):
education.
It wasn't necessarily going tothe Meisner studio or the Adler.
You know, it was we at Syracusehad to, the musical theater
students had to get an actingdegree first.
So I had to do all myShakespeare, all my Lincoln, all
my Meisner, all anything you canthink of.
We were introduced to it all.
(08:10):
And there was a lot ofimportance based on musical
theater is not, at Syracuse atleast, it's not just singing and
dancing, which I appreciated andI had learned before I accepted
and decided to go there.
I thought this is where my I'mgonna get pushed.
And I was.
It was not an easy four yearsfor me by any means.
(08:30):
It got easier.
I ended up really succeeding bysenior year, being very
fortunate in roles and insupport.
And that was like anotherdecision I made.
All my friends went abroad for asemester, which in hindsight I
really wished I had.
But I also knew while they'regone, I had not been cast in a
show yet, and it was junioryear, and I went, while they're
(08:50):
gone, I'll I'll get a show.
So they're gonna leave andthey're gonna have to put me in
the show because no one's here,you know.
And they did, and they did justensemble of secret garden, but
it was great.
And I got to know the teachersbetter, and by senior year, I
had formed relationships withthe faculty where they had
really pushed me.
SPEAKER_02 (09:09):
You mentioned before that you had to move to the East
Coast.
Why?
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Is it easier to make it in theater in on the East
Coast versus You know, I'm notsure anymore because during
COVID everything kind ofswitched to Zoom, so you have
there's so many moreopportunities.
But when I was when it was timefor me to move to New York and
try Broadway, Broadway's only inManhattan, so the auditions were
only in Manhattan.
Maybe you'd audition in LAsometimes, but you'd eventually
(09:35):
have to fly out for your final,which is still true.
But you still wouldn't have evenan ounce of getting seen unless
you were here.
And I used to wake up, there arethese things called open calls
or chorus calls or equityprinciple auditions where you
would have to wait, say they'dstart at nine, you'd have to
wait until 8 a.m., maybe it was7:30, to sign up on a list, and
you'd you'd arrive at 6 a.m.
(09:57):
and there's a line of people onthe street just sitting there.
People would always walk by andsay, What is this?
Like, this is a fashion call?
Is there some sale happening?
No, it's just a bunch of actorssitting on the street, on the
ground, desperate for a job,starting at 5:30 a.m., desperate
at this point for just a slot toaudition, you know?
SPEAKER_02 (10:16):
And how do you find about auditions?
SPEAKER_01 (10:18):
Well, they're always online.
There's a few outlets, there'sthings called Actors Access,
there's Playbill has auditions,there's the breakdowns,
Breakdown Express is where weused to get all of our
auditions.
Those are the public ones.
There's a few casting officesthat you needed to have
appointments for.
A lot of Broadway shows you haveto have appointments for, but
(10:38):
they are also required.
Now, those appointments I meanbeing through your agent or a
manager, but they are alsorequired to do an EPA, an equity
principle audition, and a choruscall.
So that means you have to sitoutside or I I'm not, I think
it's online now, to be honest.
That's how dated I am.
You have to get up and early andtry and get your slot for the
(10:58):
audition.
Now, every show is stillrequired to do that.
Just so that people that don'thave representation have
opportunity.
But nowadays, um, there's acouple casting office offices
that have true transparency, andso they're announcing on their
Instagram what they're castingand what they're looking for,
which is great.
I don't know how you're supposedto get those appointments, even
(11:20):
if you have that information, ifyou don't have an agent.
But self-submission, mostlikely.
SPEAKER_02 (11:24):
You mentioned before an agent.
How does one go about getting anagent?
SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
There's a few ways.
There's um self-submission.
There's never you're never gonnalose by self-submitting, you
know, yourself, even as You meanby just sending them a query
letter?
Yeah, like it used to be thatyou could send hard copies
nowadays.
I'm sure everything is digital.
There's also if you go to aprogram, a theater program, you
(11:49):
there's what's called a showcaseat the end of the year for the
seniors, and they bring thetalent to New York City, and the
whole class will showcase.
They'll do whether you're indrama or musical theater, you'll
do a song, you'll do amonologue, you'll do a scene,
you'll do something thatshowcases your talent.
They've really turned into theseevents.
And agents that are looking andcasting directors will all go.
(12:11):
I mean, when I did it, therewere soap operas that showed up,
and that's and Guiding Light wasa huge New York City soap.
And that it was so funny.
I got absolutely no bites frommusical theater or anything
except an opera manager, thankyou, mom, who was like, you
should go into opera, and soapoperas.
(12:32):
So two things I do not do.
SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
So you never went to the soap opera?
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
No, you know, it was so I never knew how there are
these things called under twos,which is two lines in a show.
Uh-huh.
And they used to call people andsay, we want you on the show for
an under-two or an under-five,I'm not sure.
And I didn't realize the gamethat it was whoever called back
first got the job.
The audition for Guiding Lightwas an interview with the head
(13:00):
of casting.
It I didn't read anything.
It was an interview, and then itwas these phone calls that would
just come to be basically anextra with a couple lines.
But if you didn't call backfirst, you didn't get it, and I
never called back first.
Because in those days we hadservice numbers, so we didn't
have cell phones.
So you would call your servicenumber maybe every hour, but
they called, you know, a minuteafter you had last checked, and
(13:22):
so somebody else got it.
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Do they ever call you after an audition, even if
you don't get it?
Or you theater in general, notsoftware.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:30):
Oh yeah.
I didn't get Music Man, and theycalled me months later and had
offered me the job.
So I didn't have to re-audition.
SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
Yeah.
Isn't that crazy?
Crazy.
So let me ask you something.
How do you recover fromrejection?
SPEAKER_01 (13:43):
You know, I think that's my superpower is I have
never been upset.
I had a casting director oncesay to me, it was the same one
who said, if you can hold outuntil you're 30.
She had said something like,You're not competitive.
And not in a bad way, because weall need a competitive edge.
But I wasn't upset to seesomebody else get the role.
I just realized I'm five nineand a half.
(14:04):
Like, well, maybe she's five'sseven, or maybe they can't
imagine me with blonde hair andthat girl was blonde.
Or maybe she was more talented.
Who knows?
But it's not.
I had enough faith in my talent.
I don't think I'm the best.
I didn't think I'm the best.
I think I'm wonderful at certainthings.
SPEAKER_02 (14:21):
No, I think you're the best, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Well, what parts of us have to believe we're the
best.
There's certain things, yeah,I'm the best at that.
It's my superpower to not letrejection get me down.
It's not being rejected, it'sjust a different direction.
And when casting will say toyou, we just were going another
direction, or it just didn't fitthe mix, the mix didn't fit.
I do believe, and maybe this isme just being naive, that most
(14:45):
of the time that's true.
The biggest part of auditioningis make sure they like you
enough to ask you to auditionfor something again.
I audition for to stay oncasting's mind to keep momentum
happening in my career.
So it's always casting first.
I audition to impress thatoffice and show them my
versatility and show them I'mdependable, like and prepared,
(15:07):
that I'll if my manager callsfor something I didn't get an
appointment for, they're gonnasay yes, bring Lauren in.
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
So usually when they announce audition or they uh
publish about an audition, theytell you the details of the role
and how do you prepare for that?
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
You are sent a what's called a breakdown where
it lists all the characters, avery short paragraph, few
sentences about the character.
Sometimes the script isattached.
Most often now, at least myauditions have always have music
from the show attached that Ihave to learn that come with the
accompaniment of the song youhave to learn or two.
It comes with a plunk track soyou can learn it, and the sheet
(15:45):
music.
Sometimes it'll come with ademo.
This is like the feel of whatwe're looking for.
I mean, you're getting a lot ofinformation now.
And it's also usually firstrounds are done as self-tapes
still.
SPEAKER_02 (15:57):
What's your favorite genre?
Is it musical?
So is it because I've seen youin a comedic role and you were
hysterical?
Your comedic timing is perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (16:06):
I'm a goofball in real life.
Like I'm very quirky.
My mom, every time I would comehome from a long visit, my
mother would always say, OhLaura, you're so funny.
And I finally realized it's likeyou're a little strange, you're
a little weird.
I would just come like runningdownstairs, slide across the
floor.
Oh, you're so funny.
It's not like the rest of us.
(16:28):
Um, I love, I'm verysentimental.
And so I personally love a rolethat is gonna let me be comedic
and at some point let me breakyour heart.
That's a dream.
SPEAKER_02 (16:39):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (16:40):
That's a dream role.
And then kind of lets you singeverything, which now that I'm
thinking about it, did you seeMusic Man?
That role.
SPEAKER_02 (16:47):
Yes, you were amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:49):
It kind of allowed me to do that.
Yes.
It really let me and that's notalways with Marion.
That was this production thatreally promoted her playfulness.
And I love that.
And I you've seen me do othercomedic roles where I get to
dance too.
And comedy is hard.
For me, with comedy, it has tobe something I can relate to as
a person where I'm like, where Ican see this is something that
(17:10):
suits what I do in daily life.
I'm not as much of a comicgenius to be able to like SN
SNL, like improv.
I can improv, but there's manylevels of comedy, and musical
theater comedy is something Ilove.
I love the Carol Burnett world.
You watch Carol Burnett andJulie Andrews do a show
together.
That is my dream mix of me.
(17:31):
I don't know if I've achievedit, but my dream is to be half
Julie Andrews and half CarolBurnett in one in every show.
Oh that would be you get tobelt, sing the high stuff, be,
you know, the late, the granddame, and then the grand dom of
comedy.
That is the dream.
SPEAKER_02 (17:48):
Right.
I want to talk about money, butbefore we get there, I want to
know what is your day like whenyou prepare in rehearsal and
then in performance.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Uh they are usually eight-hour days, it's 10 to 6,
and uh you have about an hourlunch, and it really depends.
The ensemble is almost alwayscalled every hour of every day,
whether you're working or not,because you are, I like to think
you're the engine of the fullmachine, the ensemble.
And so there's a lot of times ina Broadway show and a regional
(18:19):
show where you're they don'tknow when you're gonna be needed
or not.
And I think for the most part,every director and choreographer
does their best and stagemanager to not waste people's
time.
But if you're an understudy,you're gonna be at every
rehearsal all day.
And we work six days a week.
So one day off.
During rehearsals, that'susually Sunday.
During performances, that'sMonday.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
Do you get overtime for the sixth day?
SPEAKER_01 (18:41):
No, it's a lot of hours, but you're also well, I
want usually you're working withpeople you love.
For me, it flies by.
I love rehearsal processes themost.
I've always loved the thought ofcreating.
And then there's this greatrelief when the show is frozen
and they're not allowed tochange anything anymore, even if
you want to change.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Um, it's called frozen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
It's called freezing a show, yeah.
The show's frozen, so it can nolonger change.
Which is technically everysingle opening night the show
has to be frozen.
Directors usually try to do it,especially on Broadway, a couple
nights before opening.
But I was in a Broadway openingwhere we changed one of the
biggest dance numbers, went inwith new wigs, new costumes, new
choreography on opening night.
(19:21):
Oi! And never was tested on anaudience, and then it was stuck.
And how did it work?
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Was it a success?
SPEAKER_01 (19:27):
I think they still never figured that one out.
But it might have been the bestversion we had done.
SPEAKER_02 (19:33):
But let me ask you something.
So you actually have to startpreparing before rehearsals
start.
SPEAKER_01 (19:38):
You do, especially principals.
As an ensemble, unless you'reunderstudying, you don't have
much information about whatyou're going to be doing unless
you did what's called a workshopor a lab where the choreographer
has selected certain people tostart doing pre-production and
testing material out on whatthey want to do.
But when you're in the ensemble,you're really focusing on being
(19:59):
in shape for whatever the jobis.
If you're dancing, you want tomake sure your body is healthy
and your voice is healthy.
If you're an understudy, you'retrying to, at least for me, I'm
trying to get ahead of the gameand have almost all my lines
memorized and material.
But you want to know as much asyou can.
If you're regional, you're gonnahave your stuff memorized before
you get there.
Almost all memorized because theshow's not gonna change.
(20:21):
They legally can't change a showwhen you're in a regional it's
the legality.
Legally because they've licenseda show.
So they license ragtime and youcan't change it because it's
licensed from the writerswritten that way.
But when you're on Broadway,they're creating, and so it can
be frustrating if you come offbook for something, your lines
are gonna change all the time.
It's really a matter of ifyou've done out-of-town versions
(20:43):
of it before and it's basicallystayed the same, or which songs
I know when I just did Limpika.
I worked on two songs for monthsbefore we ever got into
rehearsals because they theywere vocally not natural to me.
You know, I was I'm a naturalsoprano, but this was a lot of
theater belting, and I just hadto build that muscle and have
(21:04):
that ease for the terrifyingmoment of when you have to go
on.
Um, so I built, I made surethose muscles as an ensemble
member.
I wanted my vocal muscles forthose two songs to be solid
before I started.
So I guess it's to prepare eachshow is gonna ask something
different of you, and just toprepare what you think is gonna
(21:24):
be the hardest.
What is your biggest challengeto overcome?
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
So you mentioned memorizing.
Did it happen to you that youforgot your lines on stage?
Oh, yes.
I what do you do?
SPEAKER_01 (21:35):
Eventually it comes, and you just have to trust like
something's gonna happen whereit will come.
And sometimes it doesn't.
I call it you walk into thewhite room, you know, the white
room, the white padded roomwhere you just everything goes
white and blank.
You don't know what's happened.
It happened to me inchoreography a few times on
stage where I just went into thewhite room and went, I have no
(21:56):
idea what I'm supposed to bedoing with my body right now.
So then you hope you just don'tinjure anyone.
I have a harder time, not onstage, but when I do concerts,
especially if I'm performingwith a friend and we are really
enjoying each other in ourwhatever duet or moment we're
doing.
I recently did one with myfriend Natalie, Natalie Joy
Johnson, another incredibleperformer.
(22:18):
We sang this song together, andI thought for sure it was her
who messed up the lyrics.
And she just I watched thevideo.
I went back and watched thevideo.
No, sure enough, she is liketrying to feed me the clues.
And I'm staring at her, whyaren't you singing?
Why don't you know this?
She had learned the she hadlearned the lyrics two days
(22:38):
before we had to do thisconcert, and I had learned them
a week or two before, and I justwas so sure it was Natalie's
fault, and it was all my fault,and we just started laughing,
and the audience really was intoit, and we finally came back
around.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
But what do you do about physical challenging
roles?
I mean, you dance, you sing, youact.
I mean, that's physicallychallenging.
What how do you prepare forthat?
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
You say there's a saying that you have to be
stronger than your show.
So if you are doing a lot ofcardio, which to me is you know,
dancing is very muscular, but ifthere's shows where you feel
like you're kind of runningaround the whole show and
there's light choreography, butyou never stop moving.
So it can be exhausting.
(23:22):
Anything in a show is repetitivemovement.
It's Groundhog's Day.
You're doing the exact samething, the exact same steps, a
number of steps on the samefeet, or only that leg is
kicking, eight shows a week foras long as that run is.
So you have to figure out ifit's what I call a cardio show
where you have to work on yourmuscle training during the week.
(23:43):
You have to make sure yourmuscles are engaging and that
you're strong enough because youcan hurt I have a big feet
problem.
You can hurt your toes, you canhurt your ankle, you if your
tend if your muscles aren'tsupporting you, then you're
gonna go to your tendons andyour ligaments, you know.
So you want to make sure you'rephysically stronger than your
show.
And if there is, I pay attentionnow, I never did before, to how
(24:07):
many times they've had me kickon the right or kick on the left
and saying to the choreographer,we need to switch that leg
eventually in this show.
I have been entirelyright-heavy, and I've got to go
to my left or down the line,this is gonna be a problem.
And I used to be scared to saythat stuff, but now I even want
to say it to the youngergeneration, and I would have
(24:28):
been this way too.
They're more stubborn to hear itbecause they're young and
nothing hurts, and they want todo everything and just say yes.
And I too want to be a yesperson only in the room.
Like, yes, I'm here, happy to behere, easy to work with.
But there are things that aregonna be helpful to everyone,
and so if you can be aware, I'monly turning on this foot.
(24:49):
Um, turning may not be as muchof a problem.
I don't do as that much anymore.
But jumping, yeah, jumping.
I'm only landing on my right inthis jump.
I need to switch over to theleft.
I have a I got an injury from ashow where I wasn't doing
anything big, but I realized Iwas compensating for an older
injury, and so I put all myweight on my left and I got
(25:11):
myself a left foot injury.
Everything's better now, but Inever would never have had to go
through that had I been morecognizant of how heavy the show
was in certain areas of my body.
And just walking the stairs in aBroadway theater, walking the
stairs in your theater is one ofthe hardest things.
What?
SPEAKER_02 (25:28):
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
So the stairs are metal, and you never realize the
stairs to the stage?
Stairs to the stage, stairs toyour dressing room, stairs.
You're doing stairs.
Stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs.
You wanna know what Broadway is?
Stairs.
Stairs everywhere.
No elevators, it's stairs.
And it gets unbelievably painfulto walk up and down the stairs
every day.
And I don't mean because you'reout of shape.
(25:50):
It just eventually startshurting your knees, your ankles.
It people, you'll see peoplestart walking down backwards.
I remember there was an olderwoman, and older than me, not
old, in the show, walkingbackwards down the stairs.
And I thought, what is that?
Why is she doing that?
And I and I probably in my headwas like, oh, poor her.
She's not doing well.
(26:11):
No, she was protecting herself.
When you go backwards, holdingonto the railing, nobody try
this at home and fall.
When you go backwards down thestairs, it just takes pressure
off your hip flexors, offdifferent parts of your joints.
And so she would do like everyother up and down, would change
direction.
And I would start doing,especially on days where I hurt,
(26:31):
you will see me walking down thestairs backwards.
SPEAKER_02 (26:33):
Wow.
Oh my God.
What's the biggest challenge ofbeing a working actress in on
Broadway original?
SPEAKER_01 (26:41):
One of the hardest challenges, you you're gonna
think it's getting the job,which that's a that's a given.
Getting the job will always bewhat is next is always the
hardest challenge.
What is next?
What's gonna come next?
I did a stint where I didn'twork for two years in my 20s,
and you would think that wouldbe my prime.
So what did you do?
But it wasn't.
Uh I had other jobs.
So I had get yourself a goodside gig and something that
(27:06):
makes you happy.
It doesn't have to be waitingtables, but something that gives
you the availability to go toauditions and um have
flexibility in your life andpursue your passion.
My time is not over.
That's the biggest mind game fora lot of actors is am I still
valuable?
Do I still have a place here?
Have I lost it?
SPEAKER_02 (27:25):
So all the insecurities come in and play
with it.
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
And it it's always there, and you haven't, and you
have to be excited about thenext phase.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
So, do you remember all of this in between shows?
You said you didn't work for twoyears.
Did you freak out?
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (27:40):
I freaked out, and I was it was the time where I was
sitting on the street and youknow, sitting on gum in the
morning or whatever is on thatstreet, and then you you finally
are led inside the building, andthen you're in line in the
building, and there's hundredsof people there, and you're
waiting for your slot, and I wassurrounded by a lot of
negativity.
And I was raised Catholic.
It was the first year, you know,you as a Catholic, you give up
(28:02):
something at Lent, like sugar oralcohol, or you know, whatever.
It was the first year I decidedto give up negativity.
Oh.
Because I just thought thisisn't helping me, and why are we
giving up things like candy?
Let's give up something that'sactually gonna I s I sound so
profound right now.
I do you do?
I don't think I was trying to beprofound.
(28:24):
I just thought I'm I can't givein to the negativity because
then I'm not gonna get anywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (28:29):
Okay, so we talked about the challenge.
What is the biggest reward?
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
Oh, it's always that person that you tell you can
tell you had an impact on thatnight.
SPEAKER_02 (28:39):
You know, I You meant the person in the
audience?
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
The person in the audience.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
You see them?
SPEAKER_01 (28:43):
Sometimes, yeah.
Wow.
Or when you leave the stage doorand you and you meet, or if you
have a repeat um audience memberthat comes a lot and you've
you're making a difference intheir life.
But when you hear people laugh,that is that is hugely
fulfilling.
And when you see that somebodyis invested in the show, it's
usually in the first few rows.
(29:04):
You can feel it too.
Even if an audience is quiet,you can feel when they're with
you.
And knowing that you are lettingpeople this is also an age-old
phrase, that you're lettingpeople escape for a couple hours
from their own life, and justeverybody's experiencing one
thing at at the same time in thesame moment.
And when you know you've had animpact or you can make eye
(29:26):
contact with somebody, that'sjust either I just did a show,
Lempico, where you could tellpeople were going through,
people felt seen.
There were audience members thatfelt very seen by this story.
Um, it was a queer story, and aqueer community really came out
to support it.
And there's that where you feellike you are giving people
something they've been missingand they feel seen.
(29:46):
And then there's the littlegirl, there's the little Lauren
in the audience, which I get Iget weepy every time I talk
about it.
That loves it so much.
I used to feel sick.
I used to feel nauseous and kindof heartbroken.
Broken after every show becauseI wanted it so badly.
I remember seeing Carol Channingin Hello Dolly on the national
tour.
(30:07):
She was had to be in her 80s.
And I saw it twice and I criedthe whole ride home because she
just gave me something I didn'tknow, you know, visibly.
She popped out of the moviescreen and I saw that thing that
fills me with joy.
A lot of people will think welove the applause, we love the
city.
SPEAKER_02 (30:25):
That's what I thought you were gonna say.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
Standing ovation, applause.
Oh god, no, no, no.
It's it's giving the dream backto somebody else.
It's like paying it forward,inspiring somebody else and
letting them know they can doit.
Or inspiring them through thestory that you're telling.
And I can't name a Broadway showthat has a bad message.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Right, well, of course not.
But you know, you mentionedLampica, and I had a lot of
friends that wanted to see it,really wanted to see it, and it
closed all of a sudden becausethe mistakes of the producers.
How do you feel after somethinglike this?
So out of your control.
You invested months in that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:58):
Yeah.
I don't know whose mistake itwas in the end.
I think there's a show sweptaway right now who is closing
this weekend and they gotcritics pick from the New York
Times.
Why are they closing?
And they are closing same as us,uh, exactly a month after their
opening date.
And they got their notice, theyonly had a week and a half
notice.
We had two weeks' notice.
(31:19):
Everything's heartbreaking.
We're in a different time nowwhere it's if you don't even
have the budget to markethugely, and and I say that and
at the same time as I'm sayingthat, I keep thinking about this
one show that I do see theircommercial every day, and they
too are closing.
So there's a lot out there, andthe audience is not fully back
the way everybody thinks we areafter COVID.
(31:42):
Um ticket prices are high, it'svery expensive to come to
Broadway.
So the families that are comingto Broadway are going to the
family shows, they're going towhat they know.
There were shows that closedopening night.
Back in the 30s and 40s, 50s,they closed opening night.
That's why the break a leg camefrom.
You want to break a leg, youwant to get past the wing.
(32:03):
You want to break the wings inthe on the stage were called the
legs.
And if you broke the leg, yougot to opening night and it
happened.
Oh.
Because you might be closed bythe end of the show.
SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
So you mentioned that they didn't pay you.
I want to talk about money.
As an actress on Broadway and insmaller theater, how much money
can you make?
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Oh gosh.
I mean, that runs the gamut.
The range is huge.
I think if you're, depending onthe role, if you're a star, if
you have won a Tony Award, ifyou're a movie star, it could be
kind of endless.
I know that our union creates aminimum.
Are you in the union?
I'm in the union.
You have to be in the union tobe on Broadway or a certain
level regional theaters.
(32:41):
Anything that's equity, you haveto be in the union.
And it's I'm a big union fan.
We are so protected by simplethings like you have to take
breaks.
You you know, if you're when Iwas non-union, you don't ever
have to take a break.
You don't have to be paidanything.
SPEAKER_02 (32:55):
You They know you love it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
Yeah.
One thing on Broadway, there's aminimum, and that salary gets
negotiated, I believe, everythree years.
It might be two years.
What's the minimum now?
The minimum I cannot tell youfor sure.
I think it's$2,600 is theminimum a week.
That's all.
You can look it up online, butthat is all for eight shows a
week.
That is the minimum.
So every the ensemble memberwill start there.
(33:19):
Every principal will startthere.
There's no principal minimum.
Um, but principals usually get abump immediately.
And then it's up tonegotiations.
SPEAKER_02 (33:28):
Do you get more if you are in a musical and have to
sing as well as acting?
SPEAKER_01 (33:33):
The production contract.
So this is called a productioncontract, is the same across the
board, the minimum.
Broadway is productioncontracts.
SPEAKER_02 (33:40):
Do you have any negotiating power or your agent,
or you just have to go by theunion?
SPEAKER_01 (33:46):
You have the negotiating power is really
depends on what you're doing inthat show as a principal, as
somebody who's won a Tony, ifit's vocally or physically
demanding.
Let's say on the smallest level,as an ensemble member, you can
always negotiate small thingslike for your health.
You want an extra bit of moneyfor hell what's called health
(34:09):
and wellness.
So getting your feet taken careof, getting massage, getting
acupuncture, voice lessons.
It's expensive to run a Broadwayshow.
It's$20 million sometimes.
And so you will often hear, wehave nothing, we have no room
for negotiation.
Or we'll give you these littlethings, and that's health and
wellness.
There's no more there's no suchthing as high risk anymore, um,
(34:30):
which would be if you wereclimbing a ladder or climbing
that's kind of why where healthand wellness came in.
SPEAKER_02 (34:36):
So what happens if you you get injured while
performing?
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
Well, you're so that's part of the union, and
that is wonderful.
If you're injured, it's called aC2 form.
If you're injured whileperforming, even if it's small,
uh uh you think it's gonna benothing, uh stage management
will want you and producers willwant you, company management to
fill out a form.
That's a C it's called a C2form, and that is kept on file.
And if at any time it becomesworse or you need to see a
(35:03):
doctor, um, it will also ask youthat day, are you going to see a
doctor or not?
SPEAKER_02 (35:08):
But let's say you out of the performance for two
or three weeks because of that.
Will they pay you full salaryduring those two or three weeks?
SPEAKER_01 (35:15):
For that, you know, I I don't want to misspeak on
this.
I believe so, yes.
You still get paid for an injurythat happened during the show.
SPEAKER_02 (35:24):
Did you ever have a thought of like, oh shit, I
should have gone to a differentprofession or anything?
SPEAKER_01 (35:30):
Never.
SPEAKER_02 (35:31):
Never.
SPEAKER_01 (35:31):
No.
I still I'm like, I can still goto another profession if I want.
I'll make it work.
I don't know.
No, never.
I have had the thoughts ofshould I have gone into TV?
Should I have gone into opera?
You know, you have those, shouldI have done this differently?
Should I go into voiceover?
It's that, where do I shift inthis is a constant thought, but
no.
SPEAKER_02 (35:51):
Right.
That's another thing I wanted toknow.
What are the option orpossibilities for an actress or
an actor to grow?
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
There's it's kind of endless as long as you're open
to it.
I think, but if you have anysort of bitterness towards this
business, just get outcompletely.
Just get out completely.
Even if you've got bitternesstowards producers and the union,
get out.
It's because you're it's notgonna go away.
The the world is never moving asfast in the direction that we
want it to move.
(36:19):
And so a lot of dancers moveinto choreography, or they move
into dance teachers, or theymove into stage managers.
I have a lot of stage managersthat have turned into that were
former dancers or even dressersin the business.
Dressers, very hard job.
I don't know how to sew, I don'tknow how to fix things that
fast.
(36:39):
So it's not something I would gointo, but you do think about it,
and that's a whole union aswell.
You can become a producer.
There's a lot of youngergeneration people right now that
I've noticed have turned intoproducers while they still
perform.
It's really, we have a stagemanager who's a producer and
he's open to fund for youngchildren.
I have a friend who's becoming astylist for other actors while
(37:03):
she's still performing andassistant choreographing, she's
also styling, which is verycool.
SPEAKER_02 (37:08):
So usually people stay within the theater world
not only because they love it,but because they know it.
SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
Yeah, it's where you've made your connections,
right?
Where it's who you know thatwhere you can build the next
business for you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:20):
Right.
Okay, so what advice would yougive somebody completely new who
wants to break into theater?
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
Always be kind.
Don't become negative.
Um, negativity will not changethe outcome.
Never stop being a student.
SPEAKER_02 (37:35):
That's good.
You mean taking courses, takingschools, or learning from the
people that are around you.
SPEAKER_01 (37:40):
If you can't afford to take a class but you're in a
show or you're too busy to takea class or take a voice lesson
or take whatever, learn fromwho's around you, whoever's in
front of you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:50):
What is one thing that you wish you had known
before you went into the worldof theater?
Wow.
So many things.
SPEAKER_01 (37:59):
I mean, there's so many things, and there's you
know what?
I wish I had known your valuedoes not matter on the number of
Broadway shows you've done orwhat age you made your Broadway
debut.
Before I made my debut,everybody thought I already had.
Just because of who I'd met atparties, like you were saying,
networking or out at functions,or seeing friends readings, or
doing readings, or doingregional shows, or doing
(38:22):
national tours.
Everybody thought I'd alreadybeen on Broadway because the
community just accepts you.
That's what I wish I had known.
That you are going to be, youare a part of this community,
whether you are on Broadway ornot.
What role was your favoriterole?
I don't know.
There are three that come tomind.
There's the show you alwaysdreamed of playing, and I say
(38:43):
it's your dream role onlybecause you knew it existed.
Like when you were a kid, yourdream role is that show you know
existed and that role you knowyou wanted to play.
And those for me were two roles.
Um, it was Mary and MaryPoppins, and it was Marion and
Music Man.
And I got to do Marion onBroadway.
And so that blew my mind whenthat happened.
When they told me I was gonna goon, it was the understudy, and
(39:03):
then I was gonna have a week.
I was like, the stage managertold me, and I had to stay very,
I tried to stay very cool, and Iwent, okay, um, my dream is
coming true right now.
And he was I don't we were inthe middle of a show and he
called me to his office to tellme, and I just had to keep it
quiet then because they hadn'tweren't telling the cast for
like a week.
And so I was just living in thislike whole thing of this isn't
(39:25):
gonna happen.
Oh my god.
Um, but also playing MaryPoppins, and then the biggest
surprise is a role.
Her name is Lady Jackie and meand my girl.
It was the biggest surprise andthe most fun I think I've ever
had, that was a surprise to me.
She had to have this veryquirky, annoying voice, British
accent, very high-pitched, verynasally.
(39:45):
And I bring her along anytimeI'm asked to do a little snippet
or a very character-y thing,Lady Jackie will come out.
That was the most fun surprisethat I did not see coming so
far.
And it's to this day my dad'sfavorite thing I've ever done.
SPEAKER_02 (39:59):
Oh wow.
Do you have any funny story ofsomething that happens to you
while performing?
SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
Oh, yeah.
On um the final preview ofAnastasia, I was the Tsarina and
I had a 30-foot train.
Right, I remember.
The dress was 50 pounds, and Ihad a I th maybe I I could be
exaggerating.
In my head, it's a 30-foottrain.
And there's an explosion at theend of this number, and we have
to, everybody has to run, andthe family has to run off to
(40:27):
escape this explosion.
It happens in a blackout, and sowe run off, and there's sort of
a red light where you can see usrunning.
And I remember thinking that itwas one of the teams last
night's and thinking, I reallywant this to feel dramatic.
And so I go to run off, and theflash happens, and I'm gathering
my children, and we're runningoff, and I run over the front of
(40:48):
my skirt and I fall flat on myface, and I don't think my feet
were sticking out, but the trainwas sticking out.
And I'm in this bustle, thedress is heavy, I can't get up
off the floor.
Mary Beth Peel is waiting tomake her profound entrance as
the Dowager Empress, and I'veblocked her.
So imagine this she's holding upagainst the wall for me to exit,
(41:09):
so then she can enter.
Well, now my body is lying infront of her with a huge hoop
skirt in the air and a bustleand a train on stage.
And I look up and nobody'smoving.
Stage management is staring atme, and I've got my arms out in
front like Superman, and I'mpulling myself with my hands
because I've got gloves on too.
I'm trying to pull myself.
I can't bend my knees, pullmyself off stage, and you're
(41:31):
watching this train like dragoff.
But in my head, I was thinking,just step on me.
And she just stepped on me,stepped on the bustle, walked
over me, made her entrance.
And then I looked up at stagemanagement and I went, help me.
And finally we got me to myknees and off.
And everyone just, everyonenoticed it.
I thought maybe they audience.
(41:51):
Oh, oh.
I mean, I know from everyone onthe team that they know.
The thought just has the thoughtof me flat there on the ground.
And I believe I had already doneit once before, where I had
backed over my dress doing thewaltz entrance, and the
choreographer goes, Well, we'velearned something.
The czarina never goesbackwards.
SPEAKER_02 (42:12):
I forgot to ask you one question about the money.
Do you get the same amount ofpay in rehearsal or in uh during
performance?
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
Oh, really good question.
We do not.
Regionally, you do not.
It's a very little less.
Or sometimes, if you do, youragent or manager gets less.
So they only get a 5% kickback,and then once you're open, it's
10%.
So whether it's due to a lowersalary or an agent manager
percentage, yes, you make less.
It's kind of minimal.
(42:40):
But yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:40):
You have to give your agent 10% of your earnings?
Always, yes.
Of course.
And a manager also?
SPEAKER_01 (42:46):
Uh managers can be more.
They can be 10 to 15%.
So you could sometimes pay 25%off your if you have an agent
and a manager, you are paying,you are undoubtedly paying 20%
every year.
SPEAKER_02 (42:58):
Is it worth it?
Do they get you a lot of work?
SPEAKER_01 (43:01):
Oh, yes.
To have one, you must.
I think you just yes.
Unless you're so established inyour career that people are
calling you.
You know, left if you're a moviestar and you don't need, you
know, if you're Nicole Kidman,you can probably not have your
manager.
I'm sure she still wants him orher, whoever it is.
But I think they're beneficial,absolutely, especially because
(43:22):
shows can last a second.
Even if I'm doing a show thatshe didn't get me, she's trying
to get me other work.
And so I just believe whileshe's got to work around
whatever project I'm doing andmake sure that everything fits
and I can get my appointmentsand she is arranging my audition
life, or dates that I need offfrom places or I can do this,
whatever she's negotiating, evenif she had nothing to do with my
(43:45):
current project, she's stillhaving to work in my future
around this project.
So for me, it's important tohonor her rate for our
relationship.
SPEAKER_02 (43:55):
If you could have had past or present, any role to
choose from to play, what wouldthat be?
SPEAKER_01 (44:01):
Oh, that's always gonna be the role I created for
the very first time in the showI haven't met yet that you know
wins all the awards.
It's not even about winning theawards.
I don't care about that.
It's that everybody that peoplelove and respect and cherish.
Being a part of the show,originating a role in a show
that goes down in history assomething loved and cherished.
(44:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (44:22):
I believe you can do it.
I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01 (44:25):
I know it will happen.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
It will.
Thank you so much.
That was not only interesting,it was entertaining.
Yeah.
You know, usually from theoutside, it sounds like a very
sexy job and incredible, butthen when you start learning all
the little different things thatcan happen that happened
actually.
SPEAKER_01 (44:44):
Yeah, you have to have another job as well to
support you in the downtime.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (44:50):
Well, thanks a million.
Thank you.
Okay, that's a wrap for today.
If you have a comment orquestion, or would like us to
cover a certain job, please letus know.
Visit our website at how muchcani make that info.
We would love to hear from you.
And on your way out, don'tforget to subscribe and share
this episode with anyone who iscurious about their next job.
(45:14):
See you next time.
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