["Queen of New York" from King Kong]
--Hey guys! My name is Christiani Pitts and welcome to the Queen in New York
video vlog. I don't know if you suppose a video vlog since vlog video's already in
the word. But welcome anyway. I'm so happy to be doing this. I am so excited because
I've never done it before, so it's really genuinely just gonna be what you guys
want to see and me being foolish. So, it's gonna be a good time. Just in case you
don't know, I am Christiani Pitts. I play Ann Darrow
in King Kong on Broadway, and I'm a Pisces and —no I'm just kidding.
I am, but... So, yeah, today you're gonna come with me on a one show day, plus just
like a day in the life of promoting a new show and getting people excited
about what we're doing. So, yeah. Have fun!
[music]
--Hey guys! --Hi. This is very serious.
--It is very serious. We've finished an awesome interview for
New York Live. Are you going straight to the theater?
--Nope are you going straight or going home?
--I'm going this way, too, cuz I want to drop my mocs off.
--I was gonna go to Westerley. I'm really bad at this.
--Mwah. New York. --Anything you want to say to the
folks? This is our first episode.
--Yeah. -- I'm saying our because he's gonna be
doing I'm gonna be doing a lot of this too. --Doing so much of it.
Hi, folks.
I'll see you soon. Have a great
Tuesday. --So, thanks to Twitter, I saw that you guys
are interested in seeing tours of the dressing room.
So, I'm going to start with
mine. And it is on the second floor, and it's crazy. It's crazy. First, when you
walk in. I have these chalkboards that are framed, and I have messages written
from all my friends and family who come to see the show. And this is from my
niece, who is the one who did the tic-tac-toe up here. She's 7, and this
niece is too. And they are the best. Rebel Rose and Summer Rae,
and they came up here and left their little bits and notes behind. I think
that's supposed to be me, which is kind of fierce cuz I look just like that. And
then you get to like the little foyer area where I just have like some storage
here. I don't know what's in there, so I'm not gonna open it, and these are pictures
of famous actors from the 1930s, who I say that my character aspires to be. So, I
see these women right before I exit to go on stage, and I sort of practice their
poses and and get ready to sort of become them. when I get to the big city
and make my dreams come true. So, yep they greet me as I come in and I see them
right as I leave.
Oh hey girl.
Ahh, and now we're in here. I have my wig cap on, so
you're not gonna catch me, which is why I have this hoodie on. But now we're in the
actual dressing room. It is such an amazing space, and I'm so happy that I
have it and Nate Bertoni designed it for me. And he was the assistant set
designer at A Bronx Tale. And he came over here and did the interior design
and nailed it. I just have so many awesome pictures around the room. This
one is of my mom. I'm not sure how old she was, probably what 13 maybe in this
photo, maybe younger, probably younger. My aunt and my mom, my mom and my aunties
again, and my Debra here looking just fly in the 70s.
These are the to play bills of the two shows that I am blessed to be a part of.
This is Fishy. I got fishy at A Bronx Tale, and hey girl, hey girl. Okay, I
promise she's alive. but she's chillin and I got hurt during a Bronx Tale and
she came all the way with me over to the Broadway Theatre, and she's super
cute. Fishy! Girl! There you go girl. I was scared. Oh my god okay. And this is
a poster that Eric Lochtfield got me for opening night. He plays the character
of Lumpy, and this is an actual poster for a film from the 70s, Queen Kong, which
is a feminist approach to King Kong. And it's awesome!
So, I'm happy to have it here. This is a page of our script that has since been
cut, but is signed by our playwright Jack Thorne, and I have it framed because I am
obsessed with this script. Anything that didn't make it, I still love, so I'm
really excited to have a little piece of the whole story, even the parts that you
guys unfortunately don't get to see. And this is my grandmother Clarice Pitts.
So you can see, looking gorgeous in her dress there. And again my dressing room
is just honestly surrounded of pictures of my family and women who inspire me
like moms Mabley over there. And over here, I have just some, oh my goodness.
This is from Danny, who is in the Voodoo ensemble, the Voodoo team who operate
Kong and in the ensemble. And he got me this picture for opening night, which is
a drawing of me and Kong signed by the cast. Yes, I wept when I got it
because it's just so special. And here is a, I can't even say it
Sworovsky crystal. I know I just butchered that, but of a little Kico that John who
plays Kong, he's is the voice of Kong, got me for the new year, for Christmas excuse me.
And it's just so special, so this this whole shelving is full of gifts. This is
a gift I got from my girl Kelly if you're watching Queen!
Thank you for my precious precious Kiko gorilla. This is from a 3d printer that
our sound mixer has. Let's see. Oh my goodness just some other gorgeous fan art. I'm not
sure of the of the young woman's name who made this for me, but I also cried
when she gave it to me at the stage door. So, if you're watching, Tweet me girl so
I can know exactly who you are and thank you again for this beautiful piece of
work. And this is from the House staff over at a Bronx Tale, and it says Jane
finds her next great one. And it's a little Jane Ann Darrow doll and the blue
Jane dress, but with a little Kiko. Sorry Bobby Conte Thornton and Adam Kaplan but
I've moved on okay to bigger and better monsters. I'm just just kidding. He's not
a monster. Also, they are my true great ones. They know that. So here I have
pictures of my family. These are my aunties, my grandma, my aunt, my mother.
These beautiful women here are unfortunately no longer with us, but I am
sure to have pictures of them everywhere I go, just so I can sort of see their
their spirits with me as I do the show. And all of these are just people who
come to see the show, my grandma back in the day, my mom back in the day, Eric my
boo thing. Let's see...Oh, and this is my grandfather. He was in the military. I'm
not sure where he was stationed, but I love that photo of him. And my favorite
quote, Count it all joy, which I say on the regular because when things get tough,
count it all joy, when things don't seem easy, count it all joy. Amen.
This is another beautiful photo of my grandma, Grandma Clarise, who was an
extraordinary woman. And these are flowers that I received on opening night
that have since sort of dried up, and look even more stunning than they were
when they were fresh, so I'm so happy to still have them.
Oh, this awesome table. I also have to give a shout out to West Elm for
sponsoring this dressing room and sending me all these incredible pieces
that that make this dressing room feel sort of elegant and and timeless. And I
mean these pieces are gorg! This lamp? And I think I'm gonna take them home if
I can. But as for now, they will stay here and and just sort of be glorious.
--Hey guys! So, it's half hour and normally we would I would start getting my wig on,
but we have a few people out of the show today, so we have to do a lift call, which
is where we make sure that everyone who is involved in the lift feel safe and
feels taken care of. So, we're about to go do that. And I'm gonna bring this with me
because everyone's probably down there being silly, stretching and such. So, we're
about to start the lift call. An everyone's downstage starting their—Oh, this is
David. --Oh, hello.
--Uh-uh no oh why hello!
[laughs] --You wanna talk...
--Hello there, Broadway.com!
--Tell us a little bit about waht you do in the show. --What do I do in the show? Well,
I'm part of the King's company. I am the right
elbow. --Amazing.
-- I am also the apple cart salesman --Come on somebody
--You know what I'm saying? I try to sell apples on my hands. --Yes!
And you do so successfully. I'm trash for not buying them because you are
selling them, okay? --Because you ain't paying attention.
--Down here we have Rhaamell. --Hello!
--Want to tell us a little bit about
what you do? I'm sure they know what you guys do, but..
--I am Kings company and also ensemble. I am the right wrist along with David
on the right arm, --Amazing and just just
--Team right side! --Uh oh team right side!
--Team right side. --Team left side is okay too. a young Joe -
--Ya'll, they're all so... as he said, he's Apple
salesman. They're in the ensemble. So, don't think that they're just out
here moving a 2,000 pound puppet, as if that wasn't enough!
Okay. --Excuse me!
Please do not record in here!
--Uh oh uh oh --We doing it up and that's disrespectful to be
doing stuff like that while people are trying to
warm up. Hello, how are you?
--So, tell us a little about yourself Kayla. --Oh, my name is
Kayla Davion. I'm from Chicago. Chi-town nation, baby!
--Okay --I'm one of the understudies for Ann Darrow.
I just believe in positivity. I am Miss USA. Ha ha!
--You know what... That's why she scolded me y'all for filming, cuz she cuz
I didn't get her first.
--This is Christiani getting her sleep on.
She's sleeping ever so slightly, silently..
--Okay guys, so we just... I'm always about to break
something. We just did the lift call and
we just have the 15-minute call. So, now it's time to like get sewn in and get
ready to do the show. And I'm really excited because I love what I do and I
have so much fun. So, I have about 15 minutes more to get in the zone.
And I will check back in when it's all said and done.
[all sing] Happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Jen.
Happy birthday to you.
[cheers] [claps]
[whistles]
--[Christiani sings] Happy birthday to ya.
Happy birthday to ya.
[all sing] Happy birthday.
Happy birthday to ya.
--Thank you guys for watching. I hope you have fun. I know I did. And tweet me
Christiani Pitts, so let me know what you want to watch or want to see or
Instagram DM me at ChristianiWorld to just tell me what you guys want. And
we're gonna have fun. I should look at this camera. Okay, bye guys!
["Queen of New York" from King Kong]