(upbeat rock music)
- Welcome back to Jagged Little Thrill.
I wanna do something a little different this week.
Maybe it's because I just finished watching
the episode of Grey's where Derek asked Meredith
to marry him by all the scans in the elevator
of all the different surgeries
they'd been on together after that really risky surgery
with Izzy Stephens, and maybe it's just because
I'm a deeply nostalgic person and we're about
to open the show in a matter of days.
But all of these things maybe have led me to
this thinking about
when we started this show,
this Broadway production on September 23rd
and all of the things that have shifted and grown
and all of the things that have happened.
And I have this entire company
and my other friends and family,
but really this company to thank for that,
and this show.
So I was thinking it would be really, really
deeply selfish of me, to keep all of their wisdom
exclusively to myself.
So, I was thinking,
I might, in the theme of, you know,
the fact that I'm revisiting high school every night,
I was thinking it might be nice
to ask every single person in this company
at least that's willing to answer me,
what advice they would give their 15-year-old self
and maybe you guys can experience
a little bit of the magic
that I have experienced since starting this production.
Because it is magic.
- Are you gonna ask the question?
- [Kathryn] Oh yeah.
What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?
- Stop relaxing your hair.
It's gonna break off.
Wear your natural hair.
The racists in Georgia don't matter.
(laughing)
- [Kathryn] That's amazing, thank you Nora.
- I would tell my 16-year-old self
to have patience and to trust
that everything will happen the way that
it's supposed to happen and to enjoy the journey,
because it really is about the journey.
- I would tell my 16-year-old self to
trust in yourself and trust your gut,
because at that time in life there's a lot of people
that project their own insecurities on you
and I truly was a, I was a victim of that
and I let it affect my self confidence.
So I would just say to trust yourself and look within.
- I think I would tell my 16-year-old self to
trust that being a little weird is okay
and will serve you and it's not a bad thing
to be different from other people.
And also I think as I've gotten older
I've learned so much about the power of empathy
and really listening to other people
and trusting stillness and
that's something that I'm so glad I know now.
But I would tell my 16-year-old self, like,
have a little patience.
Like, do a little listening,
like, sit back, relax.
- Okay, to my 16-year-old self, oh my God,
hey girl!
Oh you're such a little dork but like,
it's the best thing ever.
This is so funny 'cause this is Broadway.com
and I would like watch these all the time
and I'd do my own vlogs and I'd get teased for it
but like, that creativity,
I'm trying to get back to that.
So if I could talk to her I'd say, like,
Keep doing you.
Yeah, totally trust your gut and like
value that time you spend with yourself,
it's sacred, you know yourself.
Trust yourself.
Oh my God.
'Cause you're still gonna do the thing,
you're gonna meet amazing people
and eventually get paid to do what you've been doing
your whole life, so like, trust your gut girl.
You queer 'lil thang!
(laughing)
Come out now!
- Guys, it's the first one ever!
Oh my gosh!
What just happened?
- Kathryn was word perfect yesterday.
- Are you serious?
Is it real?
Did you tell Diane?
- Yes I did, I did.
- [Kathryn] What did she say?
- She was like, "That's amazing."
- Oh my God, I could cry.
- She actually didn't say anything,
but I did tell her.
- Dammit!
I know she was proud.
- [Elizabeth] You can keep that forever.
- Oh my God, this is going up on the wall.
This is my pride right here.
This is the best day of my life.
- You know who didn't get a gold star today?
- Derek?
Yeah!
Okay, welcome back to.
- The Puff!
(cheering)
- On the Puff.
Today we have a very very special guest.
- Very special guest.
- As you know, we are leading up to our opening night.
- Yeah we are.
- This week. - Oh it's happening people!
- Our fearless leader and director,
Diane Paulus has graciously accepted our invitation
to be interviewed on The Puff.
- On the Puff.
On the Puff.
- Yeah!
- But Diane, this is not your first time on The Puff.
- No, I've come to give you much better Puff.
- Yes.
- This is the spot of the notes.
- It's usually over there. - Yes.
- When Kathryn's putting her make up on.
I come in and I just sit on The Puff.
I have a few notes.
- It's true, it's my favorite place to receive notes.
Always on The Puff.
- So she's no stranger to The Puff.
- I'm no stranger to The Puff.
- No stranger to The Puff.
Okay so you, there's a photo of you,
that ART circulated from when you were younger,
and I believe you were, maybe you were doing "Pippin",
or there was something
and you're in this checkered, like, leotard.
- Oh yes.
- Tell us about this.
- Oh my goodness. - Yes.
- So, okay.
- I've wanted to know the origin of this photo
for a long time.
- I was a little baby harlequin.
In Harlequin Odd at the New York City ballet.
- Incredible. - Wow.
- And I was like 10 years old.
And it was this brief period
when Baryshnikov left ABT and came to dance
at New York City under Balanchine.
And Baryshnikov played Papa Harlequin.
So I did an actual little number with Baryshnikov.
- Like, do people know this about you?
- Crazy.
That you danced with Baryshnikov at 10?
- Yeah. I mean, you know.
- That's wild.
- I mean it was like, not really dancing.
It was like.
- That's incredible.
- That's amazing. - Yeah.
- So does that experience, do you think
it will ever inspire you to dance
with the "Jagged Little Pill" company
in "Jagged Little Pill" on stage in Broadway?
- I dance in my heart.
- If so.
- Isn't Kathryn a great dancer?
- Oh stop!
- Super. - I watch you.
- Thank you. You really do?
- I watched on this blog that sometimes you take a fall.
- Oh, so many times.
- But, knock on wood, knock on wood.
- Yeah Kathy takes a tumble.
- Kathy takes a tumble.
- We don't get you dancing in this show.
- No Nick's not a big dancer.
- You should see what happens backstage.
- He's not a big dancer.
- You have two girls that I just adore
more than anything.
- Oh yeah.
- In directing teenagers.
- Are you gonna bring them to The Puff one day?
- Oh they have to come to The Puff.
- They would love to be on The Puff.
- When are they at the show next?
- Opening night, they are both coming to opening night.
- Which is so soon.
When you're directing us to be high school kids,
has having actual teenagers, has that informed
your experience of us being teenagers?
(laughing)
I guess they're not as old as we are in the show.
- Yeah, Natalie is in 10th grade, so 15.
- Yeah, she's pretty close.
- But no, it actually does, but you know.
You like draw on everything in your life.
I'm drawing on my memories of being in high school,
and then, you know, being a mom with teenage girls,
and then talking to them, and getting inside
their world a bit, yeah, it's all part of it.
- What were you like in high school?
- I was really bossy. - Yes!
- Really? (laughing)
- I had some high school friends
tell me I was bossy, because you know,
I like to do things, I like to make things happen,
I did theater you know, and so I was..
- I mean listen, you were like,
professionally dancing at ten years old.
You knew what was up.
- I was into that like, rigor, I liked,
you know, I liked challenge.
- That's incredible.
I love that, I was bossy. (laughing)
- You know what, I'll tell you what I liked
and why I did theater as a kid.
I liked being in a group, and it's why I did
the theater, I think, that's why so much of us
love to do the theater because you're,
you make a family.
- It's collaborative.
- It's collaborative, and you do things
that you couldn't do by yourself, and you make things
that are not possible possible,
because you're with other people
kind of making that thing happen.
- Yeah, I love that.
The question of the week for the blog has been
what advice would you give your 16-year-old self?
- Everything that happens in life,
the good, the bad, the heartbreak, the challenges,
the disappointments, it's all part of your journey.
And the pendulum of life will keep swinging.
And it swings over here, and you go to ride it,
and then sometimes you need that pendulum to swing
that way so that like, it's gonna swing the other way,
but it's really hard to know that when you're 16.
- Oh my God it's so hard to know that.
I feel like at 16 the pendulum just goes from
extreme to extreme to extreme, everything's a first.
- Yeah, that's true, that's true.
Okay the other thing I was gonna say is
you are at the moment of developing who you are
as person. - Yeah.
- Part of becoming 16 and an adult
is developing what you believe in,
what your interests are, and it's not about
what your parents want or what you think you should do,
and the more you can just develop
that sense of what interests you,
that's also gonna feed your life in big ways.
- Totally, I mean what our show focuses on a lot
is self-discovery, finding what makes you you
and loving that, and uh, well thank you so much
for coming and joining us on The Puff today.
- Thanks for having me.
- The hustle and bustle of opening week,
and Diane Paulus took a few minutes to talk with us.
- On The Puff. - On The Puff.
- We'll see you next week.
- I can be like Kathy Gallagher.
- [Together] Yeah.
- [Kathryn] Elizabeth Stanley, what advice would you give
your 16-year old self?
- You're not fat. (laughing)
- [Kathryn] I love you.
- Yeah, right, I just feel like
and my friends, I have some, what am I trying to say.
I have so many people who share this sentiment
that we look back at old pictures of ourself
and we're like, I was so cute, but I was telling myself
I was not cute.
You were cute.
- [Kathryn] What advice would you give your 16-year-old
self Lauren Pattern?
- I think what I'd tell my 16-year-old self,
I think I'd just say to be kinder.
Be kinder to yourself, not to other people,
'cause my 16-year-old self was very comfortable
being kind to other people but not to myself.
So I think that's kind of been the hard knocks lesson
I've learned and I still have to work on.
- [Kathryn] Antonio, you were 16-year-old,
years old yesterday.
- Yeah, so the only thing I would give is
don't worry, you're gonna graduate early.
- All right, 16-year-old self, I'd say,
keep going 'cause you're awesome.
- Uh, so my advice to my 16-year-old self would be to
not spend as much time worrying about what
other people think about you, and to just be the
best version of you you can be.
- I would say to my 16-year-old self,
keep smiling and your brother is always wrong.
(laughing)
- Staying up late is not as cool as you think it is.
(laughing)
- Don't be so hard on yourself, have more confidence.
- It's gonna be okay, that you're gonna find the people
that you connect with, you're gonna find the people
that you love, maybe some of them are around you now,
maybe some of them aren't.
But I just would've told myself
to give myself time.
- [Kathryn] Celia, yesterday you were 16.
What advice would you give yourself yesterday?
- I would tell myself yesterday to take a big old breath.
- [Kathryn] I'd tell myself that today.
- I would tell myself to take a big old breath,
everything is about to change.
Everything, and that,
there are moments that I think that I am,
there are moments that you will think
you don't deserve this moment and you absolutely do.
- My God, it was a long time ago,
I barely remember it Kathryn.
- [Kathryn Laughing]
Oh my God, what would I tell my 16-year-old self?
You know what, hang in there.
I was, I was picked on, and bullied, and
all I can say is, you know, hashtag it gets better.
And just don't give up on your dreams,
'cause it might take you 30-something years,
but it can still happen.
- [Kathryn] What advice would you
give your 16-year-old self?
- Oh my goodness.
Don't try to do too much.
I think, do what's
do what's really gonna make you happy.
I think, especially in high school,
you try to take on so many things,
and there are so many opportunities.
And hey, of course you wanna excel, excel, excel,
and if you take it one step at a time
and just focus on what makes you happy
and what you love, I think that that is the
most important thing.
- Hello, we just finished a show and a little photo shoot,
and I realized the last thing I had left to do was
ask myself this question, so before I sign off,
I would like to say to 16-year-old Kathryn,
that right now you believe love is three dozen roses
after the first date and someone outside
your bedroom window with a boombox over their head,
and you believe success means getting a major record deal,
an arena tour and a hit single all before your 18th birthday
and you think that you will never be put on screen,
in a tv show, in a movie, anything,
until you lose 30 pounds, and I'd like to tell you
that none of those things are true.
That you're going to learn that love
is the people who will always pick up the phone.
And a lot of those people are sitting right next to you
in drama class right now, and they will still
pick up the phone in ten years.
And they will come to your very
first Broadway Opening Night, and that will be what success
looks like to you.
Success will start looking like telling stories
that you really believe in, and you will be really happy
and fulfilled doing so.
And your body, doesn't matter what they used to say
about it, because the truth is if you use your body
to tell stories that matter to you.
And that' what your body's good for.
It gets you from point A to point B
and it tells powerful stories, and it lets you do
what you love, so thank it every now and again,
because it's a good one.
Just keep goin'.
That was Jagged Little Thrill this week.
Enjoy, see you next time, and happy opening night.
I'm now speaking to myself in the future watching this.
It's your opening night, enjoy it.
(upbeat rock music)