(audience clapping)
I am so thrilled to be here.
I want to go to a question
that I have such a burning desire to ask you because
I was reading in your pre-interview and I was like
so blown away by your answer and your attitude.
You're a very respected mother.
And you answered what you thought the misconceptions
about being a mom are,
and I loved your answer.
Will you please enlighten us?
You know, for me, at the very least
one of the discoveries that I made upon becoming a mother
was that, there's a misconception that
if you don't love everything about motherhood
that you don't love your child,
which is not true.
Okay so first of all,
we don't have to act like it's great all the time,
because sometimes it's really hard.
And as a working mother,
you know, as a feminist it's important
for me to support women to make all the choices
that you know that they want to make,
even those that I wouldn't make myself.
But as a working mother I definitely feel,
there are so many pressures upon us
to feel like we have to do it all,
and some people for example, are born
and having children in their lives gives them a purpose.
They may not have another purpose
that they have found in a way, so it gives them purpose,
and gives them rooting and grounding.
I was not one of those people.
I had other dreams and other purpose that I still maintain
even as a mother.
So, but what happens is you're still only one person.
Yep. Okay.
So you've got all this passion,
all this purpose still inside you
and yet you also have now all of this responsibility.
Yes.
I haven't heard people put it in the terms
that you're putting it.
I find it so refreshing
because we all are just so hard on ourselves.
The worst.
I would never treat anyone the way I treat myself.
Never
So toxic and weird.
I'm like, why do I love everyone?
And yet my cup does not runeth over for me.
Very self-critical to a fault, I'm working on it.
We all are.
But the way you speak it just it's like,
there are no walls
and boundaries and barriers in what you're saying,
it's just a real truth that I related to as a woman.
Now here's a transition,
Catherine Zeta Jones is on the show today.
There she is, look at her, wow.
And we had Velma here.
I know that would have been so fun.
If we could have done like a little "Hot Honey Rag" together
I would have loved,
I would have loved to have been her Roxy,
come on, to her Velma.
Gosh, I would've loved to have seen that.
Now your new album's actually all Broadway songs,
and obviously Broadway, which I think,
you know, it's funny,
you would think Broadway might seem insider baseball,
so industry, so theater, so artsy,
I think there's a tremendous amount of the world
and businesses that are taking a nod from Broadway.
I hear a lot of industries saying,
well when Broadway's lights are back on,
that seems like when we'll open our doors,
because we'll know it's safe for people to congregate
in that way.
Yes, it is absolutely like a vital sign indicator
of the health of obviously the literal health
within this pandemic of the city
and and will then be a predicator
for the health of the economy as we go forward.
Was this album a bridge to being connected to something
that was cutoff for so many?
In some ways, the timing of this, interestingly enough
I recorded this album with Alex Lacamoire
who is the arranger and music director and orchestrator
for "Hamilton", "Dear Evan Hansen", "Greatest Showman".
Oh my.
You know, just a few shows,
you might've heard of them, they're all popular.
The best.
And we recorded this album together
and we finished recording on March 12th, 2020.
Oh my gosh.
The day that Broadway closed officially.
And so this record has been on the shelf just waiting like,
okay, when will be an opportunity,
like how do we promote anything anymore?
I want people to be able to hear it.
It is not lost on me the symbolism of hopefully
what this record can be for people,
because we have missed it so much.
We have missed the theater,
we have missed live entertainment so much,
and there's nothing like live entertainment.
There is nothing like it.
And that's exactly my point,
I hear a lot of people when they talk about concerts,
businesses, true businesses are saying, when Broadway,
we'll follow Broadway.
And it's coming, it's coming, you know,
like fingers fingers crossed for sure.
And what I hope is that in the meantime,
this record can get people excited for what is to come,
because it definitely, for me has been such a heart project
in growing up in the theater, always loving this music,
always wanting an opportunity
to be able to share it with my fans
and to be able to reinterpret some of these classics
in ways that feel like new discoveries for people.
Well in your hands and with your extraordinary partner
I think we're all in for something so wonderful.
It's so fun, 'cause you love theater.
I do.
I really do.
And musicals, who doesn't love musicals?
I mean, you're talking "Hamilton" and "Dear Evan Hansen"
and "The Greatest Showman" I've seen all of them.
I have all the soundtracks, I play the music,
my kids know the lyrics.
So I mean what an amazing team.
Well, thank you, Jennifer,
and may the launch of this album be the beginning
of a beautiful transition for all of us.
Yes, I would love that so much.
And let's, let's go to a show together, how about that?
It's a date.
When Broadway opens up, it's a date.
Okay her new album "Always Like New"
will be available this June.
(upbeat music)