- [Paul] Bonnie Milligan, Tony Nominee.
- [Bonnie] Ah, hey.
- [Paul] Are you used to that statement now?
- No, absolutely not, (Paul laughing)
it has not, I mean, so no, actually never, it's always nice.
- Yeah, the T word will be attached
to you for, yep. - Yep, nuts.
- Used to just be the B word, belting.
- Yes, exactly. - Belting Bons.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's your persona.
You really got a lot of attention
I feel like in this industry for your voice, which is-
- [Bonnie] Yes. - Very impressive.
- Thank you, thank you.
- And the classic sort of Broadway belting-
- Yeah. - Thing that we all love.
And you're showing that off every night in "Kimberly Akimbo"
but you're also showing off this
beautiful acting performance. - Thank you very much.
- So what is it like?
It almost feels like the voice got you in the door-
- [Bonnie] Yeah.
- [Paul] But now you're like a featured actress.
- [Bonnie] Well, it's funny because I always consider myself
actor first like actor, singer, mover -
- [Paul] Right. - Mover, not so much dancer.
And I trained as an actor,
like I trained for acting not musical theater and so
it is what, I found the belt in college and then
I started singing that way and I always loved album,
like cast albums and so to find that voice later,
that's not how I identified at first,
I was always like, but I'm an actor.
And so it was funny along the way
'cause people got to know me on the concert scene or YouTube
and then they'd say, Wait but you're like really good at,
you're a good actress."
And I'm like, "Thank you?" (laughs) Like question mark.
During "Head Over Heels" that kind of happened.
- Yeah. - And so it's amazing to
be seen to be able to have a role
like I have in "Kimberly Akimbo" where it really
requires all parts of me, and the score as well,
it's not just belting, it's every bit of
that we can play with the voice.
So I've been given the best material
and it's amazing to be seen, yeah.
- Hey, you want to get noticed
however you can in this industry, right?
So if it's for being able to sing
your favorite show tunes- - [Bonnie] Yeah.
- At a bar even, like what the hell, that'll work.
Whatever gets you the attention.
- Exactly, exactly.
- Especially when you don't necessarily
fit the mold- - Fully.
- Of what people think the a Broadway leading lady is.
- Yes. - So it's nice to
watch your journey. - [Bonnie] Yeah.
- And to see that you got attention that way
and now you're at this point, I love it.
- Thank you, I love it too. (both laughing)
- Are you able to really take in these moments
and I know Tony, the month up to Tony night is a whirlwind.
- Yeah, yes. - It's nonstop.
Are you able to really sort of live in the moment?
It's hard, it's easy to say you're doing it but-
- Well so much of what "Kimberly Akimbo" is about
is being in the now and being in the moment
and enjoying where you are
and so I have a show that reminds me of that every day.
And I have really very much made a conscious decision
that every day to take what I have ahead of me today
because otherwise it can get very overwhelming
and like what's happening like this is,
a girl come from the Midwest like small town, not a city,
like everything can be a lot.
So to be able to really savor
the exhaustion because it's your dream
is a choice and it is something I have been making
and I have been very present and
when you have an entrance applause now when you come out,
it's like I savor that,
that it's like, "Wow, this is what you've always dreamed of"
and now we get to do this dream role and this dream show,
so I have been very consciously present.
- Tell me about little Bonnie growing up.
- [Bonnie] Yeah. - What was she like?
- Oh, she was a little spitfire.
Bonnie was always ready to perform
for anyone that asked her to
and my family started asking a lot
'cause they knew that I like singing.
My family were singers, my dad was a lead singer.
How my parents met,
he was the new lead singer of a southern gospel group
my mom was the pianist for.
And so we would travel and we would sing in church
and then my brother and I would start singing with them
and he's five years older and he kind of,
it wasn't for him and I was like, "I'll take his verse."
You know, at like five. (laughs)
One of my earliest memories was I got to sing the verses
and my family came in on the choruses.
So that was like who she was, she was ready to go
and people would always be like, (snaps)
"Bonnie, Bonnie, sing a song."
Since I was like even like two or three
I would hop up in the backseat and
sing whatever anybody asked me to do.
So now I've seen a video of it,
I think it was my brother's birthday
and he was opening gifts and I was like, "Timmy, Timmy."
I thought, oh my god, this child, (laughs)
she had a lot of energy and I'm like, "I'm sorry everyone."
They're like, "No, no, no, it was fine, we channeled it."
That I just needed creativity
and so I had a very active imagination.
I acted a lot in the mirror in my room.
I had like fake interviews with Oprah.
- Oh, how'd that go? - You know I was great.
She asked me back. (both laughing)
I would decide that I was in these movies
and I would act out the movies in my mirror with,
and I would even do outtakes like, oh you should.
Just bloopers, like what? (both laughing)
I was like 10 years old. - You made blooper reels
of fake movies that you were acting out in a mirror.
- By myself in my room.
- And then promoting them on Oprah.
- Exactly. - I love it.
- So, that's who Bonnie was. (both laughing)
- I love her, I wish I met her.
- She was intense but like found the joy, yeah.
- So what about, did that girl have the Tony dream?
When did the Tony Awards dream?
- I think when I was that age it was more like,
I'm wanna get an Oscar, I was thinking movies
and I mean still we can go for it
because I remember being in high school and thinking,
"I love musicals so much." I remember saying,
"I don't know if I have a voice for musicals"
because I wasn't singing belting yet,
I was doing this like mixy pretty little placement.
I did all the school musicals but I wasn't sure.
And then when I got into college
and started, taught myself this version of belting
'cause again it was acting not musical theater,
I was like, "Wait, I think we can go that way."
But, of course, being in high school, you watch the Tony's,
you watch all that and you dream of
doing something like that,
but I wasn't sure if it was within my grasp.
And then by the time, I was like 20,
I'm like, "Okay, this is what we're gonna go for."
- When you, I feel like you
are definitely living sort of the dream scenario right now.
So when you get to a point like this-
- [Bonnie] Yeah.
- When you're checking off these incredible career boxes
What's going on in your brain?
I feel like you were like,
this is the goal. - Right.
- The goal was that right now we would be talking about
you being nominated for a Tony,
so now that you're here-
- And you're in front of me not a mirror, which is helpful.
A mirror's there, but yep. (both laughing)
- Yeah, so like where is your head at now?
Like when you start achieving things,
where do you wanna take this?
- I think what I hope is to just have a career
that thrives, wherever it is, in multiple mediums.
I just wanna work.
I don't need like fame and fortune, I just want to work
and be known for producing good work
and being kind to work with.
I look at some of my idols who have been able to do that,
who people enjoy and even like
the Laura Benanti's of the world and
Donna Murphy and Deb Monk
and they can operate in all these fields
and that's what I hope for myself.
So at this point I think the possibilities are limitless
and I'm excited for what comes next.
- You are quite a role model- - [Bonnie] Thank you.
- For young up and coming performers.
What do you want people out there
who are maybe doubting that there's a place for them
in the industry? What do you want them to know?
- I want them to know that there is a place for all of us
and I do think the industry is coming around
to seeing that more, I mean look at this year's nominees,
we have such a beautiful array of humans.
And that whatever makes you different
or maybe you're bullied about it
or maybe you feel horrible about it
because society or the standard norms
tell you that's not pretty or that's not good enough
is what makes you different.
And because you are the world, hopefully we should be
seeing the world on stage, on film, on screen.
And I think things are coming around
and my biggest advice is just to
learn to love those parts of yourself
and learn to love yourself.
I know when I came to the city, I kind of lost myself,
I had to get into therapy
and learn how to love that girl again.
And that's my biggest advice
because you can't find validation out of any of this.
So surrounding yourself with people who love you
for who you are not for what you can do
is the biggest thing, so that you are set up
to try to bring your gifts and your beauty to the world.
- I love that, who's been your biggest cheerleader?
- Oh gosh, my mom and my brother are just over the moon.
They have flown out to see every single thing I do.
They were there at opening,
they're both coming to the Tony's.
From when I was that little frizzy, curly headed girl
doing shows in the living room they always were like,
"Well, she loves it and she's meant to do it."
And so they've been absolutely my biggest cheerleaders.
- What is it like today?
What's it like getting together with these other
first timers and you see a lot of each other-
- Well, we do see a lot of each other,
what's amazing, I said to,
we were taking the group shot and I saw
Micaela Diamond and I was like,
her and I, we're so different age wise in so many ways.
Well what's amazing is like
we both made our Broadway debut the same year,
we both were doing a photo shoot similar to this
at the same time, we were both in it.
We both won Theater World Awards together
and then now here we are, first time Tony nominees together.
And so she made the joke, she's like,
"Well, when you book the next job let me know
'cause apparently we're on the same track." (laughs)
And I said, "Back at ya." (laughs)
So it's fun to kind of like, it is reflective of
the career that I've had here in New York and beyond
and you meet new friends and it's awesome.