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--Hello, episode 2 of What's Gonna Happen. It's been a big week for us here at
Tootsie. I've been shooting a lot of stuff backstage. We've had b-roll in
photographs and opening night is next week, so there's a lot going on. A lot of
outfits getting chosen and dressing rooms the finishing touches and the
embellishments added. It's been very cool back here, but um I'm not going to show
you any of that. I'm just gonna show you a conversation I had with Julie Halston,
and I really hope you stick around and listen to all of it because it's very
special and it means a lot to our entire cast that you hear her story. So, thank
you for watching and and happy opening.
We're opening really soon, like an hour, I
think. This come out at five? I think it comes out at five.
--Hi Julie. --Hi sweetheart,
how are you? --I'm good. I wanted to come in
here. We talked about this, that we were
gonna do this. --Yes.
--And um I I thought we could... You had a little story that you
wanted to tell. -- Yeah! It's a it's a Broadway
story before we open Tootsie, which is
we're opening soon. And we're getting excited and nervous and all that stuff.
And you know you start ruminating a lot usually before an opening, and many
people in the Broadway community know this story, and many do not. But in 2010
my husband, Ralph Howard, who many people in the broader community knew had a
life-saving lung transplant. But in 2017 and 2018, he really started having a lot
of physical and physical challenges and he did pass away August of 2018. And so
it was very, very challenging for the last couple of years, and I really became
you know full-time caregiver, actually. And, so there I was at home
in the winter of 2017, and the phone rang and it was Scott Ellis! And Scott Ellis
and I have worked together before, and I adore Scott Ellis and I really respect
him as a director as well. And he was like, Oh, hey hey hey, Halston, as he calls
me. And I was like, Okay, why is Scott Ellis calling me in the dead of winter? And he
was like, Well, I'm in LA. I'm doing this thing. But I'm gonna be back soon, and I'm
working on a workshop of Tootsie. I was like, Really? I didn't know about that.
I thought I knew everything that was going on in
the Broadway world. Didn't know about
this. It was kind of a secretive project I guess. And he said, Well, there's a role.
Her name, at that time, was Rita Mallory. The producer, Rita Mallory. And I don't
know what this role is. It could be two words, two sentences, 200 sentences. We're
trying to figure out. And he said I feel badly about this. I feel bad about it. I
don't know what to say to you. Do you think you could come in and read with
the cast and maybe we could get an idea of what this is?
I just don't ... I don't know
what to say. Would you consider it? I said, For you, I'll do it. Of course.
Absolutely. Plus, I needed to get out of the house.
--Yeah.
--And ... I went to this
workshop. And I was nervous, of course, cuz you know I'm reading this for the first
time. I don't know what I'm doing. And I could see, though, as I was reading
reading Rita Mallory at that point words, Robert was like laughing a lot.
--We were all laughing.
--Okay, well, whatever. It was a lot of laughter!
--Robert was laughing, he was.
--And I could see little glint in Robert's eye.
And after the whole day was over I thought, Oh, well that was a great way to
spend an afternoon. And Scott Ellis kind of pulled me aside and he goes, Well, well,
you're in the show. I was like, What? And he said, Well, you're in the show. And Robert's
gonna write for you. And I I just I was like and at that point my
husband, was really pretty bedridden. And I called his home care aide, and I said
Hey, could you stay in extra 15 minutes? She said, of course. Because I wanted to
walk home from 34th Street to 55th, cuz I really wanted to take this in. I hadn't
been on Broadway in a couple of years. I had had such a challenging couple of
years.
--Yeah.
--And I loved the script. I loved everyone in that room immediately.
I knew this was top of the game, you know, top of the line people. I did know
Santino and I always wanted to work with him. It was a dream come true, and I knew
that my life was gonna take a better turn. There was something brighter on the
horizon. And I walked home that day, and it did take me exactly 15 minutes.
And I just cried the whole way home. And you could tell people like on 8th Avenue
like, Well what's happening? That poor lady...
They didn't help me, of course! --No, but that's
don't you love that about New York?
--Yeah yeah. It's like you're crying and they were
just staring. They need to catch their train.
--Totally. --But I just was
crying tears of joy. And I got home, and I told Ralph I said, Well, I'm gonna do
Tootsie. It's going to Broadway. And he kind of sat up, you know? And he,
because he was very weak at that point, and he said, Well, that's my girl.
And I it was just, it was just fantastic. And then we did get into rehearsal.
--Yeah --He passed on August 7, 2018.
We were in rehearsal.
We had the service on August 12th, which I mean you've heard a lot about it. It
was it was like, Wait is Princess Di dying again? I mean, it was crazy. It was
like a royal funeral. It was and I kept I was in this room or you know with my
family and my phone kept dinging, which I I should have turned it off, but
I kept looking at the text. Nathan Lane is here,
Bernadette Peters is here, Andrew Rannells is here, Harvey Fierstein's here.
I was like, Okay, this was crazy. We had to like open rooms because there were so many people
there. --Cuz he was so loved!
--He was so loved!
--And you are so loved. That's why everybody
just showed up for you. --Showed up! It was
really amazing.
We got on a plane nine days later
and we went to Chicago, which is one of Ralph's favorite cities. And he worked
there for five years in Chicago radio, WBBM, WYND. And we arrived, and the
first thing they do is put you in a shuttle and they're like where we're
taking you food shopping. And of course, we were freaking out. Sarah and I were
freaking out because John Behlman, who you'll all know in about five minutes,
had already ordered things.
--Yeah --He was already at the gym.
--He was at the gym, yeah. --He had
ordered deliveries.
--Yeah.
And we just like wanted water.
--Yeah, we didn't know what was happening. But
anyway, we went to Trader Joe's.
--Yeah, I remember this. I remember walking out of
the Trader Joe's... --And Ralph's favorite, terrible Mexican
restaurant in Chicago
is Su Casa. --Yeah.
--And we had been there a number of
times. And I had forgotten that that's where Su Casa was.
--Yeah. --So, it was very
moving for me to literally walk out of Trader Joe's— I didn't know where I
was exactly— and to see Su Casa. But it was almost like Ralph was just with
us, and he what are following us around. --Everywhere yeah
--Everywhere! --You kept
coming everyday at the theater you would come back and there'd be another story like that.
--Another incident!
You know? And it was like, Oh my god. I just ran into so-and-so who
knew that one, and he knew that one.
--And I just say, You, you were so just full
of joy and positive and smiling and laughing anytime I saw you. And I know it
wasn't always like that. I know that there were a lot of hard times for you.
And we talked about that too, but yeah man you are such a light and you brought
such a light backstage for all of us.
--Thank you sweetie. --And it must have been really
hard, really hard.
--You know, I am one of those people that...
I do find joy in the theater, and I love being with all of you. And this is a
particularly joyous cast. --It's true, yeah.
--It really is. Although, I love
everything about the theatre, you know? I love signing in. I love crews. I love
saying Scotty! How are yat?
--Hang up my picture!
--Yeah yeah yeah. Whatever. What are you moving now?
You know, I love the whole thing. I love
everything about the theatre. --Yeah.
--I love walking right into the stage door and
into a crappy alley. --Yeah.
--Sometimes they're just crappy alleys. --Not here
--Not here. Now we have a nice... But you know, the whole thing. And it was really
Ralph, actually, because he loved everything about a newsroom.
-- Mmm ... --He just loved the whole thing.
--He loved hearing the the ticktick of typewriters, or the
computers... --Yeah
--He loved -- The buzzing of it
--Buzzing, and he loved you know the news
director, and the ripping of paper, and you know, We got breaking news! So, and
he and I used to talk about these kind of things. And so I like bringing
bringing that kind of positive energy. --Yeah.
--And and also, listen, I'm with the
funniest people on planet. Why wouldn't I want
to be bringing joy and and we just laugh
all the time! --That's true
--And it helped me get through a lot. Yes, there were some
bad nights. And you know there were moments you know where I would be like
running for example in the morning sometimes around you know the bridges of
Chicago and the Lakeshore Drive, and I'd get very sad and very forlorn about
something. But then I would go to the theater, you know, and I would be just
like you know, Oh! You know, the shoes are not working!
We got to get new shoes! And
and and it was joyous and it was wonderful. So, let me...
--Show the pictures?
--Yeah, this is, here he is. So here's our wedding.
--Look at that beautiful photo --We did that
wedding for a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in 1992. We raised money for
Broadway Cares, which is of course our Broadway
you know charity.
--Mm-hmm
--And, well, we had so much fun and it was so wonderful. And
so, you know, this is particularly poignant.
--Yeah. --Because it'll be my first Broadway
opening without my husband. But I really feel he's here,
he's with us, he's somehow beaming, and he's saying, you know, Get out there
Rita Marshall!
Because it's now Rita Marshall. Get out there Rita Marshall! So,
um, I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy. I love the Broadway community so much.
I've said it before. It's like, I can't walk down 9th Avenue. I can't get to
Amy's Bread without being stopped a million times! And I love it,
and I'm very grateful for it.
--Well, we are better for having you around.
--Well, bless you, honey. And you are
brilliant, wonderful, and we're all here together for each other.
--Yeah. --And I
think theater's made me a better person. It's it's strange to think about that.
--No,
I think that's true. --It's made me a better person.
This is a community that is about being together, not apart.
--Fun! And fun. --And it's not always like that
in show business. It's full of you know
--Crazy people --Bitches and whores and people
who belong in a hospital! But this is,
you know, this is very supportive community.
--Well, gosh, I love you so much, Julie Halston -- I love you, honey.
--I think you are just the bee's knees.
--And we love, we love you all! --Yes.
--We love you
all. --And thank you for sharing this story
because I think it's really important
that people know, you know?
--Thank you. --And this is gonna come out right before like
an hour before we open.
And and, you know, I know it might it's you may mean some
space and you need some time on that that night, but when you need us, we are
right, we're right here for you.
--I know that. And I really, I really do know that.
And as I said before Sarah, I really am first of all I'm just crazy for your
talent, but I really do love you and I and I actually mean it.
[laughs]
--I mean it. --Well I mean it too.
--THank you. --All right.
Happy opening. --Thank you. You too.
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