just stare at that yes I eat the lives of Broadway performers are busy they
only have a few short hours between their matinee and evening performances
and they're giving us inside look from grabbing a bite to unwinding plus a
backstage tour have you ever wanted to see what we do in the time sandwiched
between performances follow along and find out this Broadway sandwich
today we're at a show about a woman who only needs one name the show features 35
of her hit songs - rock star husband's six decades of stardom a Grammy an Oscar
an Emmy and more costume changes than I could ever count you guessed it we're at
the cher show
it takes three women to play this cultural icon
they each portray her at different points in her life babe lady and star
they interact with each other on stage in a creative and effective way the Neil
Simon theatre opened in 1927 but then it was called the Alvin theatre it was the
home of the original production of Annie the revivals of cats and Angels in
America and with this longest-running show at 2642 performances hairspray
today we're hanging out with my friend Felix who plays one of the shares in the
show lady now this isn't Till's first powerhouse
wool she played Elphaba in wicked for her Broadway debut she's also been in
Jekyll and Hyde and Finding Neverland on Broadway she wicks hi I was your show
great good good man eh okay so you know that I have a major friend crush on you
since we met doing a commercial together but now I have a major Talent freshman
because you are so unbelievable such a wonderful actress a powerhouse singer
I'm so happy we get to spend time together and see what you do between
shows yeah so what's the planet because we got to get you back into the public
so I have to eat sounds good let's go good to see you
behavior okay so I know your story could be friends mm-hmm but for our viewers we
need to do an origin story where you come from how'd you get here okay so I
knew I wanted to go to college and I wanted to study theater so into UC
Irvine down in Southern California so then how did you get from college to
when you started doing musical theater professionally yeah dude wicked my first
professional job was I did production of Pippin at Goodspeed Opera House turn
it's like Kathryn I remember the first time I ever auditioned feel like it I
didn't get it but they saw me you know then the next thing they called me in is
for the Elphaba covered and I found out I booked but stand by for Elphaba in LA
and I had to leave two weeks early so I could go to LA and visit okay Annie
block also please Elphaba and so I mean that's kind of interesting that the two
of you are both portraying share in the same show you both played awful but and
so what do you think that is about playing Elphaba in the stranger yeah
black hair it's long black hair that's basically with it
but I realized she grew up really feeling like an outcast and Cher says
that her mom actually said this it was you know you may not be pretty assume
you know be the smartest you might not be the most talented but you are special
and that means that you can be somebody and any person who's had success has
faced adversity yeah Judy and feeling like I'm gonna give up
yeah never felt like that for sure yeah oh God any specific moment where you
thought oh god yes oh my huge ball made of you
yeah often that wicked amazing and then the revival of Jekyll and Hyde came
along yes they were on the road for about six seven months before we came
into Broadway so you were loving it and then I came to New York and came to New
York and we close in six weeks and I was like
oh my god is this it am I done and sometimes that was I would go on
Craigslist to see what sort of odd jobs I could maybe pick up you know you're
starring the Cher show a share and you go on Craigslist between your shows to
find that odd jobs and pay the bills yeah it's so important that people
understand this you have to know this okay we're moving on safe saved money
let's talk about the differences between creating an original role which you
didn't finding never taking over a role that our to exists on the kalfa but
wicked yeah and now creating an original role that is based on a real human being
yeah sure there's a lot of caricatures there are people that do incredible
impersonations of her that have made careers Vegas shows us three women who
play Charon impersonators were actors so we want to get to the heart and the soul
of who share is while giving enough of the Bengal Maj to the rivers exactly
like what wasn't example well like like where she shot the way she talks and the
way she sings and she makes there's this sort of honk language I don't even know
hmm it's just I think it is the time right now the we go shopping because we
need eventually looks upon
so what was your audition like for this year oh yeah as soon as I got the
material the songs just sort of fit in my voice and I loved the songs that I
had to sing to tell you what you see you up there and Cher wasn't actually in the
real room I was being filmed for her and so she had vinyl of she has final
approval and all of the olives everybody else was really supportive and seemed
like they were really gunning for me and they just said cher was a little on the
fence so I went bought a long black wig no you did yeah the day before the final
callback I put it on to run errands around to just to like just like
normalize it yeah whatever it takes yeah when you did get the role ya gonna
do the cher show oh yeah research did you do for the part a lot of YouTube
hundreds a lot of course oh my gosh I mean what do people do before the
internet knew you was a creator books I guess in libraries but there's so many
videos interviews with cher concerts of Sheriff Cher's music videos and then so
much of Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour which is a big part of my characters but
storytelling a lot of yeah yeah and so watching this indianature Comedy Hour
was so amazing because I really got a sense of shared sense of comedy and
shares just dry super just flat sense of humor just somehow like really just sing
right through the TV and great a sunny really hot short fuse
he did well with her kidney he had a short fuse that's for sure I think it's
time for some new duds yes yes go let's go
well this way
okay so what are we shopping for today no I'm doing I have a photo shoot coming
up and probably a photoshoot although I do some have been very late share
specific for the share show but this is one where I get to kind of just come and
dress up like for myself that's great great you know I love these green and
white striped pants because I feel like it's a wide-leg it's like the colors
right it's very sure she would hand this in the 70s yeah
do you feel like wearing all these amazing Bob Mackie clothes and playing
share and wearing shirts clothes has influenced your own personal style yes
yes this is normal like this color palette like this is subtle
two weeks yeah 60-second sandwich okay 60 60 seconds on the clock
and you got to answer as many questions as you can okay are you ready yeah all
right timer is going now instagram user richie mastic you said
hey asks nerve-wracking to be on in costume fittings the by maggie uh no
he's sweet at you darling Facebook's karlie Ornstein asks do you
take your makeup off between matinee and evening shows sometimes it depends on
what I'm doing in between shows three Jason Crespin wants to know if you have
if you plan your potty breaks during the show yes I can't pee anytime in Act one
only at intermission and then there's one pee break in act two oh that's rough
for Instagram's Ali Ed's dream co-star dream co-star we say hey ooh the
ferryman cuz I decided okay yes the wild party and Karaca love that coin warden
wants to know if humidity affects your voice and now yes I like it it's good
moistures nice on the courts okay seven favorite roll ever 1500 Joe in the
Battle of Little Joe eight superstitious yes good luck charms
sometimes yeah Jules yes music musics great
ten seconds left favorite wicked memories oh I broke two kisses oh no ten
advice for musical theater sends two seconds left
oh my gosh if you love it do something else do that
time's up way to go that was ten nailed it
are we had to get you out of here about your theater okay bye bye it's time for
a show too
so this is most of my costumes and my dress for Julie tears he's gonna help
show us something hi Julie hey I'm Gary
keeps me well she sends me out on stage not naked and keeps me safe that's
important I have a quick change that happens on stage in the center of stage
Julie and one other dresser come on stage slightly hidden but not fully
hidden how do you get out there we just walk they just walk yeah when you have
to do to the clothes to keep them going eight times a week and not have a fall
apart and not smell bad well the there's people here every day
yeah pressing clothes steaming them we have a full-time beater and a full-time
stitcher they work 40 hours a week oh my god just sewing the book the beads back
on yeah you gotta embody cher up here yeah how does that materialize for you
physic yeah well she's very grounded she's kind of hip forward and also
there's kind of like a bit of a broken wrist thingy like this happens all the
time really I'll just be standing there and
all of a sudden I'll realize I'm like this and then I'm like stepping listen
she's breaking forever it's any show we do ends up becoming we keep the best of
it yeah and we move through life with that special game that we get to keep
okay so here we are sitting in the seats of the Neil Simon Theory looking up at
what people see you do every day yeah eight times a week so incredible no this
is a show about share that share apparently yeah and she's involved she
talked to me a lot about her relationship with Sonny just such like
the gift that every actor needs like to be able to talk to your character like I
mean my character is real-life person need to be able to talk to her about the
big emotional moment that I have to play onstage and to get her specific point of
view about it she she was working so hard that she wasn't having any fun
there was no joy in what she was doing and her and Sonny what was so wonderful
about their collaboration in the beginning and what made them fall in
love with each other was the joy that they just
they created together and it was gone and she was like what is this what are
we doing and that was kind of the how they dissolved I can't wait to see you
up there Adam come to the show a third time okay come to the show but to do
that I actually have to go and get ready again I miss Cheryl oh okay this doesn't
work okay so come up to my dressing room for a second yes let's do it
all right it's a journey with
let the wallpaper it's like anthropology's I want a sofa like this
so tell me about what you love in here what stuff oh okay well I have a lot of
a lot of fabulous my plants I love my plants I'm new to being a plant person
hopefully it keeps them alive as of June 5 if it's really good I have a bunch of
share sort of fan collecting things that are happening up there which is cute so
you sit here and you Twitter vagabond put my makeup on you really it really
transforms you know I can tell us you but I'm also like less here yeah
it's a lot I have to darken my eyebrows and then a lot of contouring just
because cher has these really great cheekbones and have a bit of cheekbones
but not my chair so no one else so I have to just you know really chat it it
out yeah so um I gotta go get into share guard no just come back and hang another
time I will okay thank you your anything I'll see you next time
yeah