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Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy. Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile.com. This is Jane Pauley. We loved her in the Smash television hit Glee.
Sang along when she was funny girl on Broadway.
Now Sunday mornings Tracy Smith talks with Leah Michel about her return to Broadway and the city where she grew up. Let's talk about this place. Why is Joe Allen special to you? Joe Allen is so special to me. This whole street is so special to me.
I made my Broadway debut at the Imperial Theater when I was eight years old, 1995. And I've been walking down this street now for 30 years. I was just saying that, you know, the parking lot across the street is where I would park my car every single day before. Doing my show, and we still know the men that are working there. And I would come here and I would eat at Joe Allen, and I still eat here to this day.
And the fact that I'm working again, you know, one block away, 30 years later, it's just such an incredible. Full circle. Time for me in my life, and very exciting. And I just love this place so much, and I'm very sad that they took the Chicken sandwich off the menu, as well as the black bean soup and the salad with corgonzo dressing.
So I'm just putting that out there. Those were the things that you liked. Those were my favorite.
So now, what would you eat if you were? A burger. A burger. I mean, it's always so good.
So good here. But oh my god, I just love it here. It's so iconic. It's so New York. It's so, and this is restaurant pro.
This is the. the heartbeat of, you know, of the theater, you know. Times Square, and yeah, I just feel like this is the pulse of Broadway right here, like at Joe Allen.
Okay, let's talk food for a little bit before we get to. Please. I want to talk all about food.
So you come from a food family.
Well, yes, I do. My mother is Italian, and my father is Sephardic. We're Jewish. And my parents have been together since my mom's 14 years old. They met at the park in the Bronx.
And so growing up I spent a lot of time with my mother's family, big Italian family. I have like 22 younger cousins just on one side of my family and it was all about big tables, thousands of people grabbing food and who's making the meatballs and who's having the pasta. That's how that's what I remember about growing up is just being surrounded by family and that kind of love. But my father comes from a line of family members who have owned delicatessens and Jewish delis.
Someone in my family even owned like an ice cream parlor and a candy shop for a while.
So, this is going back like many years and generations. And then my father. Having spent a lot of time in my mother's household growing up since they'd been together since they're children. If you meet my father now, you'll think he's Italian, basically. And he ended up taking over an Italian deli in the Bronx.
It was called Sal's House of Good Food, even though my father's name was Mark. It was just handed over to him that way. And he had a wonderful cook named Lena who cooked for him, and my father cooked as well. I worked there a lot growing up. What did working in the deli teacher?
Oh my gosh, waking up very early. That's the first thing. I remember my dad taking me at like the crack of dawn because we'd have to be there for the bread delivery.
So we would wake up at about 5 a.m. and get there at around 6 a.m.
So that was the first thing that it taught me of just like having to be somewhere and be on time. This was even before I started working at eight, at eight years old. Because I remember when I got cast in Leigh Miz, the day that I got cast, my mother had to go and work and she brought me to the deli to go and be with my dad.
So I was helping him work at the deli after getting cast in this Broadway show, which my parents really had no, we were calling people on. The landline and the payphone outside of my dad's deli telling family members that I had gotten cast. in this show and I didn't even know what the word Broadway meant. I'd seen Broadway shows, but I remember being eight and being like, but what does Broadway really even mean? Wow.
And obviously, quickly got a very quick education into this world and this life. But yeah, I just loved spending that time with my father and. and just such a huge part of my upbringing. Food is love in a lot of ways, right? It's how we show our love.
I love cooking now. Cooking is one of my most favorite things. And I cook with my children. It's a great thing for me to do. Obviously, my schedule right now is very strenuous and it's long hours, but cooking is like my favorite activity to do with my kids.
You have a killer chicken soup recipe in your biography. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I just made some, I did an Italian pasta soup with meatballs the other day that I made with homemade meatballs. Because as soon as it's cold out, then we're just making soup all day long.
But I did a great penne with my son the other day and One. Makes me really happy.
So I want to go back to when you were cast at eight years old. This is the stuff of legend. Your parents were surprised you could sing? No, my father told me I cannot sing or could not sing. Yeah.
It's a long story, I've shared it before, but If you haven't heard it, I Had a dear friend at the time. Her name was Chloe. Who's Chloe? And um She really loved theater. She took me to go see Broadway shows.
And she took me to see cats. We saw Camelot together. I was afraid at cats. I fell asleep at Camelot. But then we went to see The Phantom of the Opera.
And that's when it really just ignited. I remember everything about that. It was like the hairs on my body, it just everything became. alive. the lights in my brain, everything just turned on.
And I was like, I love this. I asked for the CD, so my mom bought it for me. And then a few weeks later there was an open call, we were living in New Jersey at the time, for Le Miz, the Broadway show, looking for who would be the next young Cosette. and Chloe really wanted to audition. The night before the audition, her father had a heart attack, and her mother called my mom and said, Would you please take Chloe on this audition?
So my mom was like, Tomorrow, this is what we're doing. We're going to, I think it was at the John Harms Theater in Englewood, New Jersey for this open call, and we have to take Chloe. And I was like, Well, I'm obviously a good audition too. And my dad was coming up the steps, and he said, he sat down, and he was like, You know, you're just, you're not a singer. He's like, you're a great dancer though, which is like, there's, there couldn't have been a more wrong statement.
I'm a horrible dancer. Um And my mom was like, look, if you want to do it, like, sure, go have fun. And I practiced a song from Phantom of the Opera in my room. I had no sheet music, I had no headshot or anything, and I just walked in and They pulled my mom in the room afterwards and they were like, who are you? She has no papers, nothing.
And they were like, please give us your phone number. We're going to call her back. And as we were leaving, I turned to my mom and I was like, I'm gonna get this. I think I'm gonna get this. And she said, things like that don't happen to people like us.
But a few days later, we got a call. I went in for my callback, and they told me in the room that day that I got it. And Two weeks later I was on Broadway in the Imperial Theatre, which is where I live every day now. Do you remember that feeling of being eight years old on stage in the room? 100%.
I remember everything. I remember my choreography. I remember what I did. I remember my room. I remember the smell.
I remember every person in the. I remember everything. I really do. I remember everything because. I loved it so much.
I felt the most like myself. I just loved it and still love it to this day just as much. And so yes, I remember every single thing. That's incredible to know at eight years old this is where I belong. After my first performance, I turned to my parents and I, I mean, I could cry, it's very overwhelming.
You know, because I think what I really just want is for my children to also, hopefully in their life, find something that they feel just as equally passionate about, whatever it is, or to feel like they... Even if they don't. It you know, it's not. It's not like I I could say I knew myself, but I just knew that this thing was such a part of me and a way for me to express myself. And I just hope that they find that as well.
But I did, I turned to my parents after my first performance and I said, I always want to do this. Please help me and don't make me ever stop. And they just said, okay. You want to do it, we're here to support you, and whenever you don't want to do it anymore, great. And that's just always been how we've done this.
Wow. It's worked out. It's worked out well.
So, talk about Spring Awakening because at 14 you started. I mean, how transformational was Spring Awakening for you? Unbelievable. I've been very fortunate to have been a part of some really important projects that really sort of. Had something to say, and that to me was just so important for.
Broadway and for musical theater. I auditioned when I was 14 years old. That's when I met Michael Mayer, who directed me in Funny Girl as well as directing me now in chess.
So Michael and I have known each other for, I mean, many, many, many years. Do the math. I'm 39. And yeah, I just again, I wasn't quite sure. You know, it's a very interesting piece.
But I immediately felt like I understood who this character was, Vendla, and the importance of the story, being a voice for children and It just, again, it's one of the most important pieces that I think I've ever had the opportunity to be a part of. There's a story about you and Jonathan Groff going to a church right before Tony's people. Of course.
Well, funny that we used to have one scene that we were both not in during the show. I mean, it was an extremely intense show. My character. got beaten. We had a very intense intimate scene.
I was half naked in the show. My character ended up having a very brutal death. And so to do that type of material every single night was quite challenging. I don't even think I knew at the time. I was 21.
sort of how intense it was to kind of live in that space every day. And we really needed to let off steam as much as we could and we did. But during this one part of the show where we were both not on the stage, we would sneak out of the theater and stand outside on the street in our costumes, which is like very not allowed. And there was a church across the street, and it was coming up to Tony time, and he said, we have to go. you know, say a prayer.
And I was like, yes, I'll do whatever you want to do. And we went and we took money and I think I put like a five or $10 bill in for a donation. And I looked over and he had a $100 bill. And I was like, oh my God, you're giving the church so much money. He was like, well, you know, and we said our little prayer, and the next day he got nominated, and I didn't.
And I think it's just because I always was like, oh my God. I guess I didn't pray hard enough and I didn't give enough money to the church. That's hilarious. You have several legendary stories, and forgive me, because I know you've told them. Oh, it's all so wild, a lot of it.
It has to. Even as many times as I say it, I find. It very just unbelievable. Yeah. The glee audition.
The glee audition, getting into a car crash, or not even the glee audition, the. We were both in Spring Awakening at the time, Jonathan and I. And he said, I'm leaving the show for a few weeks to go do this pilot with Ryan Murphy. It was a show called Pretty Handsome that they did a pilot. And I was like, oh, you're going to leave me.
I'm going to be in the show without you. And he left, and then two days later, the theater went on strike. And uh I also was in a relationship at the time that ended and I called him and I said, I have the show is off. My boyfriend just left me. You're not here.
What do I do? And he was like, get on a plane and come to California. I've never been to California before. You'd never been to California before? This was it?
This was it. It was November 2007. And I got on a plane. And he said, go buy a dress. Tonight we're going out to dinner with the creator of my show, Ryan.
We're going to the Chateau Marmont. I went to this little store. On Melrose, I bought a Purple silk dress with ruffles down the front, very Rachel Berry. And I went to the chateau. I looked like I stood out like, who is this girl?
Everyone was like super models and movie stars, and here I am in my purple ruffly dress. And I sat and I talked to Ryan about Barbara Streisand all night long, and theater, and Celine Dion. And then for weeks later, Jonathan was like, he's writing a show for us. And I was like, it's never going to happen. And then I went out to Los Angeles after finishing Spring Awakening to do Les Miz at the Hollywood Bowl.
I auditioned for Glee after getting into a crazy car crash on the street. Ran up the lot with glass in my hair. You're like picking glasses. Yes, because they didn't believe me. They were like, go home.
You were just in a car crash. I said, I'm not going home. I'm going to get this part today. Pull the glass out of my hair onto the table. I went in, I sang Not for the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie.
And I got the part. And then he told me that there was no one else, no one else was actually auditioning for Rachel Berry that it was my part from. Oh my gosh.
So you could have gone home after you. You could have gone. Oh my gosh.
Yes. But what does that say about you that you didn't? That I was very much like Rachel Berry more than I thought that I ever was. You were going to get that. I was.
I was going to get it. I called my parents on the lot after I got the part. because they told me in the room. And it was another moment that we just sort of knew as a family, this was another big moment and change for all of us. Um yeah, pretty, very unbelievable.
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Shop in store or Maurice's.com for new items arriving daily on holiday flash deals. Maurice's, that styled feeling. Was there a moment when you knew that glee was huge? I get asked, we have gotten asked that question a lot, the cast of glee, and I think that I'm pretty sure we would all have the similar, or if not the same answer, was within one week, or maybe it was a couple of days, we did Oprah. And then the White House, we sang.
for Obama at the Easter egg. Roll or something like that on Easter. And it was just this one week where we did like these major things all at once. And I remember rolling down the hill. at the White House.
and being like What are we doing here? Like, this is, we were like rolling down the hill, like playing on the grass at the White House after having just done Oprah, where my mother sat in the audience and we watched Oprah every single day growing up. And I was on Oprah. Like, that I think was a big one. Doing our tours also.
When we performed at the Staples Center, when we performed at the O2, I think those moments for us were always like. Oh wow, because when you do a television show, it's not like you're in front of an audience every night where you're getting a standing ovation, hopefully, or people are applauding. It's not like you do get reviewed, but it's not like this is your opening night and then your reviews come out. you get your numbers and you know whether you're continuing or cancelled, but It was in those moments where we would kind of step back and just be like, Oh my god. Like This is huge.
It is huge. Could you feel it walking down the street?
So I ended up moving to LA. I'd grown up in New York my entire life. I went all by myself. 22 by then, living in a place where I didn't know anyone. I mean, I knew how to drive, but clearly not well.
And I'd never been on a television show in my entire life. I didn't even know how to act in front of a camera or anything. And next thing you know, we were doing this TV show and in this. whole new place in this whole new world. It was a real Fish out of water situation for me, but I fell in love with the show and with the characters so, so, so much that I just, again, it was another experience for me where I was like, I know this is really important and this is special.
And we're not just doing a show. We're we're going to be changing. the game here and hopefully making an impact on Yeah. You know, in more than just making people laugh. What do you think the biggest impact was?
I think that Ryan did so much for arts education and for. bringing awareness to the arts. But also, we had conversations and we talked about stuff on the show that people were not talking about. Um I think that Blaine and Kurt were one of the first Two men to kiss on a television show, if not the first. We were breaking barriers and doing, you know, things like that.
And we were all very young, and it was incredibly hard. But I think what made it all, what made us all keep Going forward was just knowing that we had something to say and that we were really helping people. I was really like, okay, I want to do more, and I don't want to stop, and I want to keep working. And Broadway was always there and Funny Girl was talked about often throughout the years. It started in 2013, was when I think Ryan had the rights to it back then.
And Rachel Berry, I mean, one of them. Also doing it. And that's why during that time when they approached me to do it in 2014, It just wasn't I mean, obviously I was personally going through so much. And I had just done so much of it on the show, but Funny Girl was often talked about over the years. Honestly, it was really when I met my husband, and he's from the East Coast as well, and he moved to California to be with me.
That's when I was just started thinking about what our life would be like here. But I Yeah. My life was so settled in California, it just felt sort of hard to think about starting over again. And then it wasn't until we had our son. And he moved everything to come and live in California, and he moved his business there and everything.
And then we had our son. We were in the hospital. And I was holding our son, and I was like, I want to go home. I want to go home. I don't know what will be there for me.
I don't know what opportunities will be there. I don't know if. Broadway is even an option for me. You know, and he just was like, let's go. And we moved home two months later, we sold our house.
And we moved in with my parents. Not knowing what was going to happen next, basically. Yeah, I mean, it was still deep, deep COVID times, so everyone was just in sort of still their isolation. I think everyone was also sort of like, what is life and what will be. And it was a real time of just sort of being still and being back here, and then that's when.
this next round of funny girl happened. I wanted to finally show everyone that I could play this part. and play her really well. I wanted to come in and I wanted people to really know who I was. and am at this stage in my life.
Um And so there was a lot of things that were on you know, that that I felt were my job. going into the show. And it felt Like I ate. healthy level of responsibility. for me to take on.
And again, I'm always learning from my experiences and constantly growing, but I'm very proud of the work that I did at Funny Girl and coming in and getting to finally play this character. And then also like really getting to meet everyone, you know, at this stage in my life was also something that was very important to me. And you could see, I mean I was there, as I said, I was there when people stood up right after Don't Rain on my parade for you. What did that feel like after all this? You know, it felt so great.
But I think what felt even better was like I mean, honestly, what was just being able to come off stage and have a great time with everyone that I was working with. And to know that hopefully the space was a warm environment for everyone. And that's what made it all, which I think is something that I didn't really. feel growing up. You know, I...
I'm very driven. I've always sort of had, you know, kind of like blinders on growing up, where it's like, eye on the prize and do your job. But having the experience of it being so full Really made everything. Like, the audience would stand up, and we would all kind of look at each other and be like, this is great. The show is going to run and everyone's going to have a job and we're going to have fun doing it.
That was the best part. The community for you was pretty much. And being a part of the Broadway community again and just being welcomed and accepted back to this place that I have just loved so much. and getting to play this part that I've always wanted to play. You know, again, I've had a lot of wild things happen to me in my life and to.
Come back to New York after the intensity of many years prior, even from 2013. Um Just was such a gift. such a gift in many ways. And we should note that you did, you said you wanted to help the show. You did help the show.
You set box office records. Did you know, as Funny Girl came to an end, that you'd be back for chess? Were you guys talking about it then? During Funny Girl, we started talking a little bit about chess, but expanding our family was very important to me. We were trying to get pregnant again and it was not working out and I had many losses, one even during Funny Girl that was very challenging.
And so I spoke to Michael Mayer and Tom Hulse, who's our producer. We work together also on Spring Awakening and now on chess. And I said, look, this is so important to me and my family, but I don't know how, this isn't going to be easy for me.
So if you can have the patience, that would be wonderful. But I completely understand if you. need to move on. And so my husband and I ended up doing IVF. Which was in its own right very intense and challenging.
But we got pregnant and had our daughter, who is. wonderful and wild and um And then they, you know, said, Would you like to do the show? And I was like, Absolutely.
So What was it about chess in particular that drew you in, that made you say, I have to do this? Honestly, it was the music. I'd heard songs here and there throughout my life. I actually heard Heaven Help My Heart for the first time at the Imperial Theater when I was eight years old. Oh my gosh.
I know, and there's a photo of me at the stage door in Les Miz, and right behind me is a playbill of chess. You have to see this picture. It's quite a little girlie. And I took a picture in the same seat a couple of days ago, or a couple of weeks ago. I know, it's so.
Crazy. But they were like, have you ever heard the song Nobody Side? And I was like, no, that's but that one I have not heard from chess. And so they sent me the clip of Adina Menzel doing it in London for the concert that they did there. And it was after a performance, A Funny Girl.
Yeah, right. midnight, I was alone in my living room and I watched this and I was like, I have to sing that song. I have to sing it. I have to sing it. And so that's when I knew I needed to do the show.
So What is it like to be Back on that stage. Singing these songs and people standing. I mean, 30 years in. I'm so grateful. I really am.
I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful to be back in New York. I'm so grateful that my family is here, that my family and my husband's family are so close by, that we get to raise our children here. My son has seen six Broadway shows. He saw his Uncle Jonathan in Just in Time.
I took him to see Wicked. Like, that was so cool for me to sit there and watch him, you know. see these shows that I grew up watching and loving so much, and to be doing what I love and be back in this community. I'm just so unbelievably grateful. And this is all, this is where I want to be.
And I just want to continue to work on the stage and be a part of this community. It's just. I feel the exact same way I felt when I was eight years old, and I can't express my gratitude enough. just to be here and to get to do what I love every day. We're lucky we get to see and hear it.
Okay, so opening night. Yeah. Is there a meal going back to the food thing? What are you going to eat?
Well, I'm going to have pizza on opening night because I can't have any dairy or red sauce right now, and I'm waiting for opening night. just to have like the most delicious Hot, piping hot New York slice of pizza. My singing teacher and my ENT are probably like, absolutely not, no red sauce for you. but I'm that's it I have to have it I'm so excited. I will have a pizza in my dressing room waiting for me after we open an opening night.
At Funny Girl on my last night I wanted huge like Shake Shack burgers. But but for this I need a pizza. You need a pizza. Yeah. For sure.
Cool. Does it feel when you walk into the Imperial, does it feel like you're going home? 100%. I I Look, it's I. Sad to leave my kids every single day.
My daughter was screaming leaving the house today. You know, my son gets it, he's five, and he's, we did, you know, he was very, he saw Funny Girl. He sat through the entire show at three years old. But my daughter's one, and it's really hard leaving her every day, and him as well. But I love this show so much, and I feel so at home in this theater that it makes it, you know, a little easier having to say goodbye every day.
What do you think that eight-year-old girl would think? Of what you're doing now. Back in that same theater. I think that she'd be so proud, and she would just say, Thank you. Like, thank you so much for listening to what I said.
and just for helping me to continue to do this. because that's all she wanted, and it's still what I want. My love for what I do was definitely reignited during Funny Girl, and I'm very grateful for that. But I'm so happy to be here and to be home. I'm Jane Pauley.
Thank you for listening. And for more of our extended interviews, follow and listen to Sunday Morning on the free Odyssey app. or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the story of the one. As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast.
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