WEBVTT - Why Bebe Neuwirth doesn’t read reviews 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.120 What do you do when life doesn't go according to 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.719 plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one, 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:14.080 or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.720 is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:19.400 by people. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:20.400 Who lived them. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:22.640 Each week, I sit down with a guest to talk 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.400 about the times they were knocked off course and what 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:30.400 they did to move forward. Some stories are funny, others 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:36.680 are gut wrenching, but all are unapologetically human and remind 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:40.680 us that every success and every setback is accompanied by 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.760 a choice, and that choice answers one. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:50.520 Question, now what. I remember we were doing the twenty 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:51.360 four Hour Plays. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.280 We were doing that commercial after nine to eleven, and 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.120 when anybody, when the director or someone will say does 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.920 anybody have any questions, You'd always raise your hands and 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.240 it would be something. And then I'd be like, oh, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:07.400 do I have to make fun of her for this? 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.560 Because like maybe I can how you want to make 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.679 fun of her for this one? But you stood out 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.959 and you said excuse me, You're like, uh, do you 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:16.559 think we could? 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.240 Could we stagger? And that was that was your way 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:21.039 of saying that. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.200 Elaine Stretch's hand when she was doing New York, was 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.920 covering your face and you didn't want to say, you're 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:32.280 covering my face? Yeah, it was Terry mints any and 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.120 you go could we stagger? And then I went, Jerry, 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:43.120 could Beebe's face not be covered by Elaine's hands? My 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.520 guest today is an icon of the stage m screen. 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.360 BB Newarth is a Tony An Emmy Award winning actor 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.960 and dancer. She's well known on Broadway for her star 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:59.280 making performances in Sweet Charity and Chicago and One over 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.440 a new legion of fans in shows like Frasier, Madam, 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.960 Secretary Julia, just to name a few. Bib is an 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.800 actor's actor. She's had an enviable career, one built on 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.280 equal parts talent and hard work. 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:14.400 I have been a. 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.240 Fan of hers for years and was so honored that 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.560 she agreed to share lessons from her incredible journey with me. So, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:31.720 without further ado, here is BB Newarth. BB Newarth, thank 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.080 you so much. I'm so happy that you said yes 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.120 to come and join the show and talk to me. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:38.400 Where are you right now? 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.400 Happy to be talking to you, Brooke. Every time we 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.880 bump into each other, we have to sit down for 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.440 an hour and talk and catch up. So I'm so 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.960 grateful that you invited me to come on your show. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.200 I'm down in Greenwich Village where I live in New 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:51.680 York City. 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.120 By the way, I don't need to have a podcast 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:54.920 to sit down for an hour and talk with you. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.720 I will. I will do that anytime you want. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:00.560 You know, it's funny because I was to do just 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:02.200 a little extra research. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:03.960 And I didn't know you were born in Newark. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:04.680 I was. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.240 I love that my mother was born in Newark. 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.359 Well, I hate to break it to you, but I 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.560 was in my being in Newark. Was that's where the 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.080 hospital was. But when I was you know, so I 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.200 was born in the hospital in Newark, and then I 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.280 was taken home to Princeton, New Jersey, where I I 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.200 want to get to say, yeah, I'm a Jersey girl. 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:29.079 That's okay. 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.320 You can get both because you were born there so 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:32.920 you still have that in your blood. And then you 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.400 were raised in Princeton, which I spent four years or 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.560 the best years of my life there. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.240 I remember when you were at the school there there 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.480 were people walking around the campus with buttons that said, yes, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:45.560 I've seen Brooke. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.200 I you know, luckily that wore off pretty quickly. 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.440 Like freshman the first part of freshman month was a 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:54.880 little bit was a little bit tough. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.000 That must have been awful. It must have been hard 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.400 enough to go to college and then have people staring 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:00.880 at you well. 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.920 And then the people that you wanted to be friends 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.400 with were trying to give you space. So I had 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.880 no friends, a lot of space that I didn't want, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.600 and so everybody was trying to be so cool, and 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.600 you know, as an adjustment, I started feeling guilty for 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.880 putting that on anybody. It's hard enough being a freshman. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:22.080 But what kind of a young person were you? Personality wise? 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:26.160 How would you describe who you were? Who was I was? 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.400 Babybould say that I was a bad girl who behaved herself. 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.160 Oh, oh, I'm living I'm living vicariously through you right now. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.599 Well, I did get arrested for smoking marijuana when I 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:38.240 was thirteen. 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:42.440 Now it's like, really walk outside your front door. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.240 But you know, when you're thirteen and it's nineteen seventy two, 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.719 it's it was different. 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:54.960 I love that you have a record, Newarth has a record. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.640 That's what I want. I want as a poster. 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.000 But that's why I say I was a bad girl 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.320 who behaved myself. Was like, yes, I was smoking dope 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.640 when I was in my very early teens, but it's like, 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.320 is that really I wasn't dealing heroin? 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.480 No, No, I'm glad you I know. I'm glad. You 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:17.520 know where to drop the line. 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.039 Smoking a pipe with some you know, it's like not 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:23.000 that big a deal. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.120 But and they held you, They held you there. 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:26.880 You had to Did you have to call your parents 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:28.560 or someone to come and get you. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.520 Yeah, to it. We were at a dance. Remember, oh, 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.360 you'd know this place. It's it's on the it's on 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.800 the campus. There was a dance. There's this There was 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:44.400 a great high school band, some great musicians at Princeton High. 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.640 They had a band called Fordham Road and they were 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.360 playing and my friend Kathy and I went to this 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.559 dance and then I slipped out to smoke some dope 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.719 with some friends of mine and we were sitting on 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.960 the grass and passing this pipe to other people and 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.719 these flashlights came around and they were cops. And this 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.719 is how stupid I am, Brookshields. I was across the 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:08.440 street from the cops station. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.159 And you're a towny sex drugs old Brook. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.039 It was sex, drugs, rock and roll. 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.080 Oh god, yes, no, but what but like being a 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.400 student being a towny, I say, I always was worried 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.159 that like they hated us, that they liked hated the 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:25.159 college kids. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.480 I had no consciousness of that. I wasn't. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:28.159 Oh that's good. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.880 As you can see from talking to me, I really 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.320 didn't know what was going on. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:35.840 You were stone. What did you care? 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.480 I was smoking pot, I was my class. That's all 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.000 I cared about, boy pot and ballet? 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.440 Did you always know that you wanted to dance? Like? 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:46.640 Oh you did? 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.000 Actually? Actually, when I was funny you mentioned Newark Because 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.520 when I was born, the doctor pulled me from my 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.039 mother and said, oh, she's a dancer. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.479 Really, yes, Oh, come on, that's amazing. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.200 I asked for ballet classes when I was four. My 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.760 mother had me wait until I was five because of 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.400 five year old's attention span is a little bit longer 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.720 than a four year old's. And so I started dancing 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.320 when I was five at Princeton Ballet and I danced 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.880 in this, you know, non professional ballet company all through 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.080 high school, and then I went to Juilliard in the 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.760 dance department, and then I quit Juilliard in the dance 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.720 department after one year, and then I just started working. 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.160 But you know, when I say to you, I'm a 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.080 dancer first, it's sort of I sort of feel like 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.760 that's the animal that I am. You know that some 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.240 people are jocks, that is that's what they are, that 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.280 is their true nature. So I feel like when I say, well, 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:47.720 I'm a dancer first, it's because I that's the animal 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.880 that I am. And so you know, i might be 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.760 doing a television show where I'm talking and listening, but 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.080 I always feel like just because I'm not dancing doesn't 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.200 mean I'm not dancing. I think that's why it's always 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.280 a little bit awkward when I don't get to dance 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.440 in something. I feel a little bit Okay, I'm doing 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.560 it inside, but it might not be showing outside. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:08.280 Yeah. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.560 But also there's a there's a lyricism to it, you know, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.840 to all of it, to the rhythm of your voice, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.520 to the sort of flow that happens when you're. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:19.200 In a part. 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.040 You know, I mean, there's it's not as if I mean, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.480 I don't know, but whenever I've watched you on stage 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.320 or off, there's no sort of just a beginning, middle, 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.720 and an end. When you first see you, you think 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.080 that there's something that you might have missed from before. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.559 But then when you last see you, for that moment, 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.199 you're still thinking of the continuation of the. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:40.840 Piece of music or the whatever. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.280 And I know that sounds all kind of lofty, but 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:49.040 there's something very beautiful and about the physicality, and it's 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.400 just in your body, you know, And you can tell that. 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.680 Brook. That's one of the nicest things anybody's ever said 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.360 to me. I Am, that is so beautiful. I'm so 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.920 grateful that you said that. That is a beautiful observation 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.000 and that's really moving. 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.280 Thank you, well, thank you. Listen. 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.520 I've had the the fear and the distinct honor of 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:17.319 actually having to step into your shoes on Broadway, and 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.240 that was daunting for me to do when you were 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.440 leaving Adam's family, and then to sort of be this 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:23.920 first replacement. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:25.600 There's so much pressure in it. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.720 And I was very acutely aware of that, and it 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.000 was it was not only an honor, but it was 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.000 also I thought, God, I want to live up to 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.640 It's different because you don't want to compare, but you 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.400 also want to make sure that you honor the person 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.160 who performed prior. 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:42.600 It's a really. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.440 Interesting position to be in, and I have been in 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:50.679 it myself. I replaced, I've replaced. I played the role 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.880 of Spider Woman in Kiss of the Spider Woman after 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.120 Cheea Rivera did. No one can replace Cheeta Rivera, you know, 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.320 she was playing in Spider Woman, and then the next 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.280 person to play that part was me. So I can't 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.959 say that I replaced her, but I'd say I played 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.959 the part next. And so I understand the conundrum of 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.880 stepping into a role that is created by somebody else, 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.079 doesn't matter who it is. Really, It's a very good 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:22.079 lesson in humility, but also in being true to yourself 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.880 and recognizing what you have. You know, my Morticia is 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.000 not your mortician. Your Morticio is not mine. But the 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.840 role has been created and it happened to be created 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.640 by me. So now you have to come in and go, Okay, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.960 what did she create? And how can I be true 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.880 to myself in doing that? Because the minute you stop 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.720 being true to yourself in any part, in any walk 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:47.440 of life, you're sunk. 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.240 Why did you leave Julliard after a year. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:03.480 I wanted to work. I was just you know, when 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:08.440 I graduated, you know, as I was looking to see 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.959 if I Princeton I would let me graduate in school, 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:14.800 I was like, am I going to get out of here? 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.800 I don't know. I you know, I said I didn't 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.320 want to go to college. I just wanted to go 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.360 to New York and dance. And my parents said, you 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:23.719 have to go to college. I said, I don't want 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.040 to go to college. I said, you have to go 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.040 to college. I said, okay. So in nineteen seventy six, 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.880 when I graduated high school, there were two schools pretty 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.520 much for that, and that was Sunni at Purchase and 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.520 there was Juilliard, and so I auditioned for both and 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.120 I got into both. And I chose Juilliard because it 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:47.640 was in New York City. And then I just wanted 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.440 to start working. I wanted to start auditioning, you know, 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.640 I was eighteen. I was let me get going. And 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.800 so my parents, who are really creative, brilliant people, said, okay, 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.720 create your own college within the city. Find yourself some 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.000 acting classes and voice classes and dance classes and all that, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:10.960 and we will support you in that, and that will 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.280 be the college that you create in the city. So 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.439 I did that for about It was almost a year 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:18.640 when I got my first job. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.200 That's a big decision, though, to make as of a 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:23.040 young person. 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.880 Oh, I never even a whisper of a shadow of 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.280 a doubt in my mind. It was just let me 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:31.000 get started. 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:32.800 How did you get your first job? 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.800 I went to open calls and I went to you know, 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.440 you get the backstage or on Thursdays show business and 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.600 backstage came out and you get them and you go 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.920 through and look at all where the auditions were and 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.120 what has open calls? And I went to the the 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.000 first open call I think I went to for chorus line. 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.120 I was still eighteen, and I got cut right away. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.560 I was really, really, really too young. And then I went, 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:00.520 I don't know, six months later and I got a 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.679 little further in the audition, and then I remember it 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.480 was another few months later. It said only people who 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.839 have not previously auditioned apply, and I went, well, screw that, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:12.319 I'm glad. 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.559 I'm just going to pretend I didn't yeah going. 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.200 And so I went, And that's that's the one. I 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.080 got called back and called back and called back and 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.640 called back, and that's when they finally hired me. And 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.679 I was nineteen nineteen. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.480 Oh my god, and then you win a Tony by 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:28.240 the time you're. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.240 Twenty seven, twenty seven. The first one was twenty seven. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.880 Yeah, the first one. Doesn't that feel good? The first one? 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:36.960 The first of. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.760 Wait, if you were smoking again, I would just do 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:46.400 a little inhale, then go for the first one, the 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.000 first one, and then you'd ask. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.680 I was just trying to be accurate. I'm sorry, Oh. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.079 I love it. No, please, that's my bad. But my god, 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.000 So what did that feel like? 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.160 Out of body? Just completely so real and out of body? 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.400 And that was the first time I think I ever 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.360 had to be on stage as myself. I have never 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.800 ever had a moment of stage fright in my life. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:13.600 But when they called my name and I had to 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.800 go on stage and it was me out there, Oh man, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.440 I froze. I didn't know what I it was. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.720 But that's a real thing, and I think just it's 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.000 kind of very metaphor people, but I do really think 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.280 that that's a that's a very important piece of it. 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.720 So that's stage. And then you book a job on 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.760 Cheers as Lilith. How do you get from because that's 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:36.480 la right? 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.240 Yeah, you know what happened. I when we did the 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.360 revival of Sweet Charity. We rehearsed and opened that in 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.760 La at the Drothy Chandler, and then we did it 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.200 in San Francisco, and then we had four months off 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:54.040 before we rehearsed for Broadway. And during those four months, 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.480 that was so that Debbie Allen, our star, would finish 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.760 her series of Fame. And so during those four months, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.800 I hung out in LA and I got a couple 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.520 of auditions for some walk on parts and some television shows, 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.720 because that's sort of what you do, I guess, and 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.400 I got a couple of walk on lines and one 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:21.080 of them was, you know, this little scene on Cheers. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.800 So that's all it was. It was just one of those, 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.560 you know jobs. And then so I did that, and 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.520 then I went home to New York and I started 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.520 up Sweet Charity on Broadway. And then Cheers called and 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.520 they say, can you come back and do that part again? 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.240 And I went, oh, and I had, like. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:44.800 I can only do it on a Monday, right, They. 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.640 Had, like I like to say, it's like snow days. 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.120 Like I could in my contract for Sweet Charity, I 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.240 could walk a week to do a TV show, but 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.320 I had to add that week to the end of 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:56.720 my contract. 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.440 So you're doing Sweet Charity for like nine more years. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.320 Because you keep but no. So I took off a 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.360 week and I went out to LA and I did 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.840 another Cheers episode, and then I came back and I 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.600 did that like maybe twice. And I remember sitting backstage 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.440 with Michael Rupert, who was playing Oscar. He said, what 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:18.960 are you going to do when they asked you to 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.680 be on Cheers full time? I said, that's not going 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.440 to happen. They're not going to ask me to do that. 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:25.320 So what happened when they did? 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:30.160 So? They did, and I got the advice of the 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:36.560 four people that I trusted most, that is Mommy, daddyk Yes, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.560 Bob Fosse, and Gwen Verdon. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:45.440 Come on, it's funny. Those are my people too, Babe, 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.560 her parents, Bob. 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.840 So I was in a position, you know that where 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.600 I was working, you know, I actually could ask ask 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.200 them all and they all gave me brilliant advice and 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.000 made me feel very good about a decision to take 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.240 the job, because I really I had never seen myself 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.720 doing television. I had never saw that for myself. I 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.120 never thought I'm going to do this, and I'm gonna 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.280 do television. I just thought, I'm just going to dance 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:15.240 on Broadway forever. 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.159 And the accolades that you got and the you know 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.000 awards that you got doing that, that was that. You know, 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.600 it was such an important period of time to did 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:25.400 you so were you? 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:26.520 Were you married then? 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:27.600 Very badly? 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:29.000 Oh? 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.200 Oh well we all have to have a starter marriage. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:33.639 Oh I have one of those. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:34.679 Did it happen? 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.600 But you were married early early, right twenty five? 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.280 It was a it was that was no good? That 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.520 was it was interesting. I was doing the best show 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.800 on television. I mean, it was getting awards for you know, 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:50.119 best comedy series, winning this, Emmy awards for this, and 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.040 I'm getting all this stuff and I'm doing really well 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.840 well in that an absolutely miserable marriage. It was the 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.080 kind of thing where I had to go, that's it, 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.040 it's over, and get out of there. 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.119 But that, I mean, that takes a lot of guts 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.439 and thank God that you are able to make that 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:11.240 decision for yourself. I mean, you know, it's terrifying, but 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.119 you knew you had to. Did that experience sort of 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.600 shape you in sort of how you went forward into 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.480 your career and your life after that? Knowing that you 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.000 made that decision for yourself. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.000 I don't think it had anything to do with career, 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:33.400 because career and creativity has always been completely separate from 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.479 romantic life. So I don't think anything that happened, you know, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.919 a miserable marriage and a horrible divorce didn't change the 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.479 way I approached the performing arts or my life in 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:51.399 it right, But I would say that I was very 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:56.320 nervous about getting involved. I'm not getting married again. Then 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.320 it was like, okay, I'm not going to live with 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.600 anyone again. It was like, okay, you can live across 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:02.359 the street from me. 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.840 But were there were there were there things that you 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:10.720 felt like you had to sacrifice in your personal life 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.280 to keep that career going at the trajectory it was on. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.680 I don't know. Maybe I did, but I wasn't conscious 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.960 of it. I don't know. I've never been, like I 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.240 kind of said earlier, I've never been a person who 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.080 plans things out. I've never been a schemer. I've never 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.080 been I like to say I'm not ambitious, because I 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.320 think of ambition as somebody sitting down with a notebook 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.359 and going, Okay, here's what I'm going to do, right, 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:38.520 and then in five years, I'm going to do this 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:40.560 and if I meet this person, if I do this. 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.280 I've never been like that. It's been it's always been like, 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.119 I really want to get a job. This is what 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.160 I want to do. I want to dance on Broadway 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:52.399 and anything that I saw that crossed my path that 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.439 was an audition, you know, I would go to in 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:58.560 order to do that. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.879 There's something about dance that I think is I know 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:11.840 what you mean about the word ambition, but I always 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.080 think of it in terms of a striving. 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:14.840 You know. 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.800 It's that you strive to keep getting better at your craft, 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.879 and you dance even when it hurts, and you keep 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:24.840 going when you don't think you can go anymore. And 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:27.160 to me, that's a form of ambition. But it's really 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.960 just a perseverance and a striving and that can that 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.840 can take a toll on a person physically. I mean, 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.879 did you find that your commitment to sort of to 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.720 dancing took a toll on your body physically? 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.119