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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the

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Speaker 1: Thing from iHeart Radio. If I were to share with

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Speaker 1: you the greatest show business comeback story in history, you

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Speaker 1: might not believe it, but it's all true. My guest

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Speaker 1: today was the very first black woman to be crowned

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Speaker 1: Miss America, only to resign following the release of unauthorized

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Speaker 1: nude photos. In the years after the scandal, she reinvented herself,

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Speaker 1: building an impressive and decorated career. She released chart topping music,

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Speaker 1: performed on Broadway, and starred in television and film. It

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Speaker 1: could only be Vanessa Williams. Her work has earned her

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Speaker 1: three Emmy nominations, eleven Grammy nominations, and a Tony nomination.

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Speaker 1: She's the recipient of a Billboard Music Award and multiple

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Speaker 1: NAACP Image Awards. I wanted to know how her upbringing

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Speaker 1: in New York affected her trajectory and her goals.

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Speaker 2: I was born in Tarrytown. I grew up in one

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Speaker 2: year in the Bronx and then up here in Westchester

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Speaker 2: in Millwood, which is about five miles from where I

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Speaker 2: live right now.

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Speaker 1: And your parents were both taught art. They were art teachers,

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Speaker 1: music teachers music.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad was band teacher in Elmsford and my

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Speaker 2: mom was the choral teacher in Austining at Claremont School.

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Speaker 2: So my dad was forty two years my mom was

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Speaker 2: thirty eight years.

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Speaker 1: There, how many siblings.

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Speaker 2: You have one younger brother who is an actor as well.

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Speaker 2: He's out in LA he's four years younger.

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Speaker 1: Just one you and the brothers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.

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Speaker 1: And both of you went into the arts.

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Speaker 2: Yes, my brother he's done like Dodgeball, he's done Larry

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Speaker 2: David's HERBYR Enthusiasm.

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Speaker 1: Historical dramas. He's done historical dramas. Yeah, yes, Dodgeball, that's history.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, at it for a while. He's been

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Speaker 2: at it for a while. Yes.

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Speaker 1: Now, why the East Coast for you?

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Speaker 2: I did live in the West Coast from eighty five to.

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Speaker 1: Ninety two because you were working.

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Speaker 2: I was working. I kind of left after having a

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Speaker 2: struggling here in New York, you know, after being Miss

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Speaker 2: America and then the scandal and then trying to you know,

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Speaker 2: make my way on Broadway. And I tell a story

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Speaker 2: in my book which is called You Have No Idea,

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Speaker 2: which basically is a chronicle of my recollection and my

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Speaker 2: mom's kind of side by side. In the book, I

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Speaker 2: talk about one particular instance where Mike Nichols was directing

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Speaker 2: Tommy Toon and Twiggy in My One and Only on Broadway,

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Speaker 2: and Mike Nichols reached out to me. He said he

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Speaker 2: wanted me to replace Twiggy because he knew that I

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Speaker 2: was a musical theater gal and met him, had a

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Speaker 2: wonderful meeting. Did the audition, Tommy taught me all the

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Speaker 2: tap did the audition went well, perfectly, left the theater,

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Speaker 2: and Mike turned around to Lee Gershwin, who was the

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Speaker 2: head of the estate in Irish Widow, and said, wasn't

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Speaker 2: she terrific? Thumbs up, and then he walked back downstage

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Speaker 2: and the phone was ringing by the time he got

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Speaker 2: to the bottom of the stage, and it was Lee

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Speaker 2: Gershwin who said to Mike Nichols, over my dead body,

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Speaker 2: will that horror be in my show? And that was

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Speaker 2: nineteen eighty five.

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Speaker 1: The year after the incident.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, eighty four eighty five. They wanted me to go

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Speaker 2: in right after. So I didn't know exactly what she

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Speaker 2: had said. I knew that I didn't get it, but

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Speaker 2: I knew that I crushed the audition, and Paul Martino

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Speaker 2: was my agent at the time at ICM, so it

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Speaker 2: was kind of a soft not this time. But I

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Speaker 2: could feel like, Okay, this has nothing to do with talent.

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Speaker 2: This is way bigger and it's going to be much

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Speaker 2: harder than I anticipated.

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Speaker 1: Well, now that you've pivoted in direction, we were going

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Speaker 1: to get there. But no, no, no, no, no talking

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Speaker 1: about your Bucolic Westchester upbringing, and instead we're having Gershwin's

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Speaker 1: relatives calling you a whore.

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Speaker 2: Exactly stop there, now, hold on.

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Speaker 1: Let me catch up. But now that you bring it up,

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Speaker 1: on want to say you are someone who I'm a

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Speaker 1: great admirer of yours, and I want to back it

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Speaker 1: up a little bit, which is when you become Miss America.

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Speaker 1: So it's a national competition. I remember, these are a

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Speaker 1: Miss Universe contestants, where I always felt that the people

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Speaker 1: in these some of these foreign countries, because their countries

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Speaker 1: are so maybe economically know less advantage than America. You'd

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Speaker 1: see some of these women winning these awards in these

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Speaker 1: international competitions and you think they're going to choke to

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Speaker 1: death how much they're crying. They're like Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: they can't believe they've won. It's this big deal to them.

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Speaker 1: What was the roots of you becoming Miss America? Was

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Speaker 1: it a goal for you? What did you think it represented?

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Speaker 1: How did that happen?

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Speaker 2: Well, you talk about Bucolic roots, and the Miss America

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Speaker 2: pageant itself was a bathing suit pageant on the board

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Speaker 2: walk in Atlantic City back in the day, so and

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Speaker 2: it was still run by volunteers in Atlantic City yearly.

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Speaker 2: So it wasn't this huge, huge corporation and corporate thing.

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Speaker 2: And I only learned that once I ended up winning.

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Speaker 2: The roots of it was. I was a Syracuse musical

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Speaker 2: theater major. Aaron Sorkin was one of my classmates, by

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Speaker 2: the way, and my freshman year's your core year. You

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Speaker 2: can't do anything. So sophomore year I started performing. So

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Speaker 2: I was in the Golden Apple, I did Frank Lesser's

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Speaker 2: was Swinging on a Star. I was down at Syracuse

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Speaker 2: Stage was a repertory theater and they were doing a

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Speaker 2: production of a Syirran de Bergerac which I auditioned for

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Speaker 2: and I got the part of the Orange Girl, which

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Speaker 2: was a tiny little part, but it would have gotten

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Speaker 2: me equity points. So I was supposed to do that

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Speaker 2: after doing all these productions my sophomore year, and the

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Speaker 2: local Miss Syracuse pageant kind of scouts their talent at

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Speaker 2: the university. So a couple of board members had seen

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Speaker 2: me in shows and one of my friends a board member,

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Speaker 2: would you be interested in being in the Syracuse pageant?

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Speaker 2: I said, no, absolutely not. I don't do it. Syrah

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Speaker 2: No got canceled. I had April free. I called my

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Speaker 2: mom and said, listen, do you think I should do

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Speaker 2: this Syracuse pageant? Thing? Is their money? I said yes,

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Speaker 2: because I'd gotten scholarships the previous two years, and she said,

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Speaker 2: would go for it. So my parents didn't even come

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Speaker 2: to the pageant. I bought a bathing suit down at

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Speaker 2: Sibley's department store in downtown Syracuse.

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Speaker 1: My cousin worked at Sibley's.

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Speaker 3: You're kidding.

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Speaker 2: My mom is from Syracuse, Okay, so that's where I

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Speaker 2: got my stuff, and I sang a song from my

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Speaker 2: performance class. My friend Tim Thayer played piano for me.

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Speaker 2: I did being Good Isn't Good Enough from Hallelujah Baby

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Speaker 2: that I'd performed in class, and I ended up winning

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Speaker 2: swimsuit Talent and I won Miss Greater Syracuse. So that

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Speaker 2: was April of my sophomore year. Then I was on

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Speaker 2: the way to States in July three months later, and

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Speaker 2: you know, I'm twenty years old and I sing the

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Speaker 2: same song where the same close and win that same

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Speaker 2: Tim's playing for me, the same deal and I win that.

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Speaker 2: So within three months, I'm already headed to Atlantic City

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Speaker 2: and the local pageant gal wants to change my song

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Speaker 2: to something more familiar, so I sang happy Days Are

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Speaker 2: Here again, the Barbie streis End version, got an upgrade

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Speaker 2: on my gown and swimsuit, and I ended up winning

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Speaker 2: all within six months. So I literally had no intention

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Speaker 2: of ever being Miss America, being in the pageant, and

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Speaker 2: here I was getting ready for my junior year abroad

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Speaker 2: in London, already put my down deposit, my girlfriend was,

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Speaker 2: my roommate was already waiting for me, and I ended

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Speaker 2: up winning. So my first question when I won was

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Speaker 2: now what do I do? And ah now and go

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Speaker 2: to London.

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Speaker 1: So if you're a super bright and talented woman and

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Speaker 1: you end up in that universe, not that there's anything

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Speaker 1: wrong with it, but you would like you said, what

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Speaker 1: do I do now? How soon after you were crowned.

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Speaker 1: Did the scandal.

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Speaker 2: Come, Well, it didn't come until I had been missing

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Speaker 2: America for ten months. I had literally two weeks vacation

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Speaker 2: and a month left. So but I think the biggest,

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Speaker 2: biggest jolt for me being a New Yorker at twenty

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Speaker 2: years old, living in Westchester, growing up in Westchester, you know,

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Speaker 2: being surrounded by different cultures and my parents living through

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Speaker 2: the civil rights movement, making a better life. For me,

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Speaker 2: that was the first time I really experienced racism on

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Speaker 2: a national level. And I guess, you know, being.

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Speaker 1: In this, I want it because of the scandal or.

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Speaker 2: Both because I won. Because I won, This is no

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Speaker 2: scandal at all. This is just me being black at

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Speaker 2: twenty years old. September of nineteen eighty three, death threats.

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Speaker 2: When I had my welcome home parade here, they had

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Speaker 2: to have sharpshooters on the roofs of buildings because of

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Speaker 2: their threats like that. And again I was so, I

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Speaker 2: guess naive because I assumed that nineteen eighty three were

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Speaker 2: past all that stuff, and we lived in a world

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Speaker 2: at this moment assume. So that was a big slap

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Speaker 2: in the face and a big maturity kick in the pants.

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Speaker 1: For me, Where was any moment, I mean maybe I'm naive,

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Speaker 1: but where was any moment of someone coming up to

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Speaker 1: you and saying, here's the negatives, here's the pictures you

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Speaker 1: can have. Just give me tickets to every show you're

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Speaker 1: in for the rest of your life. You know what

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Speaker 1: I mean? That type of thing.

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Speaker 2: Never one gesture, not even one gesture. It was all

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Speaker 2: a betrayal. I mean I never pretended that I was perfect.

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Speaker 2: I certainly I was a first Miss America that was

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Speaker 2: pro era, pro choice. So I was ruffling feathers from

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Speaker 2: the get go.

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Speaker 1: You mean you weren't a virgin when you were Miss America?

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Speaker 2: Exact Good God, I listened. So I think the betrayal

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Speaker 2: is what hurt me the most because again, growing up

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Speaker 2: in this small little town and a quick brief history

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Speaker 2: of how these pictures ever became. I used to have

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Speaker 2: the Pennysaber magazine, which we would look for summer jobs

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Speaker 2: in the summer. And one summer there was a modeling

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Speaker 2: registry in town, and not an agency that should have

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Speaker 2: been the first clue, but a registry. And I said, well,

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Speaker 2: let me go in and see whether I can be

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Speaker 2: a model of the summer and he said, well, it's

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Speaker 2: going to cost this amount of money for the picture's portfolio,

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Speaker 2: but I need a makeup artist, So if you want

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Speaker 2: to be a receptionist and a makeup artist for the shoots.

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Speaker 2: So that's what my summer job was. And ended up

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Speaker 2: getting convinced later on leter in the summer, you know what,

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Speaker 2: I've got an idea. I'd love to shoot you. Nobody

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Speaker 2: will see them, They'll be in silhouette, blah blah blah blah,

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Speaker 2: all that horseshit. Then after I win, apparently he started

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Speaker 2: shopping and I never saw fin a release for any

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Speaker 2: of these photos. So he started shopping them around, apparently

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Speaker 2: tried to reach out to my mother, which she doesn't remember.

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Speaker 2: Then he started shopping them around and he went to

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Speaker 2: Hugh Hefner first, and Hugh said do you have a release?

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Speaker 2: And he said no, and he said, well, I'm not

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Speaker 2: going to do that to this woman.

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Speaker 1: How decent of you you.

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Speaker 2: And then he goes to Guccioni and Gucci was like,

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Speaker 2: hell yeah, bring him. So yeah, So that was so

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Speaker 2: the biggest shock was I went to Crown the Miss

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Speaker 2: New York in Watertown, New York Friday, the thirteenth of July,

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Speaker 2: and the New York Post called about Geraldine Ferrara and

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Speaker 2: wanted to know what I felt about her being the

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Speaker 2: first woman on the ticket great women power. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: And he said, oh, by the way, I heard from

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Speaker 2: a reliable source that you're going to be on the

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Speaker 2: cover of Pentause magazine in September. And I was truly shocked.

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Speaker 2: I said, I have no idea what you're talking about.

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Speaker 2: He said, well, it's a really reliable source. I said,

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Speaker 2: I don't know what you're talking about. He said, okay,

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Speaker 2: then I want printed up with the phone call my

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Speaker 2: parents and I was like, I don't know what's going on,

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Speaker 2: but I need some help. And one of our family

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Speaker 2: friends became my lawyer, and then it all all the

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Speaker 2: shit hit the fan, and then I was given like

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Speaker 2: a two week decision whether they were going to take

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Speaker 2: the crown away or whether I wanted to resign. And

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Speaker 2: I had a whole continuency of people that wanted me

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Speaker 2: to fight for the crown. So when I the day

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Speaker 2: of my press conference, there were people saying fight for it,

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Speaker 2: fight with with I mean, it was it was insane.

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Speaker 1: And why didn't you because I just.

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Speaker 2: Wanted to get you know, move on, move on.

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Speaker 1: I mean this really upsets me because we all had

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Speaker 1: our times in the dunk tank here. How long did

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Speaker 1: the downtime last before you start to crawl out of

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Speaker 1: this and the wreckage of this and start to work again.

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Speaker 1: And who's calling you, who's reaching out to who's the

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Speaker 1: first person to say, come make a movie with me

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Speaker 1: or do a show with me.

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Speaker 2: Well, it took me ten years to get on Broadway.

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Speaker 2: So if the scandal hit in eighty four, in nineteen

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Speaker 2: ninety fours when I got a chance to be in

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Speaker 2: Case of the Spider Woman on Broadway, so that was

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Speaker 2: a good ten year with just then that was Cheeta

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Speaker 2: Rivera and I stepped in after her one year run

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Speaker 2: and she went on the road and I took over.

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Speaker 2: So that was glorious for me to finally say, Okay,

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Speaker 2: this is what I meant to be and this is

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Speaker 2: where I am. And my parents were just elated to

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Speaker 2: see me, you know, have my dream come true. But

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Speaker 2: prior to that, which is interesting, I'd gotten a lot

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Speaker 2: of a lot of inquiries for like crap or they

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Speaker 2: wanted to meet me just to say they could meet me.

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Speaker 2: So there's a lot of auditions that I went. I

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Speaker 2: was like, they're really not going to cast me. They

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Speaker 2: just want to say, oh, guess who we got in

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Speaker 2: the room today. I think the first thing I did

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Speaker 2: was a Partners in Crime which was which was with

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Speaker 2: Lonnie Anderson and Linda Carter and we shot it in

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Speaker 2: San Francisco and I was Roselle Robbins, who is a singer,

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Speaker 2: and I got a chance to record a couple songs

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Speaker 2: and do a number and stuff. So you know, they

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Speaker 2: were there were opportunities to kind of, you know, jump

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Speaker 2: on all the publicity that happening.

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Speaker 1: In eighty four to ninety four? What did you do?

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Speaker 2: I did television. I did One Man Ban was an

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Speaker 2: off Broadway show Willa Shalatte. Jean Shallette's daughter was one

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Speaker 2: of the producers, and she and James Lucine was the

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Speaker 2: One Man Ban and they believed in me and said

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Speaker 2: we'll give you a shot. So that was off Broadway

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Speaker 2: and from there I went to la because it was

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Speaker 2: just I want to do theater and the doors were closed,

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Speaker 2: so you know, I was on TJ. Hooker. I did

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Speaker 2: the Love Boat, you know.

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Speaker 1: You name it all My bread and Butter here exactly.

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Speaker 1: Know what's funny. In the brief time we've talked, you

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Speaker 1: remind me of Pacino. When I interviewed Pacino, I interviewed

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Speaker 1: him for school. In order to go back to ny

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Speaker 1: You and graduate, I had to do a term paper

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Speaker 1: about the applicability of method acting training to an actor

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Speaker 1: who still had a real career in film, TV and theater.

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Speaker 1: So I interview al for like eight or nine hours

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Speaker 1: at his house up in Westchester, and every time I

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Speaker 1: would talked about movies, he changed the subject. All you

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Speaker 1: want to talk was theater. Oh you want to talk

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Speaker 1: about his theater? Interesting? So you shit, you pivot to

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Speaker 1: theater all the time. That's where your heart is.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's where my training was, and that was my goal,

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Speaker 2: you know, growing up. But believe me, my recording has

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Speaker 2: kind of backdoored me into theater. And again being a

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Speaker 2: recording artist, I mean, nobody wanted to sign me, and

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Speaker 2: then when I got signed, you know, they would say, well,

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Speaker 2: the competition is really over here. So my whole career

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Speaker 2: is like, oh, I didn't know she could do that.

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Speaker 2: I didn't know she could do that? Right, And my

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Speaker 2: biggest hit, say the Best for a Last which was

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Speaker 2: number one on the charts for five weeks straight. Was

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Speaker 2: a song that Bett Middler and Barbara Streis and both

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Speaker 2: turned down there people, and I got it, and I said,

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Speaker 2: I'll take it. I don't know what it's not sloppy seconds,

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Speaker 2: I don't know what what thirds are, but I'll take

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Speaker 2: it because I knew that there was something there that

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Speaker 2: I can you know, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Our careers are built them the guy that passed on

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Speaker 1: the I can tell you the names of people that

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Speaker 1: passed on Hunt for Red October. But it's interesting to me. How,

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Speaker 1: by the way, do you teach you ever teach?

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Speaker 2: I teach you NYU, but I teach in their and

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Speaker 2: their vocal performance, songwriting.

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Speaker 1: Yes, perfect, perfect perfect.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, when I would teach, I'd say to people, do anything,

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Speaker 1: do everything, don't be cute about it, don't be precious

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Speaker 1: about what you do. I was doing a soap opera

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Speaker 1: in New York and I would walk over to this,

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Speaker 1: you know, back in the Pleistocene era when we had

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Speaker 1: no Internet, and I would go over to the NYU

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Speaker 1: Film School to the casting board. It was a corkboard

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Speaker 1: with things pinned up there and would say, wanted actor

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Speaker 1: twenty to twenty five to play a bartender in this thing.

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Speaker 1: We're going to shoot Saturday and Sunday on the weekend.

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Speaker 1: This bar is closed and I was doing this soap opera.

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Speaker 1: I think it was kind of spotty in the beginning

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Speaker 1: of it. So I go on the weekends, I'm my

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Speaker 1: week to go do this movie and it's, you know,

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Speaker 1: this horrible independent film. But my point I say to

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Speaker 1: people is don't turn your nose upon anything when you're

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Speaker 1: first starting.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it makes you never know what skill set you'll

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Speaker 2: need to tap into on you know, when you get

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Speaker 2: a gig, you know, and meeting fascinating people and learning,

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Speaker 2: That's what I tell Never stop asking questions, never stop

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Speaker 2: learning and being curious, because that's exciting, but makes you

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Speaker 2: more exciting. It makes you life way more satisfying when

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Speaker 2: you know you haven't you know, you're at a dinner

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Speaker 2: party and you're talking to somebody that you never thought

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Speaker 2: you'd be able to talk to. And that's the great

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Speaker 2: thing about our profession. I've been lucky as Miss America.

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Speaker 2: I've met seven presidents in my lifetime already, and those

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Speaker 2: opportunities of going to the White House and dinner and

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Speaker 2: sitting in the receiving line when it was Reagan. Actually

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Speaker 2: that was the first big deal. When I was crowned,

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Speaker 2: Reagan called me and said it was a great thing

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Speaker 2: for our country. So that was like the first huge

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Speaker 2: moment of my reign as Miss America. But I remember

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Speaker 2: going to the White House dinner October eighteenth, nineteen eighty three,

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Speaker 2: and in the lineup was Ginger Rogers, Halston, Martha Graham

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Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my god, these are legends

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Speaker 2: and they were just you know. I sat next to

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Speaker 2: Sonny Jorgensen, the football player Jurgensen, Yes, yes, he was

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Speaker 2: at my table. My mother's like, get the president's autograph

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Speaker 2: on the menu, like a mom, and I did I have.

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Speaker 1: She's there. That's why your mom's there, to remind you

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Speaker 1: of those things you've forgotten.

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Speaker 3: Exactly, Vanessa Williams.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoy conversations with talented Broadway artists, check out

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Speaker 1: my episode with Audra McDonald's.

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Speaker 4: No one thought that I could find her voice. What's

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Speaker 4: a soprano trying to be Billie Holiday. The show opens

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Speaker 4: and the first thing I do is sing, and you

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Speaker 4: can tell that the audience is waiting to hear. Is

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Speaker 4: she going to get it? And I would open my

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Speaker 4: mouth and sing the first All I know is I'm

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Speaker 4: in love with you. Sometimes I'd hear the audience gasp,

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Speaker 4: and that's when I'd be like, okay.

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Speaker 3: Aher.

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Speaker 2: Is zamin low.

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Speaker 1: To hear more of my conversation with Aldra McDonald, go

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Speaker 1: to Here's the Thing dot Org. After the break, Vanessa

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Speaker 1: Williams shares how Stephen Sondheim's work taught her an important

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Speaker 1: lesson about the type of art she wants to make.

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Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Hear's the Thing.

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Speaker 1: With her musical theater training, singing comes second nature to

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Speaker 1: Vanessa Williams. She's released eight albums as a recording artist.

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Speaker 1: Her track Colors of the Wind plays over the closing

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Speaker 1: credits of the Oscar winning soundtrack to Pocahontas, and this

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Speaker 1: is Williams with the number one single Saved the Best

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Speaker 1: for Last from her album The Comfort Zone.

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Speaker 5: But that was sad Fish, just when a thought.

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Speaker 1: Sandcast you.

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Speaker 5: The best flat.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to know how she got her start in

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Speaker 1: the recording industry.

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Speaker 2: Well, it was at Eckstein, who is Billy Eckstein's son.

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Speaker 2: He got a new deal and a new label part

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Speaker 2: of the PolyGram company back in the day. So he

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Speaker 2: was the one that believed in me because a lot

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Speaker 2: of people sounded thought that I sounded too Broadway or

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Speaker 2: just thought that it would be like a one hit wonder.

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Speaker 2: But he legitimately knew that I could have a singing career,

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Speaker 2: and he was really instrumental in getting you know, back then,

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Speaker 2: we had an r artists and repertoire, so you know,

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Speaker 2: great and curating songs, working with hungry young producers that

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Speaker 2: were eager to have their songs written and performed. And

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Speaker 2: so I really have to him and my ex husband,

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Speaker 2: who ended up he was my publicist when I was

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Speaker 2: resigned as Miss America. He then started to manage me

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Speaker 2: because I asked him because he was the only person

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Speaker 2: that I really trust that knew my talent but also

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Speaker 2: knew about me as my character and obviously loved me.

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Speaker 2: So it was the two of them that said, you know,

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Speaker 2: let's do this, Let's make her a legitimate recording artist.

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Speaker 2: And I had a great run on PolyGram and then

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Speaker 2: I've been I'm actually about to release It's been fifteen

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Speaker 2: years since my last album, but I'm releasing new music

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Speaker 2: in April, so back in the studio, dancing again, making

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Speaker 2: videos and making me feel young again. And actually the

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Speaker 2: song is called Legs, which is about which was inspired

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Speaker 2: by Diane Carroll wrote her book called The Legs of

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Speaker 2: the Last to Go. And I remember watching our Oprah

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Speaker 2: and she was talking about everything kind of decays and

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Speaker 2: falls and SAgs. But damn it, those legs are strong.

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Speaker 2: They're still holding me up. And there's still I can

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Speaker 2: still show them off in a mini skirt, and there's

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Speaker 2: still the last thing that I'm holding.

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Speaker 1: Onto that she had great legs. Yep, who played my

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Speaker 1: mother on thirty Rock Jesus Christ, look at her now.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you this also, which is that you've

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Speaker 1: been married three times. But when you're someone who can

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Speaker 1: certainly take care of themselves and you're a tough woman,

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Speaker 1: you're smart, you're beautiful, you're talented, and you're tough, and

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Speaker 1: when you get married, why do you get married? Why?

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Speaker 2: Because I'm a romantic, I don't know. I do and

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Speaker 2: I think that I see the best and what I

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Speaker 2: can be and what we can be, and then I

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Speaker 2: get disappointed on the future that I thought it was

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Speaker 2: going to be and didn't turn out for it to

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Speaker 2: be as.

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Speaker 1: My friend says, he goes, and then we turn the

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Speaker 1: lights on everything as it really is. Yes, Yes, it's

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Speaker 1: always like like when we get married, why did we

435
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: get married?

436
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 6: Like?

437
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 1: Well, I think the marriage question is always for someone

438
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,320
Speaker 1: who's as self sufficient as you, and I would imagine

439
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 1: me like you know, do I have needs emotionally? I

440
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 1: always think about it in this business because marriage is

441
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: so tough in this business. What was it like for

442
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 1: you as a mom?

443
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,400
Speaker 2: Oh, I brought my kids everywhere, so I've got I've

444
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,080
Speaker 2: got four kids. So I had my first three with

445
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 2: my first husband and then my last one with my

446
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,880
Speaker 2: second husband. But I mean I got married so the scandal.

447
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 2: I was twenty as when I won Miss America twenty

448
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,879
Speaker 2: one when the scandal hit. Ended up getting married at

449
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 2: twenty three, and partly not only because we were a unit,

450
00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 2: my ex and I trying to build our life and

451
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 2: career together. But I that's what I could control. I

452
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 2: could control my family. I couldn't control my career. I

453
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 2: couldn't depend on people, something you can rely on exactly.

454
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,159
Speaker 1: So what kind of work did he do?

455
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 2: He was a public He used to he was worked

456
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 2: at Rogers and Cowan back in the day.

457
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 1: I remember I was with Rogerson Cowan.

458
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was the first black senior

459
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 2: vice president back in the day that he was thirteen

460
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,200
Speaker 2: years older than me. So my kids are very cringey

461
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 2: now they're like, oh, mom, how could you twenty one?

462
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:16,880
Speaker 2: He was in his thirties.

463
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 1: No, my son said the other day, he walks up

464
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: to me. I'm in bed, I'm just barely waking up.

465
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: My son wrote Maleo books, and he goes, Dad, are

466
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,880
Speaker 1: you going to die? And I go, no, No, I'm

467
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,080
Speaker 1: not going to die. I mean you have to lie

468
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,719
Speaker 1: to them. And I go no, I'm not going to die.

469
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:32,920
Speaker 1: He goes, but you're going to be like eighty five

470
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,160
Speaker 1: and then you're going to die. I go, no, I'm

471
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 1: not going to die. I don't even think about that.

472
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: Then is a pause. He goes, could you give mom

473
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: your Apple pass code? Can I give mom my Apple pass?

474
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,640
Speaker 1: How old does the arrange your kids? Now? They're how old?

475
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 2: So Melanie is thirty six, Jillian is thirty four, Devin

476
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 2: my son is thirty, and then Sasha is twenty three.

477
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: And we're three older ones. Are they in the biz?

478
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,159
Speaker 2: So my oldest works in Westchester in the city's lot

479
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 2: his instructor. My middle is a singer and she gave

480
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 2: me a beautiful grandchild who I who's two years old.

481
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,400
Speaker 2: And so she has her own career and her name

482
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 2: of her band is called Lion Babe. And my son

483
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 2: works out in LA he's in the fashion industry. And

484
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 2: then my youngest is writing music and she's got four

485
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 2: singles out on Apple and Spotify and all that stuff.

486
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 2: So two in the business and two not. But they're

487
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 2: all I'm really proud of them. And they're doing what

488
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,360
Speaker 2: they love and doing what they're good at and and

489
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 2: I love having them home. That's the best.

490
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 1: And are you finally after three trips to the plate here?

491
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,880
Speaker 1: Are you finally done with this romantic thing of yours?

492
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: You are? I think?

493
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 2: I think I am done.

494
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: Boyfriends are good. Boyfriends are good.

495
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,679
Speaker 2: Boyfriends are good, And I'm fine being by myself. I

496
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 2: travel so much. I have so many opportunities. I you know,

497
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 2: I would love is fun and exciting. Sex is great,

498
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 2: haven't had in years, but waiting for that to happen again.

499
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 2: But I you know, I don't have people throwing themselves

500
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 2: at me, propositioning me. It's not as it's not as

501
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 2: easy as you would think.

502
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, but let me just say this also, which is

503
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: that with someone with your theater background and your great

504
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: success in the theater, have you ever thought about doing

505
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:22,120
Speaker 1: a one woman show?

506
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 2: I have thought about it.

507
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,159
Speaker 1: Take credit for it. It's a great idea.

508
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 2: Are you going to come on as producer?

509
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: No kidding? You should. When Springsteen did that show and

510
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 1: you realize that the music is obviously there and what

511
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: people were waiting for what was he going to say

512
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,040
Speaker 1: about his life and himself? And people would have died.

513
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: I mean, they love that Springsteen show. But for you

514
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,920
Speaker 1: to be you and to combine those things, you singing

515
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: and you performing and then telling stories about all the

516
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 1: stuff you went through and where you want to know,

517
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: that would be a hit show.

518
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to. James Lepine asked me to do

519
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 2: Sonjam and Sonham in twenty ten, and that was the

520
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 2: format that it was mixed media. It was all interviews

521
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 2: of Sondheim and then you know, with us singing. And

522
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,520
Speaker 2: one of the strongest moments in that show was when

523
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 2: they cut to Sondheim and he's talking about a telegram

524
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,399
Speaker 2: was brought to his home and he opened it and

525
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 2: it was a letter from his mother saying, I'm about

526
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 2: to go into surgery for heart, my heart. I just

527
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,639
Speaker 2: want to say, the only regret in my life was

528
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 2: giving birth to you. And you could hear and then

529
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 2: and then he said, and then I knew that it

530
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 2: wasn't about me. She couldn't give me love. It had

531
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 2: nothing to do with me. It had to do with her.

532
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 2: And then the stage starts to rotate, and we started saying,

533
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 2: careful the things you're saying, children will listen. And then

534
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 2: you hear the sobs of people just sniffling because you

535
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 2: realize those words turned into his art. He gave us

536
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 2: everything because of that, that relationship that he could never

537
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 2: crack that nut. So those are the I mean I want.

538
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 2: If I'm going to do a one woman show, I

539
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 2: want that moment. I want to be able to have

540
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 2: the audience in my hands so they can see my pain,

541
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 2: you know, turned into art. They can see my triumph

542
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 2: turned into art. So it's delicate, and it really is,

543
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 2: you know, a specific task.

544
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 1: Vanessa Williams. If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a friend

545
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: and be sure to follow. Here's the thing on the

546
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:34,640
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio apps Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. When

547
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 1: we come back, Vanessa Williams shares with us the joy

548
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: of working with Sir Elton John. I'm Alec Baldwin and

549
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: you're listening to Here's the Thing. Theater and music are

550
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,240
Speaker 1: not Vanessa williams only strengths. The Triple Threat has also

551
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: been featured in over one hundred TV and film roles,

552
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: highlighting her impressive range. I wanted her to share how

553
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 1: she approached her different roles on Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.

554
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: Well, Ugly Betty was one of those shows where we

555
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 2: were going to be a Friday night kind of for

556
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 2: chicks because they didn't really believe that we had what

557
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 2: it took. And we did the TCAs the Television Critics

558
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 2: Awards panel, and after we finish our panel in Pasadena, Yeah,

559
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 2: in Pasadena, and they said Ugly Betty, they said, you

560
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 2: guys are the hit of the season. You guys are

561
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 2: the best thing that we've seen. So we knew that

562
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 2: the critics liked us. And then when we finally when

563
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 2: we got so much momentum, they turned they changed us

564
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 2: to Thursday night, right before A Gray's Anatomy, and that

565
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 2: kind of gave us. Yeah, that blew us up, and

566
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 2: we won the Golden Globe that year. But we you know,

567
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 2: it was like doing a feature film every episode because

568
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 2: we had so much production value and costumes and runways

569
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 2: and all kinds of fantastical stuff. It was long Friturdays,

570
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 2: Fridays turning into Saturdays. But we loved it, and we

571
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 2: loved each other, and we loved our script readings. As

572
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 2: we never knew, especially I never knew what I was

573
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 2: going to be doing the following week. What I'm pitching

574
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 2: to Naomi Campbell and a softball game. What I'm taking

575
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 2: a baseball bat and smashing, you know, Mannekins on the

576
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 2: roof of some here. Oh, I'm having a Yes, this

577
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 2: is ugly, Betty. So it was amazing. So then going

578
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 2: by the time I got to Desperate Housewives, and the

579
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 2: reason I got on Desperate Housewives is I was doing

580
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 2: sondheim'd Sondheim and Mark Cherry is a huge Sondheim fan,

581
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 2: so much so that every episode of Desperate Housewives is

582
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,959
Speaker 2: a Sondheim song. That's how big it is. It. Yeah,

583
00:30:55,040 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 2: so so he saw me and Sondheim, Sanaima and Sondheim

584
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 2: and then I got a call like a week later,

585
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 2: would she like to join our cast? And Nicolette was

586
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 2: already gone.

587
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: They needed a cast edition, so you come and you

588
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 1: shoot that. And I worshiped Felicity. I mean, I just

589
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: love Felicity to death.

590
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 2: Love her too.

591
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 1: I did a movie with Terry Hatcher. She came in

592
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 1: to play Eric Roberts's wife, and you found out she

593
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 1: was the drug lord in the operation. I played a

594
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 1: copp that was based on this famous book called Heavens

595
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 1: Prisoners that Phil Juano directed, and she was the villainous

596
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: and none of us thought that she would really be

597
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 1: able to get there in terms of the extremes of

598
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,680
Speaker 1: intensity and ugliness. And she was good. She was damn good.

599
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 1: She came in there and she was ready to hit

600
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: and be hit and fight, and she was scrappy. And

601
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,640
Speaker 1: we did this movie, Heavens Prisoners, and Terry was damn

602
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 1: good in that movie, and I wanted to do a

603
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: project with Felicity. How different was that experience?

604
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 2: You know? I came in and they called me Switzerland

605
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 2: because I had no beef with anybody, so I was

606
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 2: friendly with everybody. I had worked with Terry Hatcher previously

607
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 2: because we used to do these radio shack commercials back

608
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 2: in the day. So it was Terry and Howie Long

609
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,080
Speaker 2: and me and Ving Rams the black and the White couple,

610
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 2: and we would do, you know, product commercials for the

611
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 2: radio shack together. So that's I knew her from back

612
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 2: in the day. But it was easy and talking about clockwork,

613
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 2: absolute in and out. Craziest days. Mark would come and

614
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 2: give us pretty much line readings across the board and

615
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 2: then take off to the writer's room, so we all

616
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 2: knew what was going on, even though their mar yes,

617
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 2: very very hands on, you.

618
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 1: Only do that? Are you recurring? A couple of years

619
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: of recurring on that show?

620
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: Was I was a regular for two seasons and then

621
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 2: they were killed. I guess no, no, no, I got

622
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 2: married and then the show got killed.

623
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 1: You got married.

624
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 2: I got one of the.

625
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: What are you working on now?

626
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,480
Speaker 2: I Am about to go across the pond to do

627
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 2: devilwares Prada on the West End.

628
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: I've read that.

629
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Jerry Mitchell is directing and doing the choreography,

630
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 2: and Elton John's writing the music and he wrote two

631
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 2: songs for me already which is incredible, and it's all

632
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 2: British cast over there and we're at the Dominion Theater.

633
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 2: We open our.

634
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 1: First player, Rand Priestley.

635
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 2: Yes, I am yeah. October twenty fourth we start and

636
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 2: I'll be there for at least for a year. We're

637
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,240
Speaker 2: doing our out of town in Plymouth, which I guess

638
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 2: is the southwest portion of England. So we're out of

639
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,840
Speaker 2: town end of June through mid August.

640
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: So this is they're workshopping this and working this is new.

641
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're going to create this role? Yes?

642
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 1: What is greater? What is more powerful and more? The

643
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 1: thing you want in this business, the one thing you

644
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 1: especially if you can sing like you and dance? You

645
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 1: want to create a role in originated role? How lucky

646
00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 1: are you?

647
00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 2: Absolutely?

648
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 1: Did you flip that when they told you that?

649
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 2: Well, I knew that. Jerry kind of gave me a

650
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,719
Speaker 2: heads up. They had done a production in Chicago a

651
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,399
Speaker 2: couple of years ago and it did not do well

652
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 2: at all. Different cast, different director, and Kevin McCollum, the producer,

653
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 2: called in Jerry and said, listen, I needed to see this.

654
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,359
Speaker 2: I needed to help me out. What do you think?

655
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 2: And Jerry said, I will do it, but I want

656
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,839
Speaker 2: complete control whole new team, and I want to make

657
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 2: sure that Elton will write me some new music. And

658
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 2: Elton was doing the Yellowpic road tour at the time,

659
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 2: so he was, you know, really really busy, but he

660
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,760
Speaker 2: promised and he did. So I had demos of Elton,

661
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 2: you know, singing the new stuff, and then I got

662
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:42,800
Speaker 2: a chance to hear Jerry's vision. And then when we're

663
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,720
Speaker 2: in the room for two weeks, Elton was so happy.

664
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 2: He said, I wanted to kill myself in Chicago. Now

665
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 2: I'm really really happy, and just like, you know, just

666
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,200
Speaker 2: to give a little smidgeon of what it's going to

667
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 2: look like. So Jerry said, in the other production there

668
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 2: was no fashion, and it's about the world of fashion.

669
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 2: So he's got all these built in runway production numbers

670
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 2: happening and act too. When Miranda goes to Paris and

671
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 2: they're trying to oust her, there's a song that she

672
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 2: sings called stay on Top. And we haven't obviously, we

673
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 2: haven't staged it yet, but he told me that what

674
00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 2: he's gonna do is he has got a passer oul

675
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,720
Speaker 2: in front of the stage and we will be sitting

676
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 2: as if we're sitting and watching a runway show, and

677
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 2: I'll have my glasses on and he's going to have

678
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 2: the girls start and then have everybody freeze and have

679
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 2: me start. You think that I can't see you sitting

680
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 2: there with glee, eager for the ending you've been waiting

681
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 2: years to see. Today she's getting ousted. Yes, her final

682
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 2: hour's nigh. Miranda's rain has run its course, that's.

683
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 6: What you think, oh my, And then it goes into

684
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 6: like a total banger, and it's like this techno, it's

685
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:57,760
Speaker 6: going to be incredible.

686
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,719
Speaker 1: Now I want to say, my god, I mean, here

687
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: you are. It brings me to tears. Almost here you

688
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 1: are having to deal with because when all of us

689
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 1: deal with something painful in your career, when you fall down,

690
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:12,040
Speaker 1: they watch you fall down, but the first words out

691
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 1: of their mouth after them is what's she going to do?

692
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember Michelle Pfeiffer had that great quote.

693
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: She said, the acting's free. You pay me for all

694
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,400
Speaker 1: the other crap I got to put up with, you know,

695
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 1: And I'm sure other people have said that. But when

696
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: they knock you down, then they look at you and

697
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 1: they're like, what's she going to do? And to think

698
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: that you're about to go do this project, this great,

699
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 1: great project? Are they talking it all about when the

700
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: opening would be. What month in the fall.

701
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:41,960
Speaker 2: The opening night is December first, and that's that coincides

702
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 2: with Elton's Big Aide benefit ball. So we're doing a

703
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,359
Speaker 2: command performance for that, but in London, in London at

704
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 2: the Dominion. Yeah, but our first shows are October twenty fourth.

705
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 2: We start at the Dominion. Yeah, I'm going to yemp it,

706
00:36:58,400 --> 00:36:59,240
Speaker 2: come come.

707
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,480
Speaker 1: Any I want to say thank you. I am a

708
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: huge fan of yours. I'm a huge fan of yours.

709
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 1: You are this incredibly talented. You're such a bright and

710
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: interesting and beyond your physical beauty, you're just such a

711
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:14,920
Speaker 1: great actress.

712
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 2: And we're fellow board members too. I see you at

713
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,879
Speaker 2: the Roundabout board all of our boards staff. Yeah, yeah, but.

714
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 1: You but you're but I wish you the best of

715
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: luck with us. When do you leave your head over there?

716
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 2: When mid May we start rehearsals.

717
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, my great pleasure.

718
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,359
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, Alec, thank you.

719
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 3: My thanks to Vanessa Williams.

720
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Kathleen Brusso, Zach Macnice, and

721
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,240
Speaker 1: Maureen Hobin. Our engineer is Frank Imperial. Our social media

722
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: manager is Danielle Gingrich. Here's the Thing is recorded at

723
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 1: CDM Studios in New York. I'm ALC. Baldwin. Here's the

724
00:37:54,960 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 1: Thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio