11yr old Tony Winner takes us from The Secret Garden to the The Strange and Unexplained

Daisy Eagan shares the unique experience of being the youngest female winner in Tony history. She recounted working with Mandy Patinkin, Rebecca Luker and John Cameron Mitchell who was writing Hedwig & The Angy Inch at the same time. Daisy was shocked to learn of her impact on Broadway star Sutton Foster, and had no idea that Neil Patrick Harris watched her perform from the wings. Now a podcaster herself, Daisy is the host of the popular Strange and Unexplained as well as Dear Daisy.

Also in this episode - Marissa Jaret Winokur 2003 Tony Award win for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for Hairspray. Eila & Bruce discuss Jenifer Lewis & Marc Shaiman and give their thoughts on The Notebook.

Throughout a multi-decade career, Tony award-winner, Daisy Eagan, has dazzled audiences from the stage to television and film, and award-winning writing, and several podcasts.

At age eleven, Eagan became the youngest female to win a Tony Award for Best Performance by A Featured Actress for playing Mary Lennox in “The Secret Garden,” for which Eagan also received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations.

Eagan also appeared on Broadway in “Les Miserables” and “James Joyce's The Dead,” as well as countless off-broadway and regional plays and musicals, including two stints at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 (30 Minute Musicals and Steve Yockey’s “Sleeping Giant.”). Favorite productions include world premieres of Christopher Shinn’s “On the Mountain” (South Coast Rep), Annie Weisman’s “Be Aggressive”(La Jolla Playhouse), and Barbara Dana’s “War in Paramus” (HB Studios), as well as Lachuisa’s “Wild Party”(The Blank Theater Company) for which Eagan won an L.A. Weekly award.

Eagan has appeared in several films including “Losing Isaiah,” “Ripe,” and “Tony and Tina’s Wedding.”

On television, most recently, Eagan had a recurring role as one of the first non-binary characters on Network television, in Freeform’s “Good Trouble.” Before that, Eagan starred in HBO’s “Girls” playing a version of Lena Dunham’s character opposite Adam Driver. Additional television credits include HULU’s “The Path,” CBS’ “The Mentalist,” “Without a Trace,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “The Unit” and “Numb3rs.”

Eagan is also an award-winning writer with a loyal and growing audience, and a fierce fighter and activist for women's and LGBTQIA2+ rights. She is a rousing voice in political arenas and continues to fight for change throughout her literary career. She has penned op-eds for publications including HuffPost and Playbill.com, and had a column for USA Today Network’s The Journal News. Eagan is currently adapting her award-winning short screenplay, “Tony and Annette” into a full-length feature by popular demand.

Most recently, Eagan has switched focus to podcasting, with three successful podcasts, “Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan” (named one of Rolling Stone’s top 20 podcasts of 2021), available wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as “Dear Daisy: A podcast about secrets,” and “STFU Nick Lachey” A Love is Blind recap podcast with co-host Broadway sensation Ellyn Marsh, both available either exclusively or early and ad-free on Grab Bag Collab an egalitarian podcasting network on Patreon which Eagan co-founded in 2023 with Pulitzer Prize winner Amber Hunt and Pulitzer and Emmy award winner Amanda Rossmann. Grab Bag strives to provide a platform for voices that may struggle finding a home at big name networks. The network is profit-sharing, and all creators retain ownership of their content.

Make sure to check out Eila's book, "The Tony Awards", and all her other amazing books: https://amzn.to/43WMu5Y.

Connect with Eila and Bruce:

• Instagram @behind_the_awards
• Eila @eilamell
• Bruce @cominghomewithbruce