This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Christine Ebersole: Hi, this is Christine Ebersole, and you're listening to Behind the Awards.

[0:05] Christine Ebersole: And finally, I just want to say when I was a kid in Pennsylvania, I used to record the Tony Awards on a VHS tape and watch the performances over and over again. And to actually be able to be a part of making theater in this city, and just as much to be able to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life. And I thank you and thank you so much for this honor.

[0:42] Eila Mell: Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards. I'm Eila.

[0:44] Bruce Gotlieb: I am here with Bruce.

[0:46] Eila Mell: Hello, Bruce.

[0:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Hey Eila, how are you?

[0:49] Eila Mell: I'm good. So we were listening to Jonathan Groff very recently, right?

[0:54] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[0:55] Eila Mell: He just won.

[0:56] Bruce Gotlieb: That was so much fun.

[0:57] Eila Mell: And we were there for it.

[0:58] Bruce Gotlieb: We were there.

[0:59] Eila Mell: It was exciting.

[1:00] Bruce Gotlieb: It was like palpable, right?

[1:03] Eila Mell: How much fun was it going to the Tony Awards?

[1:06] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And just to be in the room where it's all go, you know, where it happened, and just being able to, you know, have that, you know, you always want to be the fly on the wall, and getting that opportunity was really, really special.

[1:26] Eila Mell: We thought it was gonna be a more predictable night than it turned out to be, so that was fun too.

[1:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, and I think one of the only ones that I think was predictable might have been Jonathan.

[1:36] Eila Mell: I know, but how great was his speech.

[1:38] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, we had to use it, it was so gorgeous.

[1:40] Eila Mell: It's so touching.

[1:42] Bruce Gotlieb: I know. And just the fact that he, you know, he feels the way he does still after all these years of working is exactly what you'd hope for.

[1:50] Eila Mell: Absolutely. So congratulations still to Jonathan Groff.

[1:54] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, you know, he came up, I guess was it a few weeks ago, maybe it was last month. Um, we did the dreamcasting little feature that we do on our Instagram.

[2:05] Eila Mell: Yeah, and we had asked our followers who they would cast or who they in their mind would make a good witch in Into the Woods, and he had come up as somebody wrote in and said, Jonathan Groff. I would love to see him as the witch in Into the Woods, wouldn't you?

[2:22] Bruce Gotlieb: I think he would be a really interesting take on it.

[2:25] Eila Mell: Yeah. So everyone brings something to a character to a part that you know could be something that just turns it on its ear a little bit.

[2:33] Bruce Gotlieb: I know. And you know, maybe the witch could be a man or non-binary, or I mean, I don't know, maybe.

[2:40] Eila Mell: They do talk about mothers a lot, though. I mean, that's kind of a theme.

[2:43] Bruce Gotlieb: So I don't know, but let's try it.

[2:47] Eila Mell: Why not? I mean, maybe you just, you know, a little rewrite. They'll call you up, I love they'll you'll have to help with the book.

[2:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, you know. I mean, James Lapine is still around, but I think I could do it.

[2:58] Eila Mell: Why not? Give it a tweak.

[3:00] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. Single dads, you know, they need a show.

[3:03] Eila Mell: That's right. Why not?

[3:04] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. So we had a fun dreamcast week on our Instagram, which people can still play along with if they want to.

[3:12] Eila Mell: It's still going.

[3:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. We had many, many choices. If we had to, if we were the casting directors, we had, you know, quite an array of options.

[3:21] Eila Mell: We were dreamcasting Frank N Furter.

[3:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Frank N Furter for Rocky Horror. So we put up the ones, you know, so we always put up a picture of people who have done the part before. So we put up Tim Curry, Tom Hewitt, Laverne Cox, and Julian McMahon.

[3:35] Eila Mell: Right. So many people probably don't know. I didn't know until very recently that Julian McMahon played Frank at um the I think it was the 30th or 35th anniversary of the movie. And Lou Adler did this big show in LA, and he got um his friend Jack Nicholson to be the criminologist, which is amazing.

[3:58] Bruce Gotlieb: And Lea Michele was Janet, and um Julian McMahon was Frank N Furter. So how amazing is that.

[4:04] Eila Mell: How fun.

[4:05] Bruce Gotlieb: I know I wish I had seen that. I will say we definitely had some purists out there that you know responded Tim Curry only, which you know he's so iconic in it.

[4:17] Eila Mell: How do you I mean he's obviously always and forever Frank?

[4:23] Bruce Gotlieb: But you know, I'm sure they want the creators of the show, Richard O'Brien, you know, and the producers want the show to live on. So there has to be other Franks.

[4:32] Eila Mell: So, you know, absolutely. So, what were some of the fun ones that people suggested?

[4:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Miley Cyrus, who I love that idea. I think that's amazing.

[4:44] Eila Mell: Neil Patrick Harris was another, which is so fun.

[4:47] Bruce Gotlieb: Right. I mean, he did Hedwig, so it's kind of in the same family.

[4:50] Eila Mell: Absolutely. Jose Llana, is that how you say it?

[4:54] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, I think L L A N A. If we're pronouncing it wrong, please tell us we don't want to be stupid here.

[5:02] Eila Mell: No, and he follows us, and we so appreciate that.

[5:04] Bruce Gotlieb: We do, we do. And he's wonderful in Here Lies Love. I loved him in that. Uh Adam Lambert was another one, which I think Yeah, that's that's an absolute.

[5:12] Eila Mell: Didn't he's in natural progression? Remember, we were talking about it, and you suggested Alan Cumming, who I think is a great choice.

[5:20] Bruce Gotlieb: And I suggested Cheyenne Jackson, who I'd love to see do it. Did he didn't he play Rocky in was it the 90s or the early 2000s?

[5:27] Eila Mell: He would be wonderful.

[5:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I think he might have. But he'd be a great Frank too. We love a good dream cast. So if anybody has any other ideas, you know, that they want to share, please feel free. We'll definitely share them with our followers.

[5:40] Eila Mell: When we, you know, we're gonna keep bringing the features. So if you want to see one featured, drop us a DM, let us know, and we'll put a spin out there.

[5:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, we'll put it out and we'll give you the credit.

[5:52] Eila Mell: So we have such a great guest today. I'm so excited about Christine Ebersole.

[5:55] Bruce Gotlieb: My gosh.

[5:58] Eila Mell: We do. And I'm gonna just use a word as a segue, but speaking of dreams, you know, in our interview with her, she shared with us that Grey Gardens was something she wanted to see happen and wound up being a producer for it on Broadway, which who doesn't love a go-getter. You want something done, go get it done.

[6:14] Bruce Gotlieb: She's coming off of a hit series on CBS, Bob Hearts Abishola that just ended.

[6:22] Eila Mell: Yeah, so now she's free to do anything she wants.

[6:25] Bruce Gotlieb: I think she's gonna do some theater.

[6:27] Eila Mell: I think so. I know she has, I believe, a concert series coming up in December or something like that. She's busy, she's not gonna sit around.

[6:35] Bruce Gotlieb: So we're very lucky to get her, so why don't we bring her out? Here's Christine Ebersole.

[6:42] Bruce Gotlieb: We are so excited to welcome Christine Ebersole to Behind the Awards.

[6:47] Eila Mell: Hi, Christine.

[6:48] Christine Ebersole: Hi, everybody.

[6:49] Eila Mell: Thank you so much for joining us.

[6:51] Christine Ebersole: Such a pleasure for us to have you.

[6:52] Eila Mell: Thanks for having me.

[6:53] Bruce Gotlieb: So I have loved you since you were a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live.

[6:57] Christine Ebersole: Wow.

[6:58] Bruce Gotlieb: The weekend update girl.

[7:00] Christine Ebersole: And you were a toddler.

[7:01] Bruce Gotlieb: So your mother let you watch, stay up late to watch that.

[7:04] Christine Ebersole: My mother used to go to Studio 54, so you know, she was very lenient. I was allowed to do a lot of stuff.

[7:11] Bruce Gotlieb: She lived to tell the tale.

[7:13] Christine Ebersole: She did.

[7:14] Bruce Gotlieb: She did. But oh my gosh. So, you know, I almost never make notes for guests because I have a good memory, but you have such a resume that I had to actually write down all the stuff that you've done because there's too much that I will forget.

[7:28] Eila Mell: So, in case our listeners are, you know, uninitiated, everybody knows that you are finishing up an amazing run on Bob Hearts Abishola.

[7:36] Christine Ebersole: Right.

[7:37] Eila Mell: We finished it.

[7:37] Christine Ebersole: Yeah.

[7:38] Eila Mell: The last episode aired like that.

[7:39] Christine Ebersole: Oh my gosh.

[7:40] Eila Mell: I have to go back and watch that.

[7:41] Christine Ebersole: Wow.

[7:42] Eila Mell: She's really sweet, you know.

[7:43] Christine Ebersole: That is sweet.

[7:44] Eila Mell: Very sweet.

[7:45] Christine Ebersole: It was a sweet episode, you know, just because it took place seven years in the future.

[7:50] Eila Mell: Oh.

[7:50] Christine Ebersole: So it was just kind of, you know, we called your dreams that came true and all that, you know.

[7:56] Bruce Gotlieb: It's gotta be nice to have the opportunity to kind of put a cap on it on it, because when you know in advance, you get the opportunity to make sure that the story's finished the way that you want it to.

[8:10] Christine Ebersole: Yes, that's right.

[8:11] Eila Mell: That's right. As opposed to the let's wait and see if we got picked up.

[8:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Right. And then if you don't and you don't have a finale, it it's pr there's no closing.

[8:22] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, yeah.

[8:23] Eila Mell: What I love about your work on that show, right? Is that you got to play a character who had a stroke but was still an actual person. Cause a lot of times you don't see that represented.

[8:30] Christine Ebersole: Yeah.

[8:34] Bruce Gotlieb: So I think that's Chuck, you know.

[8:36] Christine Ebersole: Yeah.

[8:37] Bruce Gotlieb: He was leading the charge in that.

[8:39] Christine Ebersole: How did that show come to be for you?

[8:40] Christine Ebersole: I won the audition. I went out to Hollywood and met Chuck Lorre for the first time.

[8:45] Bruce Gotlieb: Really?

[8:46] Christine Ebersole: Audition for it.

[8:47] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[8:48] Christine Ebersole: And was Gina Yashere part of the casting process too? Because she helped create the series.

[8:52] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[8:53] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, as well as starring in it herself.

[8:57] Bruce Gotlieb: I know. Amazing.

[8:58] Christine Ebersole: That must have been a fun show to work on.

[9:00] Christine Ebersole: It really was. It was a beautiful show. And we had a lot of trials and tribulations because the first year in 2019 was cut short by two episodes on Friday, the March 13th when the world shut down. But we were still able to continue, but um, you know, with all the protocols and oh my gosh, I didn't see anybody's face for three years, you know, everybody had a mask and all that. But we prevailed, you know.

[9:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, that's incredible.

[9:25] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, it really was under those hardships. And you know, we're I think the whole cast was just so grateful, you know, that we had that opportunity in those challenging times to be able to have a place to go and express ourselves and did the camaraderie of the cast. It was a memorable experience.

[9:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, and when the world is chaotic, you know, to have that safety amongst people that you're that you can feel that with. Also, it's special because that's all people had to do is watch pretty much.

[9:56] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, it was really it was needed. And then it was during the height of all that in 2020 when I did um Licorice Pizza and The Kominsky Method. So that was like all happening.

[9:58] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[9:58] Christine Ebersole: And then it was on The Kominsky Method that I got COVID.

[10:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my god.

[10:13] Christine Ebersole: Oh my gosh.

[10:13] Bruce Gotlieb: December of 2020.

[10:15] Christine Ebersole: Uh, how bad did you get it?

[10:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Bad.

[10:17] Christine Ebersole: Oh, sorry.

[10:19] Bruce Gotlieb: It was bad.

[10:19] Christine Ebersole: It was like a month.

[10:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[10:22] Christine Ebersole: But it was it was amazing. That was amazing too because it coincided with the Christmas holidays. So, but then and then when we came back, I was done, you know. So that's so I didn't miss any work, nothing, you know.

[10:35] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, that's good. And you're fully recovered, so that's the most thing.

[10:39] Christine Ebersole: Yeah.

[10:40] Bruce Gotlieb: All right, but I just want to go through some of the things that you were in that people don't realize. So first you said Licorice Pizza.

[10:47] Christine Ebersole: Huge Academy Award nominated movie. That's amazing.

[10:49] Bruce Gotlieb: But also The Wolf of Wall Street, right?

[10:53] Christine Ebersole: Incredible. I mean, I think both of those things I was really in disguise, you know?

[10:58] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, yeah.

[10:59] Christine Ebersole: Right.

[11:00] Bruce Gotlieb: Amadeus. Does it get bigger than that?

[11:03] Christine Ebersole: Uh, I don't think so.

[11:04] Bruce Gotlieb: No.

[11:05] Christine Ebersole: I mean, come on.

[11:06] Bruce Gotlieb: No, I'm hoping that's it.

[11:07] Christine Ebersole: And Murray Abraham, just brilliant, brilliant.

[11:10] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely.

[11:12] Christine Ebersole: And then the location when we were shooting in the Czech Republic, which was then called Czechoslovakia.

[11:18] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[11:18] Christine Ebersole: Was really uh it was so beautiful.

[11:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[11:22] Christine Ebersole: The most beautiful, beautiful, beautiful place, Prague.

[11:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my goodness.

[11:26] Christine Ebersole: And you got to sing. And it was the one place that that Milos Forman said he could turn the camera 360 degrees and not change anything.

[11:33] Bruce Gotlieb: Really?

[11:34] Christine Ebersole: That's how well it was preserved.

[11:35] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[11:36] Christine Ebersole: Wow.

[11:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[11:38] Christine Ebersole: That's incredible. I mean, that's just an evergreen movie that is so many people's favorite movie. But then another, another movie that's so beloved is Tootsie.

[11:46] Bruce Gotlieb: You're in that.

[11:47] Christine Ebersole: I know the true perfect movies I was in.

[11:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[11:50] Christine Ebersole: I mean, I was in them.

[11:51] Bruce Gotlieb: So perfect movies. And that's just that's just movies. I mean, there's so much more. But being into huge movies like that, sort of back to back, what does that do for your career?

[12:01] Christine Ebersole: I don't know. It's hard to really track that. I think that what changes it is when you have uh, you know, the title, like honorable, whatever. You know, it's like two times the award winner. That's that's really was uh the label that got attended to me that didn't happen with those movies.

[12:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay.

[12:21] Christine Ebersole: And I think like because I did so many different things. Like I went from, you know, playing Guinevere opposite Richard Burton and Richard Harris in Camelot to Saturday Night Live. I mean, right, literally, like that was the next job. So I think because I had so many different, varying experiences in different mediums that I kind of feel like even to this day, I sort of float under the radar a little bit. You know, because I always thought, well, Anderson, you know, she's so famous. I wish I could be like Pamela Anderson. But she was she was so famous. She did that one thing, you know what I mean?

[13:02] Christine Ebersole: That really identified her.

[13:03] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[13:04] Christine Ebersole: Yes.

[13:04] Bruce Gotlieb: Um, you know, and I I never did that.

[13:08] Christine Ebersole: Did I?

[13:09] Bruce Gotlieb: No, I don't think so.

[13:10] Christine Ebersole: Well, you didn't have the red bathing suit.

[13:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I didn't have the figure either, but oh, you sure did.

[13:15] Christine Ebersole: And I think also it's gotta be uh, you know, helpful from a career standpoint that you know, if somebody does one thing and that's what they're known for, and you get the ability to continue to work, you know, going from one thing to the next and kind of being a little bit of a chameleon that way.

[13:31] Bruce Gotlieb: That's what I think it is.

[13:32] Christine Ebersole: I think that's why I've I never stopped working for 50 years, honestly, because I just did I would just fit into the next, you know, outfit.

[13:42] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[13:43] Christine Ebersole: Whatever it was, you know.

[13:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[13:45] Christine Ebersole: We'll be right back.

[13:46] Bruce Gotlieb: We have to listen to some commercials.

[13:52] Christine Ebersole: So let's talk about your theater work because it's I mean, two time Tony winner, that that's just that says it all. But so you were in I grew up listening to this, the revival of Oklahoma.

[14:04] Bruce Gotlieb: I love that recording.

[14:05] Christine Ebersole: Oh my gosh, you were A do Annie.

[14:07] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, fantastic.

[14:09] Christine Ebersole: That recording is amazing.

[14:11] Bruce Gotlieb: It was Tom Shepherd. There was a full orchestra.

[14:14] Christine Ebersole: We did it live.

[14:16] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean they don't do it like that anymore.

[14:18] Christine Ebersole: No, they don't.

[14:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Those days are gone.

[14:21] Christine Ebersole: But it and I don't know if it's analog or whatever that yeah, that method of recording was, but it's just it's the depth and the breadth of the sound is really amazing.

[14:34] Bruce Gotlieb: No, it is.

[14:35] Christine Ebersole: I love that.

[14:35] Bruce Gotlieb: So it's you, it's Harry Grohner.

[14:38] Christine Ebersole: I uh Christine.

[14:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Mary Catalan, gorgeous Christine Andreas.

[14:43] Christine Ebersole: Oh Mary Wick, my gosh.

[14:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[14:47] Christine Ebersole: I mean, the cast is outrageous.

[14:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[14:50] Christine Ebersole: That must have been so much fun to do it.

[14:54] Bruce Gotlieb: Because we started in Los Angeles, and we ended up coming to Broadway in December of 79.

[15:02] Christine Ebersole: We started in March of 79 and toured the country for nine months before we came into Broadway.

[15:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[15:09] Christine Ebersole: Did you know that it was always going to be a good one?

[15:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, that was the idea.

[15:14] Christine Ebersole: Wow.

[15:14] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[15:14] Christine Ebersole: So it was all out of town. Agnes DeMille.

[15:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Who's DeMille?

[15:18] Christine Ebersole: I was in the same room as Agnes DeMill.

[15:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[15:20] Christine Ebersole: Who was getting the notes for that?

[15:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my gosh.

[15:25] Christine Ebersole: No, it truly isn't directed it.

[15:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[15:29] Christine Ebersole: So yeah, so it's just history right in front of you.

[15:31] Bruce Gotlieb: Living history.

[15:33] Christine Ebersole: Yeah.

[15:33] Bruce Gotlieb: That you're a part of.

[15:34] Christine Ebersole: But you're a part of. I mean, you are history because you're a two-time Tony winner.

[15:38] Bruce Gotlieb: You're in the books.

[15:39] Christine Ebersole: I'm in your book.

[15:40] Bruce Gotlieb: You're in my book.

[15:41] Christine Ebersole: That's very exciting for me.

[15:43] Bruce Gotlieb: Thrilled.

[15:44] Christine Ebersole: Oh my gosh. So 42nd Street, you wanted Tony for that.

[15:48] Bruce Gotlieb: I well, that was amazing. What an amazing show that was.

[15:52] Christine Ebersole: Yes.

[15:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I think there was like 50 people in the cast or something, wasn't it?

[15:57] Christine Ebersole: I know. Yes.

[15:57] Bruce Gotlieb: It was you never did that now.

[16:00] Christine Ebersole: I do it.

[16:02] Bruce Gotlieb: Too expensive now.

[16:03] Christine Ebersole: And the exactly.

[16:03] Bruce Gotlieb: And the costumes, the tap dancing.

[16:06] Christine Ebersole: Oh, forget about it.

[16:08] Bruce Gotlieb: Had you seen the original 42nd Street in the 80s?

[16:11] Christine Ebersole: No, I didn't.

[16:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Neither did I.

[16:14] Christine Ebersole: I, you know, I was very young then, so I didn't see it. But it was something that you just grew up knowing that 42nd Street for me anyway, it was like that's like the ultimate Broadway show.

[16:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Because there was a commercial for it.

[16:24] Christine Ebersole: So you grew up with that.

[16:26] Bruce Gotlieb: It was just sheer entertainment.

[16:28] Christine Ebersole: Yes.

[16:28] Bruce Gotlieb: And then you're the star of it when it comes back.

[16:30] Christine Ebersole: I what was that like for you? That must be incredible.

[16:34] Bruce Gotlieb: It was an amazing experience.

[16:36] Christine Ebersole: I mean, it just was it was kind of my return, was really my return to New York because I lived in LA for 14 years before that.

[16:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[16:44] Christine Ebersole: I started out in New York, then I went to LA for 14 years.

[16:47] Bruce Gotlieb: I was in New York for 12 years, and I went to LA for 14 years.

[16:50] Christine Ebersole: Then that was really the first major thing that I did when I came back.

[16:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I came back in 99 and that was 2001.

[16:57] Christine Ebersole: So you came back with a splash.

[16:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I did but the best man a play and um current event at the Manhattan Theater Club.

[17:04] Christine Ebersole: Mm-hmm.

[17:05] Bruce Gotlieb: But this was and I also did um Connecticut Yankee.

[17:08] Christine Ebersole: Okay.

[17:09] Bruce Gotlieb: With Encores, and then got to keep my love alive.

[17:13] Christine Ebersole: That was the song I sang.

[17:15] Bruce Gotlieb: Um among others.

[17:17] Christine Ebersole: But but anyway, it was you never forget it. You just never forget. It was indelible.

[17:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Is there was there a point in in the process, or maybe maybe you knew going in when you were auditioning for it that you know this could be the career defining role, or like, oh my god, this could be a Tony.

[17:34] Christine Ebersole: This could be No, I never I never understood that part. I mean, I knew that it was a Broadway show that was coming, and I was coming back from LA and all that. But I think Mark Bramble was also really a significant player in establishing the character of Dorothy Brock as a leading actress because um Tammy Grimes, when she did it before in the original, was not even nominated because it wasn't positioned in that way, you know.

[17:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, for sure.

[18:01] Christine Ebersole: So Mark made sure to do that. And that that was really him, his call. We were just having that conversation earlier. Like, you know, how do they make those decisions where they want to position an actor?

[18:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[18:12] Christine Ebersole: Because I mean, really, I break my leg.

[18:14] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[18:15] Christine Ebersole: Right.

[18:17] Bruce Gotlieb: So I'm sitting in my dressing room for the most part, you know, making phone calls. Because that's what you did in those days. And um, it was like, oh, I gotta go on stage now in my wheelchair. I got them, you know, quarter to nine.

[18:32] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I gotta go to work now.

[18:34] Christine Ebersole: Right. And I think that people were also I wasn't in it long enough, but to warrant, you know, best actress. But I'm grateful that that was I was positioned in that and that and I think that that my winning was sort of like an acknowledgement of the years that I did work before I went to Hollywood and then came back. It was like in a culmination kind of thing.

[18:56] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[19:00] Christine Ebersole: That's just my opinion. You'll never know, right? Because you can't pull the voters.

[19:04] Bruce Gotlieb: No, you never never know.

[19:06] Christine Ebersole: No.

[19:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Either way.

[19:07] Christine Ebersole: I'm just grateful. I'm just grateful. I'm so grateful that I got to do that job, and then I was so grateful that you know, that I won the Tony. I mean, that's my gosh. It was really really crazy.

[19:20] Bruce Gotlieb: But then, so not only do you get the Tony for that, like this classic Broadway role, but then you get to do you get to play both Eds in Grey Gardens, which is that's just iconic. How did that project come about?

[19:34] Christine Ebersole: Oh, that was crazy because I was out in LA and I was doing a TV series, a pilot called Kid Mayor. And the pilot was never completed, but I was out there for a month and I was spending a lot of time, you know, alone on my own. And I had just bought a new DVD player, which you did back those those days, right?

[19:58] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[19:59] Christine Ebersole: And I was saying with my friend Jeff Danis, and he at his house, and he was, you know, I was gonna go to Blockbuster or whatever and get a bunch of videos because I had a lot of time on my hands. And he said, Um, have you ever seen Grey Gardens?

[20:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Mm-hmm.

[20:13] Christine Ebersole: And uh I said, no, I heard about that, but I never saw it. It was in 75, wasn't it? So he says, No, go go rent that, rent that video. So I went, you know, I got Grey Gardens, I got a bunch of other videos, right?

[20:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[20:27] Christine Ebersole: So it's the first thing I put into the DVD player. Well, I mean, Jeff jokes about it because he says he was like serving me dinners underneath the door because I I turned on Grey Gardens and then could not stop. I couldn't stop watching that over and over and over and over again.

[20:50] Bruce Gotlieb: I love that.

[20:51] Christine Ebersole: This was a year back a year and a half before I got the call. So in a weather word God was by preparing me for this. And I was so obsessed by it because I thought, I mean, it was such an actor's study, you know.

[21:07] Bruce Gotlieb: Sure.

[21:08] Christine Ebersole: Not only that, it was, I couldn't understand how people, I always, it's always this delusional thought that people with money, you know, they don't fall prey to these kind of things. You know, that money kind of saves them a little bit. You know what I mean? If the if the plane's gonna crash or somebody rich is on the plane, it's not gonna crash. You know, that that kind of yeah.

[21:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Um so that's the part that was so compelling to me.

[21:34] Christine Ebersole: It's like how did these gorgeous women how do they end up like this, right?

[21:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[21:39] Christine Ebersole: Right. So then like a year and a half later, I got a call from Philip Himberg from um Sundance and they used to have this place down in Florida in White Oak, Florida. For dancers, they they they pretty much instituted that. But anyway, so he called me and said um you know Terrence McNally has done this new play um and they're gonna be doing it down at White Oak and we would really love you to be participating in that. And I and I said, you know, well I I really can't do it. You know I've got to be with my family and I've been away too long and I I gotta be with my family. So I can't do it. And it's Christmas time and all that.

[22:20] Bruce Gotlieb: So then I don't know a couple weeks later I got another call from Phil Pimberg and he says I know I'm really taking a chance on this because you know you turned down but I just want you to know that they're doing this musical of gray gardens and down at Wyoming and I like there you know screw this you know they'll fend for themselves.

[22:42] Christine Ebersole: Exactly they'll be fine you know because I thought this is crazy. Never once when I watched the new the movie did I think, wow, this would make a great musical. You know what I mean? I was like, yeah, it was like no one did never occur to me never and then when he called it was like, whoa, this is crazy. And then when we went when we went there, and you know, was the pretty like me and Mary, Mary Louise Wilson, when we went there, they did not have act two. They only had act one.

[23:11] Bruce Gotlieb: Interesting.

[23:11] Christine Ebersole: Okay. And so during that two weeks, that's when they wrote it. They wrote the whole thing there. And it was, you know, it was launched there.

[23:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Did you know going in that you would be able to play both Eds?

[23:23] Christine Ebersole: Uh, I didn't know what what the circumstances were. I just knew that when they said Grey Gardens, I was like, uh, yeah. You know, and found out that it was, you know, playing both parts. And I think that really ultimately there was such a strong identification with these words. I don't know. The the marginalization of them, you know, the how they were born into the manor and really could not express themselves creatively. You know, that they were like birds in a gilded cage.

[23:51] Bruce Gotlieb: We'll be right back.

[23:52] Christine Ebersole: We have to listen to some commercials.

[23:58] Christine Ebersole: And I just I could relate to it. Um I love how um they they eat and make corn in bed and you know, they do everything. It's just they're so interesting. And Mary Louise was just there's no one. I just love her so much, you know, and there's no one like her.

[24:14] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[24:14] Christine Ebersole: And she was just we were really on the same page. And you know, of course the costumes are so important to those characters. And that's way mighty long genius.

[24:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[24:23] Christine Ebersole: Yeah. Exactly, right? I mean, who is better? So that show certainly has everything going for it coming in. So there's a lot to lose if it doesn't work out. So did you feel that pressure?

[24:32] Christine Ebersole: I probably didn't pay attention to it. My focus was on something else so that I could yeah, because there's nothing I could do about it.

[24:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, right.

[24:41] Christine Ebersole: But yeah. And I think when you're in it, you think it's really good, you know.

[24:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, that you're in it.

[24:47] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, right.

[24:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[24:48] Christine Ebersole: But I I can imagine that there are shows that are better than others. So you can tell if something is great or something is just okay.

[24:56] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[24:57] Christine Ebersole: And was that show also slated always? Okay, this is you know, the trajectory was Broadway for that when it was starting in Florida.

[25:04] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow, no.

[25:05] Christine Ebersole: I mean, it was off Broadway. And after the show ended, I know Scott Frankl had approached me and said, Well, there's an opportunity for the show to go down the street to the Little Schubert.

[25:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Was that the name of it at the time?

[25:21] Christine Ebersole: On 42nd Street, right next to Playwrights.

[25:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay.

[25:24] Christine Ebersole: Yeah. Um, and I said no. I said, either the show goes to Broadway or I don't do it. I said, and I I'm gonna do everything I can to try to get this show to Broadway. I'm gonna do everything I can. And I I was actually a producer on the show.

[25:40] Bruce Gotlieb: Really?

[25:41] Christine Ebersole: That was kind of like a little secret, you know.

[25:44] Bruce Gotlieb: But yeah.

[25:44] Christine Ebersole: I was um I was a lead producer on the show.

[25:47] Bruce Gotlieb: I had no idea.

[25:48] Christine Ebersole: Oh wow.

[25:49] Bruce Gotlieb: That's unusual for the star of the show to be the lead producer.

[25:52] Christine Ebersole: That's a lot of heavy lifting.

[25:53] Bruce Gotlieb: I think that's why they didn't want to muddy the waters or something like that.

[25:57] Christine Ebersole: Now people, you know, can freely admit it all the time.

[26:00] Bruce Gotlieb: But I think back then it was like, don't let anybody know, you know.

[26:04] Christine Ebersole: But yeah.

[26:05] Christine Ebersole: If you look on the poster, it says Staunch Entertainment. And that was, that is your name of it. Yeah, that was me, Staunch Entertainment. Well, obviously named for Edie. Staunch believe. Exactly. And then so it went to Broadway. So we were very grateful, you know, and it did so well. I mean, it's just it's people just love it, love them. It's just, it seems like a no-brainer, but of course, a no-brainer doesn't exist on Broadway.

[26:35] Bruce Gotlieb: True.

[26:36] Christine Ebersole: So, but I mean, you've done Steel Magnolias, you starred in that, Camelot. Yeah. So many iconic shows on the 20th Century. But then you get to create a major role in War Paint with Patti LuPone. I mean, that must have been so much fun. I can only imagine.

[26:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Amazing.

[26:54] Christine Ebersole: Amazing. Patti is supreme, you know. She's like the Venus Williams of Broadway, you know. Really, honestly, she's always like upping the game. You know. I always knew that. There's no resting on your laurels when you're on stage.

[27:11] Bruce Gotlieb: She's legendary.

[27:12] Christine Ebersole: She is. But I mean, how much fun to have a partner like that, right? To work and create. I mean, it was amazing. It was just, wow. You just, you know, you feel like you're in really rarefied air. When you have a company like that with the two of you starring, do you have to workshop that or does that just go right to Broadway?

[27:29] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, we went to Chicago to the Goodman Theater. I wouldn't say workshop, but it was an out-of-town tryout. So let's talk about more of your TV because you've just done so much. I can't stop in one area for too long because people don't realize, well, maybe they do, but just how much you've done. So again, we said Saturday Night Live.

[27:50] Bruce Gotlieb: That's amazing.

[27:51] Christine Ebersole: I mean, it's only a handful of people that have been cast members on that show. That was an amazing experience as well. And not everybody has that ability to do that improv style of work either.

[28:01] Christine Ebersole: Well, but that's the thing is I didn't have a lot of confidence in that area because, you know, I was Gwen Ver. All of a sudden, it's like I'm thrown into this arena that I'm not familiar with at all.

[28:18] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[28:18] Christine Ebersole: But I think the one place that I felt that I could contribute was in the music. Mm-hmm. And that's really why T. Ebersol hired me. That's why he hired me because he wanted to highlight that more in Saturday Night Live.

[28:34] Bruce Gotlieb: Had he seen you in Camelot? Is that where he got to know you?

[28:36] Christine Ebersole: No, I don't think he did, but he saw me in a screen test that I had done for a TV show called Love, Sydney with Tony Randall and Susie Kurtz. I remember that show. Oh my God, it was so good.

[28:49] Bruce Gotlieb: So I was auditioning for that, you know, it was on tape. It was for NBC and Saturday Night Live was NBC and Dick Ebersol was looking at the tape and it was a dramatic scene. It wasn't a comedy scene at all and he said that I was believable. That's what he was impressed with, that this moment was believable and I got the job. I mean, I never auditioned for it. That's when I met, you know, Michael O'Donoghue and Dick Ebersol and wow, got hired and it was I think it was because of that.

[29:18] Bruce Gotlieb: It's so many people's dream job and you didn't even have to audition for it.

[29:22] Christine Ebersole: Easy, that's great. I don't know how these things happen, but they just did. So then you did the TV version of Gypsy with Bette Midler.

[29:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[29:31] Christine Ebersole: Oh my God, that was amazing too because I was originally cast in a different role. It was Bette Midler, you know, that got me to do Tessie Tura.

[29:40] Bruce Gotlieb: Really?

[29:40] Christine Ebersole: So who were you going to be originally? Was it a smaller role and she bumped you up?

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: No, it was the, it was the, oh yeah, it starts with a G, the like the secretary or something. I don't remember the name but I know what, I think I don't know. I think in the Broadway show Tessie Tura is played by that, they play the same part. Oh, it's in act one but Tessie is, I mean, those strippers are the best part of the whole show. What a trip, yes, what a trip that was. That was an amazing experience, that really was. And Bob Mackie, who did the costumes, a few years earlier had made my wedding dress.

[29:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh wow, really? Oh my gosh, yeah.

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Oh yeah, that's so nice. How did you meet him?

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: I met him through a friend's, a mutual friend, Stanley DeSantis, who is no longer with us, but that's how I met him.

[29:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh wow, what a great guy. I was at Carol Burnett's house recently and I was amazed because she has a whole wall that is Bob Mackie's sketches of all of her outfits from the Carol Burnett show. It was like being in a museum just looking at that.

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Wow, right? I know, I know, it's astonishing.

[29:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Amazing.

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: I know, astonishing. And then with the Gone with the Wind with the curtain rod, right? That's like best, the real one. Did you see that one?

[29:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, of course she has that.

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, she has it, the normal size and then it's big in her garage too, not to give away her secrets. So then you did a show called Sullivan and Son. Is that where you first met Billy Gardell?

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, that's so funny when I saw that he was a guest on that because then he was your son on Bob Hearts Abishola. So was that a coincidence? Who knew?

[29:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, right, exactly. It's just the way the business works, right? You know, in and out.

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Yes, right. Who knew he would be such an important part of your career?

[29:44] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, exactly. But then there's also the Kavanaugh. I remember that show.

[31:35] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, what a dream.

[31:36] Christine Ebersole: And that's where I met my husband.

[31:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, really?

[31:39] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, he was doing the music for the show.

[31:42] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh wow, that's so cool.

[31:43] Christine Ebersole: We've been married 36 years now.

[31:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, congratulations.

[31:47] Christine Ebersole: How wonderful. Congratulations.

[31:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, thank you. And Royal Pains was fun. I mean, just I just love that your career has been right.

[31:57] Christine Ebersole: I know. Oh my gosh, so much fun. That was such a fun show. Because we, you know, our show is called Behind the Awards. We love to talk about awards. Can you tell me about Tony night? What it was like winning the first time?

[32:09] Christine Ebersole: Well, it's really nerve-wracking. Yeah, I think. Uh-huh. I mean, it's exciting. It's exciting and everything, but it's nerve-wracking. You know, it's the glitz and the glamour and all of that. And you're so appreciative of it, but that's not why you do it, you know?

[32:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, of course.

[32:25] Christine Ebersole: It's just added, the added, you know, cherry on the kit on the Sunday. Is it work? Because it's just, um, it's just high-octane stress for me. I'll speak for myself, you know.

[32:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[32:38] Christine Ebersole: Yeah. But you're enjoying it. It's not like you're not enjoying it, but it's just like you're so amped, you know, from it all, you know.

[32:46] Bruce Gotlieb: And now Tony night, are you able to actually be in that in the moment, or are you like almost like you're looking up, looking at yourself?

[32:54] Christine Ebersole: Well, the first time it was different than the second time. Because the first time, you know, I didn't have the same kind of pressure as Grey Gardens because they were saying that it was like I was the favored to win the race, you know?

[33:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[33:10] Christine Ebersole: And then what I thought, and I thought that really puts the pressure on because what if you don't win?

[33:15] Bruce Gotlieb: You'd have to be.

[33:17] Christine Ebersole: Exactly. And it's like I'm not a control of any of it, you know. So it's not like a cakewalk where it's like, yeah, I got this. It's like, well, right.

[33:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, it makes it worse.

[33:25] Christine Ebersole: People are expecting. Yeah, it was just higher expectations. Yeah, definitely. There were none in the first time around.

[33:34] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[33:35] Christine Ebersole: Right. I love what you had to say though in your speech about how, you know, people had told you that, you know, at your...

[33:35] Bruce Gotlieb: I was over the hill.

[33:43] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, I love that you put that out there because nobody's over the hill, you know, what hill is there, right? You can do anything you want to.

[33:53] Christine Ebersole: When they, when my agent at the time stopped making outgoing phone calls in Los Angeles and when I finally did get him on the phone and I said, wow, what's going on? Like, how come I'm not working? I mean, it was just like the work just dropped out and we just got two more kids. So we were three, we had three children, seven pets and no like income coming in. And when I asked him what I finally got him on the phone, and I said, well, what's going on? He says, well, you're 45. That was his response to me.

[34:31] Bruce Gotlieb: So I was like, gosh, I gotta get out of here. I gotta get out of here.

[34:37] Christine Ebersole: Yeah, that's crazy for, you know, that's the thing is I knew that God had given me talent, you know, and so I did my talent all of a sudden didn't disappear because I got older. In fact, it was better than before, you know, so that's when I just thought when they said, you know, the older you get, the farther east you should move. That's what they said.

[34:37] Bruce Gotlieb: That's so funny saying dogs, you know.

[35:02] Christine Ebersole: Well, yeah. So I just, I knew that I had to leave LA and it was like what my husband was saying, you need to go to where you're appreciated.

[35:11] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[35:12] Christine Ebersole: Sure. And that, and I was appreciated in New York.

[35:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, we love you in New York.

[35:18] Christine Ebersole: Not only that, you feel like you're a part of a community.

[35:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[35:22] Christine Ebersole: Sure. Absolutely. It's just, it's more readily visible and you know, you can detect it. You can feel it. In, you know, when you're all in the trenches, you know, on opening night and all that. You know, it's a different experience than in front of a camera.

[35:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[35:38] Christine Ebersole: Because when you're doing a show or a movie, you're not all there together.

[35:42] Bruce Gotlieb: Exactly.

[35:43] Christine Ebersole: Right. Exactly. And then you know that it is such a team sport. Right on Broadway and you know, in the live theater. It's a team sport. If the guy's not there to pull up the curtain, you don't have a show. You know what I mean? It's like everybody's a part. You just, whereas in LA, in television and film, it's more like, um, you're the pie.

[36:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Mm-hmm.

[36:07] Christine Ebersole: Whereas on Broadway, you're a slice of the pie.

[36:11] Bruce Gotlieb: Exactly.

[36:11] Christine Ebersole: And also, you know, there's not that many people in the world that really understand what it means to do an eight-show week. And you all do when you're working on a show.

[36:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Whoa.

[36:21] Christine Ebersole: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not for sissies.

[36:24] Bruce Gotlieb: I know that's what I said when I was doing this series in Los Angeles, I said to my friend, I was like, well, if you want to find me, just address the postcard to Easy Street. Because I left Hard Lock Boulevard. And now I'm on Easy Street. That's where you'll find me. I'm not chasing anything anymore.

[36:44] Christine Ebersole: That's the difference.

[36:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, you don't have to because now you have TV series money.

[36:52] Christine Ebersole: Yeah. And 50 years under my belt.

[36:55] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[36:55] Christine Ebersole: So I mean, if something comes along, you know, I take a look and say yay or nay, but I'm not chasing. It's such a relief. It's like I'll clean out desk drawers. That's what I'll do.

[37:08] Bruce Gotlieb: What a great, yeah.

[37:09] Christine Ebersole: You know. You can do anything you want, which is, yeah, at this point in your career to, you know, to sort of have this big high at this point is amazing. And now you just do what you want to do. It has to be very freeing, like a feeling of liberation almost.

[37:26] Christine Ebersole: It really is. It really is. I'm just, I'm so grateful and I'm so relieved. I don't know how else to express it.

[37:36] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, you know, let's hope that the show goes into syndication and reruns and you know, because it is going into syndication.

[37:44] Christine Ebersole: But it is going into syndication, yeah.

[37:46] Bruce Gotlieb: That's amazing.

[37:47] Christine Ebersole: Three years, which, which you so surprised me because it doesn't happen anymore.

[37:51] Bruce Gotlieb: No, syndication because of streaming and everything, but we got three years syndication. That's a huge deal. Congratulations.

[37:57] Bruce Gotlieb: Huge.

[37:59] Christine Ebersole: Yes, congratulations. Would you produce a Broadway show again, having done it before?

[38:04] Christine Ebersole: Well, you never know. You know, you never know what it, what, yeah, something might come along. I don't know. I'm not looking to produce anything, but you just don't know what the good Lord has in store for you.

[38:18] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. You're not ruling it out, and that's good to know.

[38:22] Christine Ebersole: No, no, never say never.

[38:25] Bruce Gotlieb: Exactly. That's a good motto.

[38:27] Christine Ebersole: Oh my gosh. Christine, thank you so much. It's been such a joy to have you on Behind the Awards. We hope you'll come back when you have something to promote. It's been so much fun talking with you both and rekindling all these memories, all these great memories.

[38:43] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, thank you for the stories. They've been wonderful.

[38:45] Christine Ebersole: Thank you so much. And all our listeners, we hope you will look for Bob Hearts Abishola in syndication now that it's coming up. We will continue to follow you, and we will see you all next time on Behind the Awards.

[38:59] Christine Ebersole: Thank you so much.