This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Julianna Margulies: Hi, this is Julianna Margulies.

[0:02] Peter Gallagher: Hi, this is Peter Gallagher.

[0:03] Peter Francis James: Hi, this is Peter Francis James.

[0:04] Kate MacCluggage: Hi, this is Kate MacCluggage.

[0:06] Julianna Margulies: And you're listening to Behind the Awards.

[0:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my God.

[0:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my God.

[0:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Are you kidding me?

[0:22] Bruce Gotlieb: That thing is counting down.

[0:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about in therapy next week now.

[0:26] Bruce Gotlieb: This is I won something.

[0:29] Eila Mell: So um Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards.

[0:36] Eila Mell: I'm Eila.

[0:37] Eila Mell: I'm here with Bruce.

[0:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Hello, Bruce.

[0:40] Bruce Gotlieb: Hello, Eila.

[0:41] Bruce Gotlieb: How are you?

[0:42] Eila Mell: I'm good.

[0:43] Eila Mell: So that was Julie Bowen, who's so funny and so great and in such great shape.

[0:49] Bruce Gotlieb: My God, I want to go work out with her.

[0:52] Eila Mell: Yes, that was her Emmy win for Modern Family.

[0:55] Bruce Gotlieb: How many does she have?

[0:56] Eila Mell: It seems like she has a closet full.

[0:58] Bruce Gotlieb: I don't know if she just won once, but she should have won every year.

[1:01] Eila Mell: She's so good on that show.

[1:02] Eila Mell: It's such a great I mean in the ensemble work of that show.

[1:06] Eila Mell: I mean, they all could win every year, right?

[1:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, and I mean they were certainly, you know, nominated plenty quite a number of times.

[1:15] Eila Mell: I know.

[1:15] Eila Mell: She won two Emmys.

[1:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay.

[1:17] Eila Mell: 2011 and 2012.

[1:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[1:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Back to back Emmys.

[1:21] Eila Mell: So was she best lead or supporting?

[1:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Because it could have gone either way.

[1:26] Eila Mell: Um, she was supporting.

[1:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay.

[1:29] Bruce Gotlieb: Did you have a favorite Modern Family character?

[1:33] Eila Mell: Um, I different for different reasons.

[1:36] Eila Mell: I don't think I had one per se that was like this is my favorite.

[1:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[1:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I don't think I did either.

[1:41] Bruce Gotlieb: It just was they were just all so good.

[1:43] Eila Mell: Even from like sometimes, you know, the main characters will call them like the adults, you know, and then the kids sometimes when you have kids on TV, they're just sometimes are they a not to call them a prop, but they're, you know, serve a very specific purpose.

[1:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[2:00] Eila Mell: But even in this, I felt like the kids were so funny.

[2:03] Eila Mell: They had so much so funny.

[2:04] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, I love when they got the new when they aged up.

[2:08] Eila Mell: Lily, I love the I thought she was hilarious.

[2:11] Eila Mell: And then when that little Joe came on the show, that kid was such a good actor.

[2:16] Bruce Gotlieb: I know.

[2:16] Bruce Gotlieb: I think it, you know, you the you get lightning in the bottle sometimes.

[2:20] Eila Mell: I know.

[2:21] Eila Mell: Whoever cast those kids was really good.

[2:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, for sure.

[2:26] Eila Mell: And Sarah Hyland's been acting since she's a little teeny tiny girl.

[2:30] Bruce Gotlieb: And yeah.

[2:30] Eila Mell: She was Molly in Annie.

[2:32] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[2:33] Eila Mell: That's right.

[2:34] Eila Mell: Wow.

[2:34] Eila Mell: And I think she might have even been Annie at some other, like as she then got older.

[2:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, well, speaking of Annie.

[2:40] Eila Mell: And she just finished her run in Little Shop of Horrors.

[2:43] Bruce Gotlieb: That's the West End Theater.

[2:44] Eila Mell: Yeah, amazing.

[2:45] Eila Mell: But speaking of Annie, on our Instagram, you posted Ariana Grande as Annie.

[2:50] Bruce Gotlieb: That's when she was eight.

[2:51] Eila Mell: I mean, and she sounded so good.

[2:54] Bruce Gotlieb: She did.

[2:54] Bruce Gotlieb: And you know, she's in this other little, like, no name movie right now.

[2:58] Eila Mell: Yeah, maybe we'll talk about it.

[3:00] Eila Mell: We both saw it.

[3:01] Bruce Gotlieb: I I don't think anyone else has seen Wicked yet.

[3:04] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, it's only this huge global phenomenon.

[3:08] Eila Mell: Oh my god, but how good is it?

[3:10] Eila Mell: It's it's so good.

[3:11] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, so just let's backtrack a little bit.

[3:14] Eila Mell: You and I are late to the Wicked party because we only first saw the play back in January of this year.

[3:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, yes.

[3:21] Bruce Gotlieb: We did only just see the play, but I did have the cast recording from when it first came out.

[3:28] Eila Mell: Okay.

[3:28] Eila Mell: So I was familiar with the music and I was kind of immersed in the world, even though I was looking through the window at it.

[3:35] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, not me.

[3:36] Bruce Gotlieb: Because you know I don't like any kind of spoilers, so I stay away until I see something.

[3:41] Eila Mell: So I stayed away a long time.

[3:43] Eila Mell: Not on purpose.

[3:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, but I mean, but you had to know some of it.

[3:46] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, you've seen The Wizard of Oz, so you knew some of the players.

[3:49] Eila Mell: Of course, of course.

[3:50] Eila Mell: But I didn't want to know how that factored into the show.

[3:54] Bruce Gotlieb: So, yeah, as much as I could, you know, I knew as little as possible.

[3:58] Eila Mell: So I was surprised at the end, and I loved the end of the play.

[4:01] Eila Mell: So now I can't wait for the second movie to see how they incorporate all of that.

[4:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[4:06] Bruce Gotlieb: And they'll be um adding two new songs, two original songs to part two.

[4:11] Eila Mell: Okay.

[4:12] Eila Mell: Um, and one of the cool things I thought was, which is no secret, I'm sure most people know that when they recorded, everyone did sang live.

[4:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[4:20] Bruce Gotlieb: As opposed to going into the studio recording and then having playback on while they're filming a scene.

[4:28] Eila Mell: So I heard that the director wanted them to record it, but Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande didn't want to do that.

[4:34] Bruce Gotlieb: And he was surprised at how well they didn't.

[4:37] Bruce Gotlieb: They were like, well, that's what we do.

[4:40] Eila Mell: And it is, but I also think it gives you um the ability to be a little bit more flexible to play a little bit more, you know.

[4:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, and more realistic.

[4:50] Eila Mell: Absolutely.

[4:51] Eila Mell: Because you're not just lip syncing like the Thanksgiving Day parade, which you know drives me crazy.

[4:56] Bruce Gotlieb: I never even noticed until someone told me I was a full adult before I realized they weren't singing live on the parade.

[5:03] Bruce Gotlieb: It just never occurred to me to even think about.

[5:05] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[5:06] Eila Mell: I know that doesn't show me in the best light.

[5:08] Eila Mell: I'm well aware.

[5:11] Bruce Gotlieb: So there's Oscar buzz going around.

[5:14] Eila Mell: Oh, I think that will become realized, don't you think?

[5:18] Bruce Gotlieb: I think so.

[5:18] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, I will say I think Ariana Grande's buzz is is a little bit more than Cynthia Erivo's current.

[5:26] Eila Mell: Yes.

[5:26] Eila Mell: It is.

[5:27] Bruce Gotlieb: Um, but she Ariana Grande, man, she knocks it out of the park.

[5:31] Bruce Gotlieb: She's so talented.

[5:32] Bruce Gotlieb: I think that people are starting to recognize that she can just do so much more than they realize, you know.

[5:38] Eila Mell: Um, she's not just a singer, she's been an actor for her whole life.

[5:42] Eila Mell: You know, she was Annie.

[5:44] Eila Mell: She was in 13.

[5:45] Eila Mell: She's, you know, a theater kid.

[5:47] Eila Mell: She knows what she's doing.

[5:49] Bruce Gotlieb: And she pays homage to Kristen Chenoweth's version.

[5:53] Bruce Gotlieb: And, you know, also I think to the original Glinda from Wizard of Oz.

[5:59] Eila Mell: There's some nuances there.

[6:01] Eila Mell: But then she also does just her own thing that is it leaps off the screen.

[6:07] Eila Mell: And she was very aware that she didn't want it to be Ariana Grande, the pop star playing this part.

[6:14] Bruce Gotlieb: So, you know, I think she approached it with no ego, with just the purest of intentions, and she's so good.

[6:21] Eila Mell: And I I really don't feel like there's a loose thing in the show.

[6:24] Eila Mell: Like you you go to see something and you're like, well, this could have been.

[6:27] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[6:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Or this maybe was.

[6:29] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[6:29] Eila Mell: But just from top to bottom, everything in the cinematography, the thoughtfulness into all the little nods that are done.

[6:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[6:37] Bruce Gotlieb: You know, I mean, it's a all those little Easter eggs.

[6:40] Eila Mell: You see a little rainbow at the very beginning.

[6:42] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[6:42] Eila Mell: You know, you're over the rainbow.

[6:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Even the font for Wicked is, you know, in kindness to the Wizard of Oz.

[6:50] Eila Mell: Yeah, I love it.

[6:50] Eila Mell: There's so many.

[6:51] Eila Mell: It's such a loving tribute too.

[6:53] Eila Mell: And yet it's its own entity.

[6:56] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely.

[6:57] Bruce Gotlieb: I love that.

[6:57] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[6:58] Eila Mell: No.

[6:58] Eila Mell: Um Paul Taswell, his costumes are gorgeous.

[7:02] Eila Mell: I want to wear everything that Glinda got to wear in that movie.

[7:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Every pink dress, I'll take.

[7:08] Eila Mell: All right.

[7:09] Eila Mell: Send him a note.

[7:10] Bruce Gotlieb: I will.

[7:10] Bruce Gotlieb: I will.

[7:11] Eila Mell: I'm expecting you to make this happen, Bruce.

[7:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, okay.

[7:15] Bruce Gotlieb: Uh no, it's just so well done.

[7:16] Bruce Gotlieb: I think that Paul should and will win the Oscar for costumes.

[7:22] Eila Mell: He was nominated for West Side Story, but I think there's no question how good this was and so many costumes and what a job he did.

[7:30] Bruce Gotlieb: And he's having quite a year.

[7:31] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, between that and Death Becomes Her, those costumes are also changed the subject.

[7:36] Eila Mell: Yeah, no.

[7:37] Eila Mell: They're gorgeous.

[7:38] Eila Mell: And you know, not that he hasn't had success in the past with shows like, you know, Hamilton, just a small show like that, you know.

[7:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[7:47] Bruce Gotlieb: He knows what he's doing.

[7:48] Eila Mell: But um, he's great.

[7:49] Eila Mell: I think cinematography, it should definitely get a nomination.

[7:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I think director, John Chu, I think he'll get nominated.

[7:59] Eila Mell: I I think if you ever want to make a movie musical, John Chu is the only person you're going to.

[8:04] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, look what he did with this.

[8:05] Bruce Gotlieb: It's great.

[8:06] Bruce Gotlieb: And you don't lose the integrity of the play.

[8:08] Eila Mell: Sometimes it's so vastly different.

[8:11] Eila Mell: Right.

[8:12] Eila Mell: But this is really, you get everything that you want from the play, and then a little bit more because it's just a little bit different.

[8:19] Eila Mell: I I loved it.

[8:20] Eila Mell: I have seen it twice now.

[8:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, you did?

[8:23] Bruce Gotlieb: When did you go back?

[8:24] Eila Mell: I went back the other day.

[8:26] Bruce Gotlieb: You didn't tell me that.

[8:28] Eila Mell: And I went to this AMC Prime, it's called.

[8:31] Bruce Gotlieb: So it has surround sound.

[8:33] Eila Mell: There, the seats vi do like these like vibrations.

[8:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, so it's 4D then.

[8:39] Eila Mell: Not 4D.

[8:40] Eila Mell: But they that's weird.

[8:41] Eila Mell: Okay.

[8:42] Eila Mell: It just said, I don't know.

[8:43] Eila Mell: It just said prime.

[8:44] Bruce Gotlieb: All right.

[8:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Whatever.

[8:45] Eila Mell: But I will tell you the amount of sound that was engulfing was like nothing you could ever imagine.

[8:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my gosh.

[8:52] Eila Mell: So when I went, I happened to choose a theater that didn't have reclining seats.

[8:57] Bruce Gotlieb: So I was very disappointed, but I didn't even miss it because I was so into the movie.

[9:01] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, that's good.

[9:02] Bruce Gotlieb: But I'm not going back to that theater because now I only want to recline.

[9:06] Eila Mell: Well, you know, you're paying enough for a ticket.

[9:09] Eila Mell: You should be comfortable.

[9:10] Bruce Gotlieb: I know.

[9:10] Bruce Gotlieb: We get so spoiled.

[9:12] Eila Mell: Speaking of spoiled though.

[9:14] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[9:14] Bruce Gotlieb: How spoiled are we?

[9:16] Eila Mell: Oh my gosh.

[9:17] Eila Mell: We have the entire cast of Left on Tenth.

[9:21] Eila Mell: So we have Julianna Margulies, Peter Gallagher, Kate MacCluggage, and Peter Francis James.

[9:28] Bruce Gotlieb: You're here.

[9:29] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, they're here.

[9:30] Eila Mell: Thank you.

[9:31] Eila Mell: Huge thank you to the people who made it happen.

[9:34] Eila Mell: The teams, the PR teams, because it wasn't easy.

[9:37] Bruce Gotlieb: And also to Daryl Roth, our former guest who made this happen.

[9:42] Eila Mell: Yeah, we love Daryl.

[9:43] Eila Mell: And this is her production.

[9:45] Bruce Gotlieb: Um what a dream, right?

[9:49] Eila Mell: You know how much I love these actors.

[9:51] Eila Mell: Peter Gallagher is an actor who I followed for a very long time.

[9:56] Eila Mell: And I mean Julianna Margulies, of course.

[9:58] Eila Mell: Just, you know, amazing.

[10:01] Eila Mell: And we we get we get a little insight from them from their perspective, what what it's like, you know, to put on this show to be in in Delia's story.

[10:09] Bruce Gotlieb: And I think you can't even highlight just one thing.

[10:12] Eila Mell: I think it's a great conversation.

[10:14] Eila Mell: And we get to ask Kate about all her many, many, many costume and wig changes, which is so much fun.

[10:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely.

[10:22] Eila Mell: So yeah, so should we get into it?

[10:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Bring them all out.

[10:25] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, what are we waiting for?

[10:27] Eila Mell: Nothing.

[10:27] Eila Mell: Let's do it.

[10:31] Eila Mell: Something so special today.

[10:33] Eila Mell: We have the entire cast of a show that we love so much, Left on Tenth.

[10:38] Eila Mell: So welcome everyone.

[10:41] Eila Mell: Thank you.

[10:42] Eila Mell: So we're going to have joining us.

[10:44] Eila Mell: Yes, there's Julianna Margulies, there's Kate MacCluggage, there is Peter Gallagher.

[10:49] Eila Mell: And momentarily we're gonna have Peter Francis James, who we're gonna call PFJ, and Peter Gallagher will be Pier.

[10:57] Eila Mell: So just so the listeners will have an easier time knowing who's who.

[11:02] Eila Mell: So welcome everyone.

[11:04] Julianna Margulies: Thank you.

[11:05] Eila Mell: So first, oh my gosh.

[11:07] Eila Mell: Bruce and I had the pleasure of seeing the show.

[11:10] Eila Mell: And wow, we just loved it.

[11:13] Eila Mell: So Julianna, do are you stressed out at the beginning of the show having to listen to the phone company for 20 minutes?

[11:20] Julianna Margulies: Um it's inter I'm so used to it now. And and I'm I go backstage probably at the five minute call. Not to warm up because I do all that tap dancing and do all my tap behind. So I'm listening to the audience listen to it. And I always know it's gonna be a great show when places are called and the lights dim a little bit and you keep hearing the recording, and then you hear it's actually Kate and PFJ saying, if you'd like to us to call you back, but whenever that happens and I hear laughter in the audience, I know we're in for a good show.

[11:54] Julianna Margulies: Yeah. Um, but one in the beginning, uh, there was a show, Peter, where you said you heard a guy say something like, stop it. You know, because it it's a universal experience, I think. You know, this being on hold with a phone company. It's right PTSD. It it no, it really is, but it's so important to the show because that's how the show came about in the first place. It's how her memoir came about. Yeah. Right. Put and it puts everyone on the same I think everyone has a common ground now. You guys on stage and and the audience, everyone's able to have a shared experience. Well, and I I can feel because I break the fourth wall so quickly with the audience. Um you can just feel they're they're with me. They feel my pain. They and and they're so relieved that that it's not just them, but it's everybody.

[12:43] Julianna Margulies: So yeah. We're relieved that it's over that part.

[12:46] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[12:47] Julianna Margulies: But we also now have a common enemy, right?

[12:50] Peter Gallagher: Absolutely. Because I mean, it doesn't matter what if it's a matinee or an evening performance.

[12:56] Julianna Margulies: Um, whenever I say the line, and you know what? It turns out everyone hates Verizon.

[13:03] Julianna Margulies: It just always gets a huge laugh. Juliana, did the play come to you because of your relationship or because you knew Delia Ephron?

[13:11] Julianna Margulies: You know, it's a great question. I actually don't know the answer to that except um I really have never asked her. I should ask her. But I met her, our dogs were sniffing each other on the corner of 10th Street in 2021, and she had just read a memoir that I had written, and she had her mask on, and she said, I loved your book.

[13:31] Julianna Margulies: And then she took her mask down and uh and she said, I'm Delia Ephron. And I was yes, you are. And she said, I've just written a memoir that's coming out soon. Can I leave it a copy for you with your doorman?

[13:44] Julianna Margulies: And when we exchanged numbers and emails, and over the past few years, we would see each other and text and write, and we knew a few people in common. We had dinner with a whole bunch of women that I had known without knowing they knew her.

[13:58] Julianna Margulies: So we sort of kept this lovely, very light relationship. And then in January of this year of 2024, she emailed me out of the blue. I hadn't heard from her in a couple months and said, I actually wrote my book into a play, and I'd like you to play me.

[14:14] Julianna Margulies: Wow. And I was really taken aback just because first of all, I love the memoir so much, and I couldn't imagine her putting what was in that memoir on the stage in its entirety because it's a real journey that memoir.

[14:28] Julianna Margulies: Anyway, she sent me the play, and I read it right then and there in one sitting. I couldn't get up from the couch. And everything that was in the book that I love so much about the book, the rawness, the funny, the sad, the incredible vulnerabilities she was able to just write about was all in the play.

[14:47] Julianna Margulies: And so I said, if you're sure you want me, I would be happy to. So that's how it came about to me.

[14:55] Peter Gallagher: What an honor to be asked by the actual playwright and character.

[14:59] Julianna Margulies: Truly.

[15:10] Peter Gallagher: Maybe after it closes.

[15:12] Julianna Margulies: You don't want to think about that.

[15:13] Bruce Gotlieb: At what point did then did the project then come to you? Was it in similar time frame of Juliana's casting?

[15:22] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, more or less, I think. They just sent me the play and I read it and I couldn't put it down.

[15:26] Peter Gallagher: And that's all I needed. I to know. And I love the character, Peter Rutter. And it's a marvelous thing when the survivor of the story happens to be a wonderful writer.

[15:38] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[15:38] Peter Gallagher: And so it's all true. And it was recalled with the help of emails and documents and so on. And so we were telling a true story.

[15:47] Peter Gallagher: It's told by the survivor, and a story that I hoped would resonate with a large percentage of the theater going audience who were old enough to afford a ticket.

[15:57] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[15:58] Peter Gallagher: And old enough to be seeing, you know, the last half of their lives in more focus than you know a younger audience might, and find the circumstances and Delia's survival and her relationship and finding second chances in love and life a compelling story.

[16:16] Peter Gallagher: And that has been borne out as we all go on the autograph line after the show and hear the audience's stories many times are as compelling as Delia's.

[16:26] Julianna Margulies: I'm sure, yeah. You know, it's a rare opportunity that you get to play a real life person who was actually there during the process.

[16:34] Bruce Gotlieb: So what changed once you got to know the actual Peter?

[16:37] Peter Gallagher: Nothing. I mean it was great because I didn't meet Peter. Met Delia first.

[16:40] Peter Gallagher: She was with us every day in rehearsals, and then Peter started to come towards the end of rehearsals, and certainly for the workshop that we had.

[16:52] Peter Gallagher: But really it's like most things, it was all just suspicion. Found the clues in the script.

[16:56] Peter Gallagher: I didn't really mean to try to make an effort to mimic Peter or find out more about him, or and to my great relief, the people who knew Peter thought that I was very much like Peter, which was just a happy coincidence.

[17:12] Julianna Margulies: No one was angry.

[17:13] Peter Gallagher: Oh my gosh. Although his son did say, you know, the first time I saw it, you know, I wasn't so sure you used a money clip.

[17:22] Peter Gallagher: I don't think my dad would ever use a money clip. And I didn't mind a money clip at all.

[17:28] Julianna Margulies: I really I got it.

[17:29] Peter Gallagher: You were really like my dad.

[17:30] Bruce Gotlieb: We'll be right back. We have to listen to some commercials.

[17:36] Bruce Gotlieb: We have Peter Francis James has joined us, so welcome.

[17:41] Peter Francis James: Thank you.

[17:41] Bruce Gotlieb: So you and Kate, you play everyone else in the world of this play.

[17:46] Peter Francis James: There's four actors, but there are many characters.

[17:50] Bruce Gotlieb: So especially Kate, you have a lot of wig changes, which I can't even imagine the show backstage. Is there a count? Is there a number a number of how many wigs do you know that number?

[18:01] Kate MacCluggage: So it's eight wigs, I believe.

[18:04] Kate MacCluggage: Wow. 12 characters, 26 costume changes, and 18 of them are under 30.

[18:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, so they count as do you record them ever backstage to post?

[18:15] Kate MacCluggage: You know, it's so funny. We just started thinking about which ones would be most interesting.

[18:19] Kate MacCluggage: Yeah, some of them happen in the strangest places. You know, we're just trying to grab a little space and a wing because it makes me so quick.

[18:27] Kate MacCluggage: All the dressers have little lights attached to their eyeglasses.

[18:31] Julianna Margulies: Oh, how cool.

[18:32] Kate MacCluggage: I know. It's like those angler fish coming towards you. You just see lights coming at you.

[18:36] Bruce Gotlieb: Now do you walk back there and just stand like I can't get in their way?

[18:40] Kate MacCluggage: It's well, now we've got it really down to a science about what I do to prep, you know, as I'm coming off what buttons or magnets or velcro I can sort of undo.

[18:50] Kate MacCluggage: So by the time I get to Laura, who's my dresser and is incredible, she's just ripping whatever is on me off me.

[18:57] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[18:58] Kate MacCluggage: That must be stuffed. As an audience member, you see you go off, and it's a second later, you're back.

[19:04] Peter Gallagher: Peter or Juliana might have said two or three words, and you're like back on.

[19:08] Kate MacCluggage: So we say them very slowly.

[19:12] Julianna Margulies: Yes, please.

[19:13] Kate MacCluggage: We will shuffle across the stage a little slower than we might.

[19:16] Kate MacCluggage: We'll buy them both time.

[19:18] Kate MacCluggage: One of my slides, she has to change into Robos and she has 30 seconds.

[19:23] Peter Gallagher: Could you guys slow it down?

[19:24] Kate MacCluggage: Like, okay.

[19:25] Peter Gallagher: No one never says that.

[19:26] Kate MacCluggage: I mean, they do say it to us, but you never hear anybody saying that usually in the stage production.

[19:32] Peter Gallagher: Say it for me.

[19:32] Kate MacCluggage: They say run faster.

[19:33] Peter Gallagher: They're right.

[19:34] Kate MacCluggage: Well, you don't have the windows. You're just gonna have to run down the stairs through the I'm gonna run back up the stairs, run the other stairs, run to the front.

[19:41] Peter Gallagher: You just gotta run faster.

[19:42] Julianna Margulies: Oh PFJ, that's your work workout for the day, right?

[19:45] Peter Gallagher: You don't have to go to the gym because you're doing the show.

[19:47] Peter Francis James: I know when Sentino Fontana was doing act one, he would wear a pedometer, and he just all the running around he did on the stage, it turned out to be like miles and miles.

[19:56] Peter Gallagher: I can't believe it.

[19:57] Bruce Gotlieb: So I'm guessing that you know, the two of you, your characters are amalgams of all different people in their lives.

[20:04] Peter Francis James: They're real cool.

[20:05] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, specific did you meet any of those people? Did they come to the show?

[20:09] Peter Francis James: Yeah, we've met a few. It was opening night that I really met most of the people who are I'm portraying.

[20:16] Peter Francis James: The most interesting one was for me, was the real Dr. Van Zen turned to his wife and said, Am I really that humble?

[20:25] Peter Francis James: And she said, Yes. Delia's writing is so clear, you know, in just 10 words, she can so catch somebody that you know who they are.

[20:33] Peter Francis James: And you get she gets right to them.

[20:35] Peter Francis James: So otherwise it wouldn't work because ultimately people we do play, you literally just meet for 30 seconds, you know, the optometrist that I play.

[20:43] Peter Francis James: That's the most fun one for me in that people really like meeting Mitch, who's the first person I play.

[20:47] Peter Francis James: And 30 seconds later I come on as the optometrist and they hate.

[20:51] Peter Francis James: And that's kind of the job, you know, is to connect that quickly, let them connect that quickly so that we people this world, you know, and that's really what it feels like is each time I come out, I think it is that you're kind of racking them in a new world, is there is the job in a way.

[21:09] Peter Francis James: It's unlike anything else I've ever done. It's really, really fun.

[21:13] Bruce Gotlieb: And are there any little things that you have that just get you to the heart of each character?

[21:18] Peter Francis James: Because you change so quickly. It really is just there's no fat or waste in the writing.

[21:25] Peter Francis James: The first thing you say, um I mean, just I'm Dr. Van Casin, it's nice to meet you.

[21:32] Peter Francis James: You just do that in a Belgian accent and you can feel him.

[21:36] Peter Francis James: It's a wonderful sense of what people feel like in the mouth, you know, in a way.

[21:42] Julianna Margulies: She's really an extraordinary writer.

[21:44] Julianna Margulies: Juliana, did you feel like people had expectations of what Delia should be on stage?

[21:50] Julianna Margulies: No, I didn't because she wrote it. I knew what she wanted, so I was only really worried about her expectations.

[21:59] Julianna Margulies: Mm-hmm. And Susan Strowman's expectations.

[22:03] Julianna Margulies: But honestly, um, you know, Delia is such an interesting person because she grew up in the shadow of Nora, her sister, and she and I we because we live next to each other, we go home together a lot, and so we have these great conversations in the car.

[22:20] Julianna Margulies: And you can imagine being in the shadow of Nora, who was so well known and so well loved.

[22:27] Julianna Margulies: Delia started writing novels because she had to get out from under the shadow.

[22:32] Julianna Margulies: A lot of the movies that Delia and Nora worked on together, Delia didn't get screen credit because the studio wouldn't pay her.

[22:40] Julianna Margulies: I mean, I'm sure Nora took care of her, you know, whatever.

[22:44] Julianna Margulies: Sure. But it you know, she sort of was the silent partner.

[22:48] Julianna Margulies: And so she had to break out of that and she wrote a lot of great novels.

[22:52] Julianna Margulies: I've read all of them. Um and a lot of wonderful pieces that have been published.

[22:57] Julianna Margulies: But I think for Delia, because she isn't known so well the risk of being so vulnerable and raw um really didn't have a heavy weight to it she didn't care and so there was a freedom to that it's interesting I've been with Delia when people are like I knew your sister but I didn't realize you were a writer too I've been standing there where I and I looked for her reaction and she doesn't have one.

[23:21] Julianna Margulies: She just goes oh yeah phase her because she's lived it her whole life.

[23:25] Julianna Margulies: Yeah and so then you can also imagine what it was to survive something her sister died of.

[23:30] Peter Gallagher: Mm-hmm.

[23:31] Julianna Margulies: Yeah. It's tricky because she really loved Nora.

[23:36] Julianna Margulies: They were very close. I have that monologue where I say we were close.

[23:40] Julianna Margulies: Yeah. You know she was the firstborn I was the second I'm sure she coped by bossing me around her entire life.

[23:44] Julianna Margulies: That was Nora.

[23:45] Peter Gallagher: Everyone I know who's known Nora said she was bossy.

[23:48] Julianna Margulies: Yeah she was fabulous and great.

[23:51] Julianna Margulies: But she was Delia's to boss for sure.

[23:54] Peter Gallagher: Right the little sister.

[23:56] Julianna Margulies: Right. Then when you survive something your incredibly successful sister didn't there's um thank God she married Peter Rudder who's a Jungian.

[24:09] Julianna Margulies: So for me it was all about the underbelly of that which the audience doesn't need to know I just need to play what I know.

[24:15] Julianna Margulies: Um and there were a lot of monologues that were cut for time but but they were so integral for me to know exactly what she really wanted to convey in the lines that she's that she said originally that were cut because it was just way too much.

[24:30] Julianna Margulies: Um, so really for me, it was just about pleasing her and and making sure she and Peter and Susan Stroman felt that it portrayed her truly.

[24:40] Julianna Margulies: Because she comes from the world of writing for movies.

[24:44] Peter Gallagher: So I and I both mentioned after seeing it that it did the play felt very cinematic as opposed to some plays you see that you know feel very theatrical.

[24:55] Bruce Gotlieb: Do you think that because she writes cinematically that it was a different way to approach it from acting in a more traditional theatrical piece?

[25:04] Julianna Margulies: Yeah, I think it's a real juxtaposition between writing for film and also writing novels.

[25:10] Julianna Margulies: A lot because she loves the English language so much, worship of the written word, right?

[25:15] Julianna Margulies: She says that right away. And if you hear her diction, and also because I've read every single thing she's ever written, there's there's repetition in her writing, words she uses often, and also very old-fashioned.

[25:28] Julianna Margulies: Like who says good grief?

[25:30] Peter Gallagher: Be split.

[25:31] Julianna Margulies: Like it's it puts you in the world of cinema immediate and uh of a different era, which is already romantic, yeah, in my mind anyway.

[25:40] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[25:40] Julianna Margulies: Um, so but I think because she's a novelist and a screenwriter, the play moves so fluidly and quickly, even with if you dissect the actual writing.

[25:50] Peter Gallagher: When I'm talking to Julia on the phone, it hits me every night, and I don't know how many performances we're already into, but every night I I was sometimes impatient or wanting to be out of the apartment.

[26:03] Julianna Margulies: Now that's not how normal people speak, yeah.

[26:06] Peter Gallagher: But it's literature.

[26:08] Julianna Margulies: You you see exactly what she's feeling and means.

[26:12] Peter Gallagher: And there's in a strange way, it the way it's easy to memorize Shakespeare because there's a rhythm and a cadence and a rule.

[26:21] Julianna Margulies: It's the same with Julius's writing in in all the monologues, I have to say, because it's literature.

[26:27] Peter Gallagher: There's an ease to it.

[26:28] Julianna Margulies: And I I just had to find the way to make it not stand out.

[26:34] Peter Gallagher: To make it natural.

[26:35] Julianna Margulies: It's very natural.

[26:37] Peter Gallagher: Her writing is so natural though.

[26:38] Julianna Margulies: It re you know, it reminds you of the way, even though it's like literature, like you said, but it sounds like just people in New York.

[26:46] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[26:47] Julianna Margulies: At the same time.

[26:49] Peter Gallagher: Which is very familiar.

[26:50] Julianna Margulies: And I think that puts audiences at ease right away because people love what's familiar.

[26:55] Peter Gallagher: They love what's familiar, but I also think that because of because we have Susan Stroman as our director who really paints the most beautiful canvas for this story with the music and the dancing and the shadows.

[27:07] Julianna Margulies: A friend of mine came to see it and said the sh the show never stops.

[27:11] Peter Gallagher: It move it just keeps moving, and yet there are moments that are really that that sit on you.

[27:16] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[27:17] Peter Gallagher: Um but in that is lifted up with the music and and the way she choreographed every scene.

[27:23] Julianna Margulies: I mean, it was such a wonderful surprise to have dancing in the show too.

[27:27] Peter Gallagher: I didn't expect that.

[27:28] Julianna Margulies: And we get Peter singing a little bit too.

[27:31] Peter Gallagher: I mean, that's a tree.

[27:33] Julianna Margulies: That was a surprise.

[27:33] Peter Gallagher: We really have to credit Susan Stroman, I think as much as Delia in terms of using the vocabulary of production design and music and dance and light to you know tell those parts of the story instantly.

[27:51] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[27:52] Peter Gallagher: That, you know, endow it with that cinematic quality as well, you know, that support what Delia put on the page, which is also cinematic.

[27:59] Julianna Margulies: But you know, it would have been a challenge to just stand there and say the do the scenes without the assist of you know, a a moment of dance to accelerate the feelings of the characters and make them instantly and palpably understood by the audience.

[28:17] Peter Gallagher: Yes, right.

[28:17] Julianna Margulies: And done quickly, you know.

[28:19] Peter Gallagher: So it I mean it reminded me, it reminded me a little bit of the when we did the real thing with the Mike Nichols directed.

[28:26] Julianna Margulies: He was like insistent about the scene changes happening quickly and seamlessly on you know on turntables and and has that same and I have the same feeling in this show of that sweep of that revolve of that constant, you know, energy illuminating the story.

[28:46] Peter Gallagher: And also for Delia, I think because she survived a near-death experience, she just doesn't really sweat the small stuff.

[28:56] Julianna Margulies: I don't know how she was before this.

[28:58] Peter Gallagher: Right.

[28:58] Julianna Margulies: I knew Nora a little bit, but not really.

[29:02] Peter Gallagher: But it was she had the benefit of having survived and having that kind of survivor's perspective and openness.

[29:10] Julianna Margulies: Let's take a minute to hear a word from our sponsors.

[29:16] Bruce Gotlieb: I know you two guys from the show for musicals, but you two ladies, I didn't I don't know if you have musicals in your background, and you both have to dance in this show, and you're great.

[29:27] Kate MacCluggage: Is that something new for either of you?

[29:29] Julianna Margulies: Grew up a dancey kid, but I'm a lot of fun at a karaoke bar, but I cannot dance.

[29:36] Peter Gallagher: Well, I wish I could well, I mean, the dancing is so much fun, and you and PFJ get to dance together, and it's wonderful.

[29:44] Julianna Margulies: And you get to dance to Susan Strohn's choreography.

[29:47] Peter Gallagher: Wow.

[29:47] Julianna Margulies: That's right.

[29:48] Peter Gallagher: I did say to my mother, I was like, Hey, mom, you're your kiddos on Broadway dancing.

[29:54] Julianna Margulies: That's a dream.

[29:55] Peter Gallagher: There's so many people, so it's incredible.

[29:57] Julianna Margulies: Amazing.

[29:58] Peter Gallagher: So, you know, I like to go into a show not knowing anything about it.

[30:01] Julianna Margulies: So I purposely don't read what the show's about.

[30:03] Peter Gallagher: I really had no idea.

[30:05] Julianna Margulies: So I go in and I feel like it's a show in two parts and they go together so beautifully.

[30:11] Peter Gallagher: But I really thought it was going to be a rom com when it started because of the way it was unfolding.

[30:17] Julianna Margulies: And then Juliana, you actually say, so not a rom-com.

[30:21] Peter Gallagher: And then it really changes and it it becomes very serious, still equally engaging.

[30:27] Julianna Margulies: But um, do you guys see it in two parts, sort of?

[30:31] Peter Gallagher: I very much do.

[30:32] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[30:32] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, absolutely.

[30:34] Julianna Margulies: But I think it's it's part of the beauty of the piece.

[30:39] Peter Gallagher: And that she was in a place where her life seemed to be finally emerging into this thing she'd always wanted, which was to be in this romantic comedy.

[30:49] Julianna Margulies: Yeah, you know, and she was in it, and then the shadow came.

[30:52] Peter Gallagher: You know, so deeply truthful.

[30:56] Julianna Margulies: I think we all have felt that in our lives.

[30:58] Peter Gallagher: Everything's working, you know.

[31:00] Julianna Margulies: It's the unfairness, the quote unfairness of life.

[31:04] Peter Gallagher: And I just think it's such it's really what in the end for me.

[31:08] Julianna Margulies: So many people take away so many things from this, it astonishes me.

[31:12] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, this never ceases to amaze me, the different things people will say about how deeply it's touched them and something I didn't expect, you know.

[31:20] Julianna Margulies: I think one of the huge gifts that I see repeating is this racure of the whole of life idea that all of it's there and all of it is worth a living.

[31:32] Peter Gallagher: They go, I didn't like it when it did that, and then I loved that it did that.

[31:36] Julianna Margulies: That's the connection I wanted to do.

[31:39] Peter Gallagher: You get that payoff at the end.

[31:40] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[31:40] Peter Gallagher: They get they get it too, and they're going, wait a minute, when it's starting to get dark, and I was crying.

[31:45] Julianna Margulies: And then at the end, I was they go on this amazing journey.

[31:49] Peter Gallagher: That delia went up.

[31:51] Julianna Margulies: A continuous cycle of joy and pain.

[31:53] Peter Gallagher: I want to say that I experienced totality.

[31:56] Julianna Margulies: Right.

[31:56] Peter Gallagher: And also the the change and shift is exactly what it's like when you get a diagnosis because your world is immediately different.

[32:04] Julianna Margulies: So it mirrors what people go through in real life.

[32:07] Peter Gallagher: But you don't feel immediately different necessarily.

[32:10] Julianna Margulies: Right.

[32:11] Peter Gallagher: But your life is, you know, your life changes in a second when you feel like that speech.

[32:15] Julianna Margulies: How could I?

[32:16] Peter Gallagher: How could I when I'm so gloriously happy?

[32:18] Julianna Margulies: How could I look at it?

[32:19] Peter Gallagher: How can I not be healthy when I was so gloriously happy?

[32:22] Julianna Margulies: Part of me was still the person who wasn't sick.

[32:24] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[32:30] Julianna Margulies: But, you know, on the on the bench in Washington Square Park, where Gilead, you know, and Peter sort of she's trying to say, I can't do this.

[32:37] Peter Gallagher: And he says, you know, uh life is celebrating Jerry, uh, crying over Jerry and Virginia and celebrating us.

[32:45] Julianna Margulies: There's different stages in life, and that's what the play is about.

[32:48] Peter Gallagher: It's what's remarkable about that bench that we sit on in the play is that there's a little plaque on the back of it, which is the exact same plaque that Susan Stroman had put on a bench in Central Park for her husband, Mike Cochrant.

[33:05] Julianna Margulies: Right.

[33:06] Peter Gallagher: Who died of leukemia and and didn't make it.

[33:09] Julianna Margulies: Right.

[33:09] Peter Gallagher: And so there's there's so much sort of deep resonance.

[33:12] Julianna Margulies: I was would often just be astounded at Susan Stroman's stoicism and unwillingness to sort of burden the playground with her profound and deep feeling.

[33:26] Peter Gallagher: She expressed them through her work constantly.

[33:29] Julianna Margulies: And it was remarkable to be, you know, in their presence.

[33:35] Peter Gallagher: Powerful, talented, wonderful woman.

[33:38] Julianna Margulies: And Daryl Ross, too, who's, you know, has such a commitment to women's stories and to good theater.

[33:45] Peter Gallagher: And to, you know, I I think of her as a real, the kind of producer that I've always known and always respected.

[33:53] Julianna Margulies: Well, she's a real champion.

[33:55] Peter Gallagher: You know, she's amazing.

[33:56] Julianna Margulies: We've had her on our show, and we just love her.

[33:59] Peter Gallagher: And when she was on, she talked about, you know, the types of stories that she likes to tell and women's stories being one of them and how passionate it she is about that.

[34:06] Julianna Margulies: And she'd also talked about organizing the right people for the piece.

[34:10] Peter Gallagher: And she talked about it from Susan Stroman all the way down, but you can see Daryl's passion and every everyone, including all of your passions kind of all coming together and the chemistry, how it all works.

[34:23] Julianna Margulies: It just, it just does.

[34:25] Peter Gallagher: And you leave the show, whether you can resonate with it or not, and I I shared this with Darrell because she wanted to know everyone's different, you know, juxtaposition and how we came to the story.

[34:35] Julianna Margulies: You know, me having dealt with cancer from the the role of somebody who I love being affected by it.

[34:45] Peter Gallagher: You know, you see that in how Peter and and PFJ's characters and you know, all of them, how they all affect from Delia's character because Delia's experience is her experience, but they also have their own experience now of dealing with this diagnosis.

[35:01] Julianna Margulies: And it just it does, it ebbs and flows beautifully, and you could just see everyone's passion and how Daryl's line goes all the way through it.

[35:09] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, there's so many ways to connect to the piece, as PFJ was saying before.

[35:12] Julianna Margulies: It's really true.

[35:12] Peter Gallagher: One of my best friends came to see it, and one of the things she was really moved by, she has two little girls, and she grew up, she always wanted a sister and she never had one.

[35:22] Julianna Margulies: And so she has two little girls now.

[35:24] Peter Gallagher: And for her, one of the most moving things was hearing Delia, Juliana as Delia talking about Nora and thinking about her little girls growing up together, going forward in life and knowing that they're gonna have each and it's also very much about friendships and love in that way.

[35:42] Julianna Margulies: It's not only a romantic love story, which is so nice, you don't see that so much.

[35:46] Peter Gallagher: I so agree.

[35:47] Julianna Margulies: I mean, obviously that's what I connected to when I auditioned for it.

[35:51] Peter Gallagher: And um I also think that whole saying of we are the sum of what the five or ten people you keep around us, or whatever that phrase is, but and I think about that a lot in terms of what I might role in the show and what my job is here, and um Delia has attracted such an interesting caring group around her.

[36:14] Julianna Margulies: And it's really fun, you know.

[36:16] Peter Gallagher: Obviously, theatrically I want to make them different because that's what why tell the story.

[36:21] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[36:22] Peter Gallagher: But then they are also also different.

[36:24] Julianna Margulies: They all served a different purpose for Delia.

[36:27] Peter Gallagher: She has she has people who are there who can she can talk about work with.

[36:31] Julianna Margulies: She has people who are there who will push her to do the things she's afraid to do.

[36:36] Peter Gallagher: She has people in her life, but they all love her the same amount, you know.

[36:40] Julianna Margulies: It's really uh which is a the great job for me to just care about Delia slash Juliana so much.

[36:47] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[36:47] Julianna Margulies: Easy.

[36:48] Peter Gallagher: Well, and she used to remember she I I had that monologue where I said my girlfriends um were my warriors.

[36:55] Julianna Margulies: Um it was a beautiful monologue about her girlfriend seeing her through this tough time.

[36:59] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, we realized we didn't need it because you see it.

[37:02] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[37:04] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, that's what I tell it in a monologue, but it I'm so glad I had it.

[37:08] Julianna Margulies: Um, because that's how she sees her girlfriends.

[37:11] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[37:12] Julianna Margulies: Or even there were more that got cut.

[37:15] Peter Gallagher: She had more girlfriends, and she said it's you know not easy when your girl your girlfriend's come to see the play and they're not in it.

[37:22] Julianna Margulies: Imagine.

[37:23] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[37:25] Julianna Margulies: Interesting to see, you know, a woman and her friends, which I think is very different from men.

[37:31] Peter Gallagher: Men tend to, you know, be inclined to go off into the woods and die alone, you know, and not bother anybody.

[37:38] Julianna Margulies: And I mean, I think it's true.

[37:39] Peter Gallagher: I mean, you like as men get older and it's you some have to be really coerced or encouraged or urged to establish community.

[37:49] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[37:49] Peter Gallagher: And we're sort of raised to make it on our own and you know, not ask for too much, and or you know, as opposed to seeing this beautiful tribe that Delia brings with her.

[38:04] Julianna Margulies: And you know, so I watched this and I thought, wow, well, if I was in that circumstance, I might have like one guy.

[38:16] Peter Gallagher: I think I'm dying.

[38:17] Julianna Margulies: Oh, let me know.

[38:18] Peter Gallagher: I doubt that.

[38:21] Julianna Margulies: I don't know, but that those kind of the depth of those relationships require care and attention.

[38:27] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[38:27] Julianna Margulies: And you know, showing up to Wales to visit your friends in Wales.

[38:32] Peter Francis James: But also, you know, we really get to see through this play what the role of a caretaker is, because you don't see that.

[38:38] Julianna Margulies: Wow.

[38:39] Peter Francis James: And without Peter being such a champion for Delia, maybe she doesn't make it.

[38:45] Julianna Margulies: Well, what's remarkable too very good fortunate.

[38:48] Peter Francis James: He's a medical doctor.

[38:49] Julianna Margulies: He's not a psychologist.

[38:51] Peter Francis James: He's a psychiatrist and he's inclined and he lost his mother at a very early age.

[38:57] Julianna Margulies: And he would be, I'm sure disinclined to lose another woman in his life that was so important.

[39:04] Peter Francis James: And just lost his wife.

[39:05] Julianna Margulies: Right.

[39:06] Peter Francis James: And um he knows loss and he's you know he's gotten from he's made friends with loss, but it doesn't make it the threat of it any easier.

[39:18] Julianna Margulies: He's really an impressive guy and I love him.

[39:20] Peter Gallagher: I love him you want to just meet him after the show.

[39:24] Julianna Margulies: You I often do when you guys are on stage do you hear because the day that we went to see the show the audience was very vocal very participant in their thoughts.

[39:37] Peter Gallagher: Do you guys hear that?

[39:38] Julianna Margulies: Is that like a daily occurrence?

[39:38] Peter Gallagher: I don't know where it's gonna happen.

[39:41] Julianna Margulies: Oh what it's gonna be I think it was it was telling us well this is the the bad story to start because I don't actually know it.

[39:48] Peter Gallagher: But somebody who was who was hard of hearing and was almost talking very loudly and the kind you know responding to the play but yes we hear all sorts of gas Delia told me the other night that because she comes to see it about three times a week and after Peter and I get together and I have that thing sex sex all the time.

[40:12] Peter Francis James: Yeah this woman in her row said we knew we have sex after 70.

[40:16] Julianna Margulies: That's right.

[40:17] Peter Francis James: That's the one.

[40:18] Julianna Margulies: That's what I was talking about.

[40:19] Peter Francis James: He said puts her hearing back.

[40:21] Julianna Margulies: She goes to glad for the whole theater to hear.

[40:23] Peter Francis James: Well, people get to know that.

[40:26] Julianna Margulies: But Juliana, I have to say, no one is gonna think that you're 70.

[40:29] Peter Gallagher: Look, you can get away with it in theater.

[40:32] Julianna Margulies: I'm obviously much younger than she was when she went through this.

[40:35] Peter Gallagher: But it's a just, you know, in the play it says, Delia, somewhere north of 50 years old.

[40:41] Julianna Margulies: So we're in my 50s.

[40:43] Peter Gallagher: I'm okay with that.

[40:44] Julianna Margulies: I think in a movie it might be tricky if if you know they said she was 72 in the movie, but I don't think they'll ever make that movie.

[40:51] Peter Francis James: What's always amazes me is when the audience sometimes they'll applaud in the like they usually always applaud after Kate and PFJ finish their seven brides dance.

[41:02] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[41:02] Peter Francis James: Which is why we put in an extra ring for the phone when Peter and I are about right at the end.

[41:07] Julianna Margulies: But then like sometimes after the we call a scary hospital scene when Dealy almost dies, when the song ends, that beautiful Barbara Cook song ends, sometimes there's been applause there.

[41:20] Peter Gallagher: And oftentimes I think it's just because the audience is so at least that she's made it, you know.

[41:27] Julianna Margulies: But it just depends on the audience.

[41:29] Peter Gallagher: It depends on if it's a matinee or an evening show.

[41:32] Julianna Margulies: It's just a really interesting thing to be a part of and to see how collectively an audience responds together, which is what's so beautiful about theater.

[41:41] Peter Francis James: Yeah, you know.

[41:41] Julianna Margulies: For me, the best part of the show is that it is so inspiring to people who are sick that you can be at death's door like she was.

[41:49] Peter Gallagher: She was ready to give up and still have a full recovery and uh and thrive in life.

[41:54] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[41:55] Peter Francis James: And even maybe a sense of humor, too.

[41:58] Julianna Margulies: There's a line that what you were saying, Juliana, about the difference between Matinee or evening audience audiences.

[42:03] Peter Gallagher: There's a line that is a laugh line at Matinee's that is not a laugh line in the evenings as often, which I think is so interesting.

[42:10] Julianna Margulies: And it's in that first Julia phone call scene where I say, You're asking me about my husband, do his Parkinson's, and I it will be all right.

[42:20] Peter Gallagher: Eventually he will be, and eventually he won't be.

[42:22] Julianna Margulies: And if it's a matinee, you hear.

[42:25] Peter Gallagher: And if it's an evening show, there's this sort of acceptance, I think.

[42:31] Julianna Margulies: Yes, a recognition.

[42:33] Peter Francis James: We'll be right back.

[42:34] Julianna Margulies: We have to listen to some commercials.

[42:39] Peter Francis James: TFJ, who is your favorite character that you get to play?

[42:43] Peter Francis James: Really, it isn't a character.

[42:45] Peter Francis James: It's it's the joy of playing all of them.

[42:47] Peter Francis James: But I took a project last back whenever we read Wallman a bit.

[42:53] Julianna Margulies: And he was never my favorite writer.

[42:56] Peter Francis James: Um, one of his phrases hit me so hard, and it's I contain multitudes, and that has been so affirming for me, uh, where I am in my life as an actor to get to feel that every night that I contain multitudes, and to bring that to my fellow actors in the audience.

[43:14] Julianna Margulies: That's what I'm doing is you know, it really just tears me up.

[43:19] Julianna Margulies: So it's really that for me.

[43:20] Kate MacCluggage: Kate who do you like to play the most?

[43:22] Julianna Margulies: Is there one?

[43:23] Kate MacCluggage: Well, it definitely rotates.

[43:25] Kate MacCluggage: There's certain shows and certain times that it changes.

[43:27] Kate MacCluggage: I have a very special place in my heart for Alice, who is the um the therapist who lives on the West Coast and knows Peter Rutter.

[43:35] Kate MacCluggage: I find her delightful.

[43:37] Kate MacCluggage: I really like playing the hospital deserve for that like one little scene that's like um, but I do but the one who's most impactful, and that certainly in terms of audience reaction is is playing Dr. Robos.

[43:50] Kate MacCluggage: She is such a superstar in her field, and a number of her patients have come to the show, a number of her patients' families have come to the show.

[44:01] Kate MacCluggage: And talking with them afterwards on the autograph line has really been incredible.

[44:07] Julianna Margulies: We were talking before about audience reactions, and she said one she came to one of the previews, and we were talking afterwards, and she said, I didn't realize how much I am the angel of death in this story, because there's this moment after we you go to Wales where you know Delia says, I feel like I could live forever, that she's just been totally restored, and Dr. Robos comes on, and you hear the audience feel oh no, steer here um bad news.

[44:38] Peter Francis James: Um it's funny, you know, she said that and has said, no, no, no, but you're also a different kind of angel, you know.

[44:45] Julianna Margulies: She's really kind of extraordinary as a as a doctor as a woman.

[44:51] Julianna Margulies: But she's amazing, Dr. Robos.

[44:52] Julianna Margulies: She's everything that Delia describes, or her presence at she's been part of the production, in that she's the subjective scientific third perspective who is warm and captivating and funny and humble and brilliant and beautiful, and came to the previews.

[45:11] Julianna Margulies: I mean, came to the workshop, which was the first indication, and came to the the previews, you know, which was the only confirmation I had the stuff I was making up made any sense.

[45:24] Peter Francis James: And that it resonated with her, and she saw Peter Rutter in it, and she was generous about it, and and still surprised, as Kate said, that when she came to our that preview, she was astounded at how many of her patients were in the audience, and how many of them her patients were in the audience that it was their last weekend that they could be out in public before committing to a transplant or whatever therapy they would and being emboldened by the story to you know go for the gold.

[45:54] Julianna Margulies: Yeah, and she does wear incredible shoes every time, she's an incredible pair of.

[45:59] Peter Gallagher: She always looks amazing.

[46:01] Julianna Margulies: Well, that's important.

[46:03] Julianna Margulies: Shoes are very important in my life.

[46:04] Julianna Margulies: And also she's she's you know, just that line that Kate says when when Delia is just begging them to let her die, and she says, Give me 48 hours.

[46:13] Peter Gallagher: Mm-hmm.

[46:14] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[46:14] Peter Gallagher: Somewhere, give me another 48.

[46:16] Julianna Margulies: That's a very different way to think about healing.

[46:20] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[46:21] Julianna Margulies: It just is so heavy and dark.

[46:23] Peter Gallagher: And she lightens it up that way.

[46:25] Julianna Margulies: And the same way she says, don't be scared um of the treatment, be scared of the leukemia.

[46:30] Peter Gallagher: Right.

[46:31] Julianna Margulies: It just makes you think it in a different way.

[46:33] Peter Francis James: That's a freaking.

[46:35] Julianna Margulies: And I think that's really special.

[46:37] Julianna Margulies: And um, I think Delia was really lucky to have her.

[46:41] Peter Francis James: What was was really great about that when she give me 48 hours, and and if I get somewhere and give me another 48, was that her feeling inside in that moment when she, you know, read the counts and saw what a dire place she was in, is she was rocked and was speechless and didn't know what to say or how to be you know, calming or nurturing or informative or whatever.

[47:09] Julianna Margulies: She was just she was rocked by that because she loved Delia and she was in this precarious situation, and she said, I don't know.

[47:17] Peter Francis James: If this just came out of me, give me give me another give me 48 hours.

[47:22] Julianna Margulies: Wow.

[47:23] Julianna Margulies: And if and if I get somewhere, give me another just to to buy time to do just create a little a little space in the in in time are drawn to it to see these I remember when I was a kid I loved seeing watching movies and stories with people with lines in their faces because I I saw it as a roadmap you know as as their the their life etched and and experienced and I I was hungry for clues you know and and drawn to that so it's it's it seemed to have appeal.

[47:57] Peter Gallagher: No I don't want to watch people who don't have emotion on their face or don't look like they have life experience.

[48:04] Julianna Margulies: And like Juliana said it's that second chance at life and love and and who doesn't root for that right you right you you inherently want stories like that you it makes you feel like no matter what that there you know there's always that pot of gold at the end where there's life there's hope.

[48:21] Peter Francis James: Yes yeah like there's been a funny audience reaction after Peter and I have our first kiss on stage and then Dilly gets all neurotic and runs off stage and there's applause like people seem so happy that they're that that she's finding romance at food.

[48:36] Julianna Margulies: The audience is great because they are so entirely different every night.

[48:40] Peter Gallagher: Yeah so they they all sort of this creature that emerges from the from the dark to surprise you every once in a while you keep on toes for sure anyone who doesn't love this play is a cynic because if you can't see the love and the hope and the joy then you're probably in a really dark place.

[49:00] Julianna Margulies: Yeah, that's true.

[49:01] Peter Gallagher: And it has everything.

[49:02] Julianna Margulies: It even has seven brides for seven brothers.

[49:04] Peter Gallagher: Even though it's one bride and one brother.

[49:06] Julianna Margulies: But we're working.

[49:07] Peter Gallagher: But most importantly, it has dogs.

[49:10] Julianna Margulies: What is up working with the dogs?

[49:12] Peter Francis James: I love Charlie.

[49:14] Julianna Margulies: Charlie was on the street six months ago.

[49:16] Peter Francis James: Wow.

[49:17] Julianna Margulies: And so he is like, whatever you need.

[49:19] Peter Francis James: I'll do it.

[49:20] Julianna Margulies: With his little underbite.

[49:21] Peter Francis James: I mean, he's so funny.

[49:22] Julianna Margulies: And it's a big laugh.

[49:23] Peter Francis James: The day that we were there, you guys come out for your curtain call after the piece ends.

[49:27] Julianna Margulies: And the one of the women that was sitting behind us is like, but what about the dogs?

[49:33] Peter Francis James: I don't know that, Juliana, I don't know that you heard it, but within like literal moment reaction, you put your finger up and you're like, once it was almost as if you guys were talking to one another.

[49:43] Julianna Margulies: And then the dogs came out and the place was like.

[49:45] Peter Francis James: Oh, people lit up.

[49:46] Julianna Margulies: We actually had to put the dogs into the bow because right, our first couple of I think our first week we didn't have them and Stro came in during previous.

[49:53] Peter Francis James: She's like, We gotta bring the dogs out.

[49:55] Julianna Margulies: People are no, it's a great way to end the show.

[49:58] Peter Francis James: And also with Fly Me to the Moon playing over it.

[50:02] Julianna Margulies: Oh, it's beautiful.

[50:03] Peter Francis James: It's a New York moment.

[50:04] Julianna Margulies: I mean, that's the other part of the play, is it's a real love letter to New York.

[50:07] Peter Francis James: It is.

[50:07] Julianna Margulies: Yeah.

[50:08] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, thank you so much.

[50:10] Julianna Margulies: I know we're keeping you a very long time, but we're so appreciative to have everyone.

[50:15] Bruce Gotlieb: And we want everyone to go see the show because it's really it's so wonderful.

[50:19] Julianna Margulies: You're running through February.

[50:21] Peter Gallagher: February.

[50:22] Julianna Margulies: Okay, so there's still plenty of time to go.

[50:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Make sure you don't miss it.

[50:26] Julianna Margulies: And thank you all so so much.

[50:29] Bruce Gotlieb: And we will see you next time on Behind the Awards.