This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:20] Bryan Plovsky: Hello, and welcome to the official Broadwaysted podcast where we're drunk on theater. I'm your host, Bryan Plovsky. And once you lose your heart, it's all about the castle on a cloud. When she loved me, I went to Never Never Land. But when that day is done, I'm over the rainbow. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. How I wish you love my romance, because I'm just a beautiful dreamer. Joining us today are the usual rainy days and Mondays, including Kevin.

[0:48] Kevin Jaeger: How insensitive, Jaeger.

[0:50] Bryan Plovsky: Oh, how rude. Kimberly, are they can't take that away from me, game master, an unofficial babysitter for the hour.

[0:58] Kimberly Cooper: Hello.

[1:00] Bryan Plovsky: And with us today is someone you may have seen in Les Mis, Saturday Night Fever, Hairspray, Martin Short: Fame Becomes the Man, Wicked. Let's give a big Broadwaysted welcome to Friend of the Show.

[1:07] Donna Vivino: Friend of the show.

[1:16] Bryan Plovsky: Hello.

[1:17] Donna Vivino: Hi.

[1:18] Bryan Plovsky: Welcome.

[1:20] Donna Vivino: Thank you so much for joining us in our season premiere.

[1:23] Bryan Plovsky: Oh yeah. Season. Are we in season four?

[1:27] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[1:27] Bryan Plovsky: Yes. Season four of Broadwaysted. Season one was six years. Season two, a couple of months. Season three, short because I got married. And season four, who knows?

[1:44] Kevin Jaeger: But welcome.

[1:45] Bryan Plovsky: I feel like season three was one of those like partial seasons before a writer's strike.

[1:49] Kevin Jaeger: But the writer's strike was that Bryan got married.

[1:52] Bryan Plovsky: Is this season three, part two?

[1:54] Kevin Jaeger: Season three, part two, maybe like they split up TV shows now.

[1:57] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just had like a midwinter break.

[1:59] Kevin Jaeger: Yes, exactly. I love that. But, uh, Donna, we are so excited that you are joining us. But before we start with anything, what are you drinking?

[2:10] Donna Vivino: What are you doing? I know I'm so boring. Well, I have coffee because, um, after I do this, I'm actually teaching some eight-year-olds who are in San Diego on Zoom. They're like preparing for the, uh, a concert they're doing, a duet. And so I can't get Broadwaysted and then try to teach them how to sing for good from Wicked, can I?

[2:31] Bryan Plovsky: I mean, I'd like to point out you could.

[2:33] Donna Vivino: I could. Maybe not. Put a little Zambuka in this and make it like an interesting coffee.

[2:41] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[2:44] Donna Vivino: And on the flip side, on the flip side of things, like you're dealing with us, so we're prepping you to do to work with eight-year-olds.

[2:52] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah.

[2:54] Donna Vivino: Right, right. This is great. This is the perfect.

[2:57] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, getting it on their level.

[3:00] Donna Vivino: For sure. Uh, Kevin, what are you drinking?

[3:03] Kevin Jaeger: I actually was feeling like how it kind of cooled off a bit, but it's like the end of summer. So I made a pitcher of margaritas.

[3:11] Donna Vivino: Ooh.

[3:12] Kevin Jaeger: And I have it in the fridge, and it's like so like chill and crisp, and it's delicious.

[3:17] Donna Vivino: That's amazing.

[3:18] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[3:19] Bryan Plovsky: Okay. Kimberly.

[3:19] Kimberly Cooper: Oh, and it's with George Clooney Tequila. I just wanted to throw that out there.

[3:22] Bryan Plovsky: Thank you, George. Is it good?

[3:24] Kevin Jaeger: It's really, really good.

[3:27] Bryan Plovsky: I love how it's not Casamigos, it's George Clooney Tequila.

[3:31] Kevin Jaeger: And I just like tequila, so I'll have to try to.

[3:34] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah, it's good. We drank a full bottle of it in Chicago with, um, uh, Colin.

[3:41] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, Colin, uh, Donald.

[3:43] Bryan Plovsky: Oh, that was an introduction to it. I drank, uh, in on, um, uh, in February when I was in Mexico, I drank an entire bottle of Mezcal. Like so good. And honestly, tequila doesn't, you're, you get drunk, but you don't get tired. It's like incredible.

[4:01] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, it's like the one upper alcohol.

[4:04] Bryan Plovsky: It's a stimulant, yeah.

[4:05] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, we literally drank all that Casamigos, and then we went with Colin to a barbecue spot and had barbecue. Like it was incredible.

[4:11] Bryan Plovsky: Oh man. And then we had our live show that night, which none of us remember.

[4:17] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, we literally did a live show in Chicago that we did not know what happened.

[4:21] Bryan Plovsky: Oh, yeah, they lost the recording. That's like, uh, no one will ever know.

[4:24] Kevin Jaeger: That's a loss to time one.

[4:26] Bryan Plovsky: That's a bummer.

[4:27] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, it was that, but also we didn't know what we said.

[4:30] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah, but we're, somebody's holding on to it and ready to like blackmail you someday.

[4:34] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, what if they do a movie and they're just like one day they'll be famous?

[4:40] Bryan Plovsky: Absolutely. Kimberly, Kimberly, what are you drinking?

[4:43] Kimberly Cooper: Um, courtesy of Bryan's wedding.

[4:46] Bryan Plovsky: Oh yeah.

[4:47] Kimberly Cooper: Drinking gin. A little bloom London dry gin. Um, Bryan does not drink gin and had some leftover from his wedding and sent me home with some.

[4:57] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah, yes, I did. It's my husband. I love hello, Jay.

[5:01] Kimberly Cooper: Um, and I, like you, I'm drinking Corona from my wedding because we have boxes and boxes of beer in my home now.

[5:10] Bryan Plovsky: So great.

[5:11] Kimberly Cooper: Amazing. Season four brought to you by Bryan's wedding.

[5:14] Kevin Jaeger: Who's making gin?

[5:16] Kimberly Cooper: My son's name is Hendrix.

[5:18] Bryan Plovsky: Oh, really?

[5:18] Kimberly Cooper: But it's Hendrix with the gin.

[5:20] Bryan Plovsky: Okay. Well, no, but people ask me all the time because they're like, you know, we know you like Hendrix gin. I'm like, I didn't name my son after an alcoholic beverage, but if you did, you would literally go immediately into the hall of fame of Broadway's to guests well in that case.

[5:38] Kimberly Cooper: No, but if he ever wants to change it to the ICKS, someday he can, you know.

[5:43] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah.

[5:44] Kimberly Cooper: Tell people at a bar when he's 21.

[5:45] Bryan Plovsky: Yes.

[5:46] Kimberly Cooper: Yeah, 100%.

[5:47] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah. I love that. Um, I love that. Um, uh, thank you so much for joining us again. So let's just get started. What's your favorite musical?

[5:55] Donna Vivino: Of all time.

[5:57] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah.

[5:59] Donna Vivino: And answer however you want. I guess I mean, I always have to say West Side Story first because it's what made me want to do musicals.

[6:07] Bryan Plovsky: Sure.

[6:08] Donna Vivino: Like, see, like I, it was, it was the original film. I loved the, the remake too. But, um, that just like hearing that music, and like we would listen to the, um, you know, the cast. Well, I guess it was, it was the movie recording, but I would listen to it. It was Martin, not Natalie Wood singing, and I just like loved the, I loved the jazz part of it, so I just was like, wow, Broadway's amazing. And then the dancing, it just sort of had everything. So that's what that will always be my favorite musical.

[6:37] Donna Vivino: Um, I think, yeah. I mean, I also so it's, it's, and then my second is sort of it's another like I was 16, and I saw Chita Rivera on tour with Kiss of the Spider Woman, and it's changed my life.

[6:53] Bryan Plovsky: Oh yeah.

[6:54] Donna Vivino: Because I, it seeing it like it was just so those two just made me like sure be like, wow. And they're two shows I'll never be in. And I love that about both.

[7:06] Bryan Plovsky: Yeah, yeah.

[7:07] Donna Vivino: They weren't anything I wanted to be in. I was just sort of.

[7:10] Bryan Plovsky: She can really sit back and watch.

[7:12] Donna Vivino: Yes, and just you're not jealous of anyone, you're not like sitting there, like, I'm not, I, well, they both just like transported me to these other worlds that I, and yeah, I love those shows.

[7:23] Bryan Plovsky: That's, I mean, good answers. Did you, did you grow up in the New York area far away from it? Like was, do where it was, do you remember your first Broadway show?

[7:33] Donna Vivino: And, and then I do. Um, I grew up right outside of the city, and um, I would, you know, I was a child actor, film and television, yeah, right. And then I, my grandma took me to see, uh, Me and My Girl on Broadway.

[7:50] Bryan Plovsky: Oh wow.

[7:50] Donna Vivino: I was, oh wow, seven years old, yeah. And, uh, that was fun. I love that was a really fun show and all the accents, and then I wound up we went up doing that show at my high school, so it was cool to like, yeah. Um, but and then I, I was in Les Mis less than a year later after seeing, so my, yeah, Broadway show, sorry, I was in. So that's, yeah.

[8:13] Bryan Plovsky: Sorry, I was gonna ask. So you, so you were local, uh, booked the Cosette role, and then just kind of were like working locally, you didn't have to move or anything like that.

[8:22] Donna Vivino: Yeah, no, I was local, so I, there were, there were other people who joined the show who were from other parts of the country, like New York to do it.

[8:33] Bryan Plovsky: Did, I guess just transitioning into Les Mis like at that young playing that role? Did looking back, did you comprehend like what was happening at all?

[8:44] Donna Vivino: No, I mean, I don't think so. I mean, it, there look, looking back, I really didn't. It was just the adults around us were like, oh, you know, and that's what you're feeding off of. But when you, when you look into it, like it was just like, oh, I'm doing a show and it's fun. And you don't, I didn't, I don't think I caught, I knew that Broadway was a big deal, but I don't think I, I didn't comprehend what a big deal Les Mis was. Like it was a, you know what I mean? It was like I would, I was in third grade and I would go to school and then I would have teachers be like, so do you get tickets? Are you able to get, and I'm like, what are they taught? Like, because you couldn't get tickets for it. It was like Hamilton at the time, you know, it really was. I did not really understand that part of it.

[9:23] Donna Vivino: Sure. What I did realize is that, you know, because the way Trevor Nunn and John Caird work, well, we had to be, we had to go to school a lot during the rehearsal process, so we had to be off in the tutoring room. But when we weren't being tutored, we would just sit in the rehearsal space because the way Trevor Nunn works is he, it's such an ensemble piece to him. He liked everyone watching at all times. It wasn't like, you know, um, we're gonna work with just Valjean and Javert right now, and like everyone would just be watching, right? So it was a master class watching like Randy Graff and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. And I just, I mean, I could name Judy Kuhn, Frances Rufle, Colm Wilkinson, Terrence Mann, you know, the entire company.

[10:05] Donna Vivino: Yeah. So I feel like I learned so much just watching them work. So that, that was huge to me. I was like, oh my gosh, like I love to like act and I can sing, so I got this musical, but look at all these people and like how they, you know, work and yeah.

[10:27] Donna Vivino: Yeah, it was just that was incredible for me. That I knew was a big deal. I didn't realize how popular I think this show was. Okay, sure. Yeah, yeah. And because you didn't move, like you were still at home. Nothing in your world really changed. I could imagine if you like moved to the city to do a show, you think it's a bigger deal. I don't know if I'm Yeah, yeah. I mean, that whole time period was just like, you know, it was like 1980s New York. I mean, I don't mean I'm not gonna bring stuff down, but like the AIDS crisis happened. Sure. I grew up very fast, knowing like there were company members dying. So it was very serious. And then I would just like have to go to school, and like we're gonna, you know, make a diorama today of like Bergen County, New Jersey.

And I'm like, uh, some of you died in the show, like, you know, so there was a lot of it. There was it like I like I went into that show believing in Santa Claus and left that show raising money for Broadway Cares Equity Fight Aids and knowing and knowing, like, you know, so I grew up very fast and not in a bad way, not like yeah, yeah. Oh, I was doing drugs. No, it was just like wow, like um, and so and so it was it was an interesting way to be an elementary school student for sure. And I did this show a long time. I did it two and a half years, which is very long for now. Wow. Oh, I was super small and I didn't really grow fast. Like I had a five-inch growth clause, so it took me two and a half.

I mean, I took a I might I think I took a leave to do a movie and then came back, but I was with the show two and a half years. I might might have left for a month or something. Oh wow, that's unheard of growth clauses in but tell you how tall you have to be. Yeah, I used to get measured and and all that. Wow. Yeah, yeah. But I was a very small eight-year-old, so we're that. Yeah, I mean, and then I guess talk about your journey through kind of like being this like child actor in a show, and then like trying to find your place kind of in the Broadway or just theater world, kind of growing up through it.

[12:25] Donna Vivino: Um, because I because you know, as we as we we know, and we'll talk about it a little bit when we talk about your 54 Below show in terms of um uh Wicked and Alphabet, like how how I I talk a little bit about because I am I imagine that's there's a lot happening there, I guess, figuring out who you are, how you fit into a certain uh um industry. Yeah, when I left Les Mis, I did a movie right away. So I was sort of back in like the film and TV world again. And then, you know, you hit that like 12, 13, 14 age, which is sort of the dead zone for child actors because it's it was just also what was on Broadway, like there were no other Broadway shows happening, like Follies, I think was the only thing that came out with kids and Secret Garden.

There were auditions for that, but and Daisy was a friend of mine back then, and she still is Daisy Egan. But I was like, Oh, I'm not gonna get like I knew I wasn't gonna get that part, it just wasn't the thing for me. Um, and so I kind of like I didn't like take a break, but like the inner there just wasn't a lot as a teenager in the industry anymore.

[13:27] Donna Vivino: Yeah. Um, so I I really leaned into my school and and doing like the school shows and plays and all that. It was kind of amazing um to do that. And then I was actually there's a there's a video of me, there's a bunch of videos of me on YouTube at 18 years old, senior in high school or 17, playing Sally in um Me and My Girl. Uh and one of my teachers came over to me and she's like, please don't go to college, just try to go right to Broadway. And I said to her, Oh no, no, no, I have to go to college. Like it is so hard as an adult, like I don't even I don't want to even want to try, like forget it. I really didn't think I could make it as an adult because I was kind of jaded by then in a sense, not jaded because, but just like I knew how competitive it was for the adults, like versus like the kid actors, and so I mean it was competitive for us too.

There were hundreds of kids that auditioned for Les Mis, but um I just was I I didn't have the confidence to go back into it as an adult. Looking back at those videos, I was like, oh, I could have, but I'm kind of glad I didn't because I needed to sort of be normal even more in the sense of like just go to college at like not study theater.

[14:36] Donna Vivino: So I went to school in New York City. Um, I went to Barnard College, and I was like, I'll just be a lawyer, because like I always was interested in that, and then you know, did that trajectory and took my LSATs and went to go visit some law schools, and I would looked around. I was a junior in college, and I'm looking around at like all these kids at law school or these law students, and I'm like, they love this. Like they're like so into it. And I'm like, I don't love this the way they had a passion I could see most of them in their eyes that like I had for the arts, but I had kind of pushed it away. Yeah. Like, I need something secure. And by the way, law's not very secure either. There's a lot of lawyers who bartended.

Um, so I I um kind of had like this meltdown. I was like, I should have gone to like Carnegie Mellon and I should have like tried to study this or whatever. And um, I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Like, maybe I'll try to go to grad school for theater.

[15:31] Donna Vivino: And um, I got a call, my senior year of college from I had a couple of auditions while I was in college. I was up for a film called because the film world was always kind of good for a movie called Camp. And I was very, very close for that film, and that was fun. And that was a that was a casting agency, Telsey Casting, who at the time with like had just been been put Rent on the map, and they were like huge, and so um, and they still are. And so I got a call from my childhood manager who was like Telsey Casting reached out, and they were like, um, we're having like these huge calls. We're looking for offstage singers for Saturday Night Fever, but they might have to cover roles, or we're not sure.

Like, and I showed up and it was like a cattle call. Like it was like I and I went and I was a senior in college, and um, it was September of my senior year, and I was like, all right, I'll just go sing a song and do this. And I booked a Broadway show. And I was like the youngest person in the cast, and I'm second youngest, and I was going to the theater every night and singing backstage, and like I was suddenly in a Broadway show again, and then I would go to college, and I was like, Yeah, I kind of have to do this.

[16:39] Donna Vivino: So I um I just then was like, okay, well, I'm gonna start auditioning again, and then I got back into it as an adult. Yeah, I I think it was like the universe was like, no, you you you will you will work and there is a place for you here. I mean, it was crazy. It was I couldn't believe I got it. It was just like, oh, okay. Do you know where else there's a place for you? Where Tuesdays in the corner with Kevin.

[17:09] Kevin Jaeger: Welcome to Kevin's Corner. Since uh this is my favorite part of the show because I get to do whatever I want and ask whatever I want to say whatever I want, which makes it the best part of the show. So since it's the premier episode of season three slash four question mark, um, or three dot two slash four, um, we're gonna be talking about first impressions and impressions, just because um partially because it's the beginning of the season, and I thought like the first impression of the season, but I also have been watching old RuPaul Drag Race uh seasons, especially when they do stash game, which is them doing impressions. So my first question for you is in life, not in theater, but in life, what is like the most important thing someone can do to make a good first impression on you?

[18:03] Donna Vivino: Um look me in the eye. Great. Yeah. And I know some people have trouble with eye contact. I don't, but I but I I don't mean that. I understand if someone might be shy, but if I'm like at a party and I'm and someone is like, hi, nice to meet you, and then they're like looking around me because they want to see like else is there, I can clock that. It's a very different someone being shy and having trouble with eye contact, I have no issue with. But when it's that, it's like, oh, really? Okay.

[18:34] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah. No, that's a great one. That's a really good answer.

[18:37] Kevin Jaeger: What would be your advice for a young actor? Because we do have a lot of actors uh and aspiring actors who listen. What would be your advice to give a first great impression the moment you enter an audition room?

[18:49] Donna Vivino: Oh wow. Um I think it's be happy to be there, excited to be there, um, and open to work. Um think of like walk in like you're coming to a first day of rehearsal and you got the job. It's not an arrogance, it's sort of a hi, like, you know. No, and I think to help with that, just know that everyone who's in that room is is rooting for you. Like they need you to do well because they have to fill these roles. So everyone's on your side. So I think just go in with like a really open kind of, you know, mind and heart. It's kind of cheesy, but I love that.

[19:31] Kevin Jaeger: And then last thing I want to ask you is a little birdie told me that you do a really great impression of either Sarah Jessica Parker or Celine Dion.

[19:43] Donna Vivino: I mean, I do lots of people. But Sarah Disco Parker's sort of become my, I mean, that's what I in Martin Short, I played her and and I they put it in the show for me. Um when I auditioned for that, they just were like, do all the people you do. So I did a bunch of people. I was up for SNL once. I got close but didn't get in. But um, so they were like, do a bunch of people. And um, and so I did I did Sarah, and I remember Marty was like, I know her, and that's freaking me out, and nobody does her. So it's always sort of my thing. So now her voice has deepened, but this is like think like early Carrie Bradshaw. I kind of I feel like I still have her a little younger, but um, so thank you so so much having me on Broadwaysted. I am just so so incredibly honored to be on Broadwaysted. I am the most content person who's here and just like that.

[20:35] Kevin Jaeger: You know, that was so wow. That was I'm gonna say a shout out, thank you to my friend and yours, Betsy Werbel for telling me to ask about one of those impressions. Wow. And since 2008, I've been doing that when I was on tour with her before I did Wicked in New York.

[20:54] Donna Vivino: I was like, we would do these, we would raise money for Broadway Cares, and we do these cabarets in different cities. And I was in Minneapolis, and my sister's like, "Would you please go up and do something?" I'm like, "I don't want to sing." I'm like, "You know what? I'll just do like if celebrities weren't Wicked." And I started doing that. There've been other people since who've ripped me off and tried to do that. But I will tell you, and it's fine, whatever. You know, I guess it's the highest form of flattery. But I've always done if Sarah Jessica Parker was Glinda. So if you come to the show that we'll talk about, you'll get to see that at least. So I always work her in, you know. That's it easy. And nobody else tries to do her. I think everyone is lost for me. So I appreciate it.

[21:40] Kevin Jaeger: That was incredible. And this has been Kevin's Corner.

[21:46] Bryan Plovsky: That's an excellent segue into talking about your show. So September 9th. So if you are listening to this the day that it airs or the week that it airs, is this airing September 6th? So I believe tonight, if you're listening to this the day it airs, you can go see Donna at Birdland, and then on Friday, you can see her 54 Below show. Tell us a little bit about those.

[22:10] Donna Vivino: If you go see me at Birdland, it's actually Susie Mojet's show, the lineup, and I'm just doing one song with my sisters. We're doing a trio. My show, I just did a show at Green Room 42 back in June, Confessions of a Broadway Baby. I talked a lot about being a child actor in that one. This one, I talk a little bit about that, but this is a baby I've had in my mind for a long time. The show is called La Mia Familia about the Italian side of my family. I have two sisters, they're younger, and one of them is so talented, and she was in Frozen in LA when they were doing it at the Hyperion, and my other sister is currently on the Wicked tour as the Elphaba standby, so she's in that.

[22:52] Kevin Jaeger: That's wild. And you're the first two to play sisters to actually play Elphaba, is that correct?

[22:57] Donna Vivino: Yeah, the first, and like it could be the only, like you just never, you know, yeah, totally.

[23:01] Kevin Jaeger: No.

[23:02] Donna Vivino: So like wild. It's pretty incredible. People like didn't put it together for a long time. Like every now and then, oh, I just saw Wicked. I saw somebody in Natalia Vivino, any relationship? I'm like, oh yeah, it's my sister. She has the same glasses, the same ones that I wore. Wow. She's leaving that tour on September 5th. And then she'll, I said, come to New York, please do this show with me and Antonia. So they're gonna come up and do some songs. We're gonna do some trios, they'll do some solo duets. I'm sure Natalia and I will do. I will just tell you now, we have a very special song that we're gonna do together that was especially arranged for this show with Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz Blessing. So if you can see that and hear that, you gotta come to the show because this is not live streamed, it's in person only.

[23:46] Kevin Jaeger: So cool.

[23:46] Donna Vivino: Yeah, I'm so excited. I mean, they're amazing. If you go to my social media, you can check them out singing too a little bit.

[23:52] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, that's awesome. So yeah, get tickets. You can go to the 54 Below website, get tickets there. It's Friday, September 9th. Check it out, it's gonna be amazing. At 9:30, yep.

[24:04] Bryan Plovsky: 9:30 p.m. slot. So check that out for sure. I mean, and while we're talking about it, I mean, you've played Elphaba many times with different Glindas and going on. I guess like talk about the experience of I believe you were on tour first, then you moved to Broadway. Is that correct? Like, talk about the transition of that.

[25:11] Donna Vivino: But a little fact about the tour, there's no raked stage on tour. So you don't have to deal with the rake, which is in real and you don't have to deal, there's a lot of more, there's more running around. Like when I went specifically no good deed, which is my favorite song to do in the entire show.

[25:21] Donna Vivino: So, doing it on tour is challenging in some ways because you're switching cities and you're traveling, and traveling's always gonna make you feel more tired. You don't have your support system and your team around you. And you could be in Denver singing at an altitude, and that's hard. And then you go to Portland and I loved singing in Portland. I like didn't miss a show, and I had people who were like, "How? I have the worst allergies." And I'm like, "Nope, I'm happy here." Interesting. And then I went to Phoenix and I couldn't sing the whole two weeks there, I was like, "Can't do the part." Like it just took my voice off. So when you travel, it's tricky, you know, it's really just so tricky.

[25:31] Kevin Jaeger: Really?

[25:31] Donna Vivino: Oh yeah. I have to tell you, there's this, like I guess there's a bootleg that's been going around for like many years now of me and Ali Mazzy and Kyle. It's like from a night on Broadway of the show, and you know, my no good deed from that show became like a thing. Like people were like, and so I didn't want to watch it, I don't like to watch myself, and I watched it and I was like, "Oh, you know what it is? I just really loved doing that." So there was just this energy that I have where it's like I felt like yes, this is the best part of the show because I just love act two Elphaba so much. But in New York, you have to run around a lot before no good deeds. So, my very first time going on in New York, I shit the bed on that song.

I'm gonna tell you right now. Like, people are now like, "You're the best no good deed." I'm like, "First of all, let's not rank. There's no best. We all have our own way." But if they had heard my first no good deed in New York, I was so out of breath at the start of the show.

[26:33] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[26:34] Donna Vivino: Yeah, yeah. Run off stage, run all the way around, down the stairs, then up a stairs, and then you're coming through a thing. So I was out of breath. I was like, I mean, it was really embarrassing. I was like, like growling to get through it. So I started running on the treadmill and singing it to get my stamina up.

[26:54] Kevin Jaeger: Oh.

[26:55] Donna Vivino: And then I was like, "Oh, this is cake." But I think that's why I loved by the time I left Wicked, my tenure was over. I was so, I loved doing that song so much because I was so proud of being able to conquer it.

[27:08] Kevin Jaeger: Like, yeah, that's a cool way to train for that. That's like amazing race stuff.

[27:12] Donna Vivino: So cool. I tell my students, like I teach sometimes, and I'll tell some of my voice students and like acting students, even like just if you're gonna be singing and dancing at the same time, even like jog or you've got to do the moves with you're gonna get out of breath.

[27:24] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[27:25] Donna Vivino: But that was something I did not realize because on the tour, you come off stage, you wait in the wings, and then you run back on. Like cool, you don't run all over, yeah.

[27:35] Kevin Jaeger: Right.

[27:37] Donna Vivino: That's so funny. You don't come up through the stage, you don't have to call and whistles on tour.

[27:41] Bryan Plovsky: Sure, sure.

[27:43] Donna Vivino: Thank you so much for joining us. We had a blast. We hope you did too. Have fun with the teaching. But before we end, anything I know your show, but anything else you want to talk about before we...

[27:52] Donna Vivino: First of all, there's I have a lot of exciting stuff coming up. I'm actually, I am filming a film this month that I can talk about called Family Affair. It's a queer film that I'm really proud of to be a part of. And I play the mother of, I won't tell much more, but it's a 14-year-old boy, and it's a really funny and heartwarming story. So I'll be doing that. I'm filming some other stuff, and I'm kind of getting back to my film roots, which is exciting. And then I do have a show coming up, like a musical that I'm going to be in. So if you follow me, I can't announce it yet, but if you follow me on social media, I'm at Donna Vivino, D-O-N-N-A-V-I-V-I-N-O across the board. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. I haven't posted there in a while, but I'm there.

[28:45] Kevin Jaeger: Awesome.

[28:46] Donna Vivino: Fantastic.

[28:50] Bryan Plovsky: Awesome. Well, and as a reminder, check out the 54 Below show September 9th at 9:30. Go to 54below.com to get tickets to that. Again, it's live, it's not streaming, and you're definitely gonna want to be there. Thank you so much.

[29:07] Donna Vivino: That's gonna be super cool.

[29:09] Bryan Plovsky: Yay! But we end every episode with a quote. And today's quote is, "I know a place where no one cries, crying at all, not aloud, not in my castle, on a cloud."

[29:20] Donna Vivino: Of course.

[29:21] Kevin Jaeger: Oh my god. So, like when you go to the Tonys next and you present, will that be like the song they play when you're entering?

[29:27] Donna Vivino: I hope not. I mean, not that I don't love that song, but I hope like, you know, there'll be something else that I've done.

[29:36] Kevin Jaeger: Something new, a new song that hasn't been written yet, right?

[29:38] Donna Vivino: A new musical. Let's hope.

[29:39] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, wouldn't that be sad if like later on in your career this song that they play is about like a sad child's broken dream?

[29:47] Donna Vivino: Cosette does very well for herself.

[29:50] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, that is true.

[29:51] Donna Vivino: She's fine. And she becomes a Disney princess.

[29:54] Kevin Jaeger: So it all works.

[29:56] Donna Vivino: But everyone likes hates her though, because they're like, ugh, she's not Eponine. You know what I mean? Like you feel bad for her, and then you're like, I hate Cosette. I want Eponine to get him. You know? It's like, yeah, but she survives the musical.

[30:10] Kevin Jaeger: She sure does.

[30:11] Donna Vivino: She's there at the end. Not a ghost.

[30:15] Kevin Jaeger: There's just four people left at the end.

[30:17] Donna Vivino: There's like four people with a bunch of ghosts.

[30:19] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, she beats the statistics.

[30:21] Donna Vivino: Cardiers, and then Marius and Cosette.

[30:25] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[30:27] Donna Vivino: My goodness. You can follow us wherever you are on social media, Twitter, Instagram, all that stuff, Facebook group, at Broadwaysted. It's just our name. You can check us out there. And then, of course, you can find us wherever you get podcasts. That includes things like Stitcher, Spotify, and of course, Apple Podcasts, rate and review us there. Five stars. Thank you. Again, thank you so much for joining us. But as we end every episode, we raise our glass and we say Azudu.