This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jonalyn Saxer: And then I just did this dance combination by myself, like with like five feet away from me, Steven Spielberg, just like holding his phone, just like filming me do this dance.

[0:10] Jonalyn Saxer: And I was, I like went to the show to MEAN GIRLS later that night, and I was like, I there's a video of me just like on my own doing this dance combination on Steven Spielberg's iPhone, and like I can't get over that.

[0:36] Joe Rosko: Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast.

[0:39] Joe Rosko: This is Joe Rosko, founder and host of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform.

[0:46] Joe Rosko: If you want to try a free trial, go to the website builtforthestage.com and you'll be matched up with your own Broadway fitness coach, where we'll help you out in pairing the two worlds of theater and fitness together.

[0:59] Joe Rosko: That's our aim here at Built for the Stage to be a bridge between that gap in the theater community and the fitness space.

[1:07] Joe Rosko: We all know that fitness can sometimes be intimidating or a place where yeah, it's kind of hard to navigate, and that's what we're here for.

[1:16] Joe Rosko: So we're working with clients in over 20 Broadway shows and other stages across the entire world, really.

[1:22] Joe Rosko: So check us out, builtforthestage.com.

[1:25] Joe Rosko: Special thanks to our producing team, the Broadway Podcast Network.

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[1:38] Joe Rosko: Okay. That's that's over and done with. Let's get to it.

[1:42] Joe Rosko: As always, we have a special guest for you on the podcast.

[1:48] Joe Rosko: Uh, you might have just seen her recently in the West Side STORY movie, might have seen her um on Broadway in MEAN GIRLS.

[1:54] Joe Rosko: You might have seen her on the road in MEAN GIRLS playing uh Karen Smith.

[1:58] Joe Rosko: Please welcome to the pod, Jonalyn Saxer.

[2:02] Joe Rosko: Jonalyn, hey, what's up?

[2:04] Jonalyn Saxer: Hi, not much. It's good to be here.

[2:07] Jonalyn Saxer: Great to be here.

[2:08] Joe Rosko: We're recording this episode on December the 31st. Happy early New Year's to you, Jonalyn and everyone that's listening.

[2:17] Joe Rosko: It's already the new year. Hopefully 2022 is treating you well.

[2:22] Joe Rosko: If it's not yet, just grit those teeth and dig those feet into the floor and say, I am not moving 2022. I'm going to make this thing happen.

[2:30] Joe Rosko: So hopefully 2022 is going well for everyone out there.

[2:42] Joe Rosko: You have an eight o'clock show, and then you have two more shows tomorrow, correct?

[2:47] Jonalyn Saxer: Correct. Just the normal H week schedule for us.

[2:51] Joe Rosko: Yeah. Where are you located right now? What city are you playing?

[2:54] Jonalyn Saxer: Right now we are in Oklahoma City.

[2:58] Joe Rosko: Oklahoma City, home of the Oklahoma City University.

[3:03] Joe Rosko: No, Oklahoma. Is it Oklahoma City Stars? Is that their college out there?

[3:07] Jonalyn Saxer: The Stars, I think. It's a funny uh mascot for the college.

[3:11] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I'm sure. I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with it. If anyone um leave us a comment, leave us a comment if you know out there um what I'm talking about.

[3:23] Joe Rosko: So have you ever been to Oklahoma before?

[3:26] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, I haven't. But it's funny, a lot of people have a lot of good suggestions because uh OCU is right here and they have a great dance and theater program.

[3:37] Jonalyn Saxer: So uh lots of people know the city pretty well.

[3:40] Joe Rosko: Okay. Anything that you've uh gotten into that was notably fun?

[3:47] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, I'm about to go climbing this silo right after this. Uh we have some climbers in our company and they set it up and we'll have an instructor. So that's super exciting. I'm ready for my arms to be super sore tonight.

[4:01] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah. Hopefully, you don't have to climb any set pieces. That's uh that's always uh that's always a scare.

[4:08] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah, we I when I talk to my clients, I'm like, what exactly do you have to do in your show just so I don't set you up for disaster at the gym later on?

[4:19] Jonalyn Saxer: Um I did just I did just Google it. I will confirm that the Oklahoma City University mascot is the star. It's it just they're just stars out there, plain and simple, folks.

[4:30] Jonalyn Saxer: Um so you've been on the road for about two months or so. You all picked back up in October. What's the difference been touring in this post-COVID craziness, current COVID craziness in comparison to when you first started it before, you know, the world shut down?

[4:52] Jonalyn Saxer: I think it definitely makes it a little more difficult to explore the cities because we have to be so conscious of where we're going, what the masking and vaccination rates are in the certain cities that we're in, so that we keep ourselves protected.

[5:08] Jonalyn Saxer: Um in a lot of these cities, we're really the only people sometimes wearing masks in public places because there's not requirements.

[5:17] Jonalyn Saxer: But for our job, it's so important to be as safe as humanly possible. So that can be a little difficult, but we all really enjoy our cast really has a great dynamic, and we have so much fun together.

[5:29] Jonalyn Saxer: So we find stuff for us to do. I think we're gonna go ice skating, we're doing this climbing thing, lots of outdoor things, um, and lots of ways to like keep it safe and keep it us because we're tested so much, so we know we're more safe around each other than maybe the general public.

[5:45] Jonalyn Saxer: Like we're not really going out to clubs. Not that we were doing that before. Um, but definitely uh less of that and more just fun, cool adventures.

[5:56] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah. I bounce back and forth between New York City and Miami, and they are two vastly different um places as far as how COVID is treated. So I can I can attest to what you're saying there.

[6:13] Joe Rosko: Uh Mean Girls, love the show. I saw it in 20 late 2019, I think, um, on Broadway.

[6:22] Joe Rosko: I especially love how the ensemble is used for uh like set transitions, how they really like transport you from scene to scene um in a very cool way that's fitting to the theme of the show.

[6:37] Joe Rosko: Uh tell us a little bit about your experience. You were you're in the ensemble on Broadway, correct? And then you transition into playing Karen on uh the tour.

[6:47] Joe Rosko: First off, do you do you take note or do you have funny jokes backstage about your name being Karen?

[6:54] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, you know, with the running theme of the Karen's uh about Don't be a Karen.

[7:00] Jonalyn Saxer: Exactly, exactly. Is there any of that kind of banter that goes goes uh goes on backstage?

[7:06] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, I don't think so because that kind of all happens like, you know, this Karen has existed for a very long time before that was like really a joke.

[7:16] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, and she's just so not one of those Karen's. Um, so it exists in a whole nother world.

[7:23] Jonalyn Saxer: But she is, it's a quite a fun brain to live in uh night to night. Um, but yeah, I started off in the ensemble, and I did a lot of those set moves in my ensemble track.

[7:36] Jonalyn Saxer: I remember going on tour and uh Olivia who plays my track in the tour cast, I was like, I'm so sorry because I'm just like super extra and like I want to be on stage all the time.

[7:36] Jonalyn Saxer: I want to be in every number, I want to be in every scene. I always joke, I'm like, I didn't get my BFA to sit at a dressing room station. I want to be doing the thing.

[7:56] Jonalyn Saxer: But it turned out like Casey would like look around the room being like, hmm, I need somebody for and I'm like, across a line? Who knows? I'll make myself available and I'm moving along.

[8:03] Jonalyn Saxer: And I'm moving along. And here I am, I'm available to move this bench off stage. Um but you know, it kept it kept my track busy, which I always prefer.

[8:17] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, and now as Karen, I get kind of a break from that. I'm still constantly moving and doing stuff, but uh I am getting moved on set pieces instead of moving the set pieces, which my neck that I threw out, you know, in the Broadway production really appreciates.

[8:34] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah. Uh in comparison to other shows you've been in um on Broadway or anywhere else, um, with this movie being so iconic, can you notice a difference in the types of audiences that this show attracts?

[8:50] Jonalyn Saxer: Um is there any difference there?

[8:54] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah, I think with this show, what's really special about MEAN GIRLS, just in general, because it's a pre-existing thing, it's also a pre-existing thing that like groups of girls my age really enjoy.

[9:07] Jonalyn Saxer: So instead of like families or we get a lot of date nights, you know, couples, we see them in the audience, and the boyfriends are always happily surprised um that they really enjoy the show.

[9:19] Jonalyn Saxer: But we get lots of like groups of girls, and we would see it like on Broadway when we would collect for BCEFA. You see them and they're all like coming in little outfits because it's like a girl's night out or gays night out.

[9:32] Jonalyn Saxer: You know, we see a lot of that. We see people come kind of dressed up in themes for the show. And uh, so that's really fun.

[9:39] Jonalyn Saxer: And like I did Cats, like you we get people dressed up like cats too, but not like girls' night out to see Cats, or like girls' night out for Holiday Inn, you know, those those are more family shows.

[9:49] Jonalyn Saxer: And this is definitely like me and my pals are gonna all go see this together.

[9:55] Joe Rosko: Yeah, cool. Um, all right. Well, transitioning from MEAN GIRLS. Uh, if you play, are you playing Florida um anytime soon? Do you know?

[10:03] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, I don't think so because we played Florida right before the shutdown. I do think we go back there, but not for a little while.

[10:12] Joe Rosko: All right. Well, I'll have to get on the website, see if you all are gonna be close to Miami or a lot of tourists come to Fort Lauderdale, I see.

[10:20] Jonalyn Saxer: Um that's where we shut down.

[10:23] Joe Rosko: Ah, okay, okay, okay. Sorry to bring back those memories.

[10:27] Jonalyn Saxer: It's fine.

[10:29] Joe Rosko: Let's uh let's transition before we get into West Side. Let's just get to know you a little bit more. Um, where are you current or where are you uh originally from?

[10:38] Jonalyn Saxer: I'm originally from Los Angeles.

[10:41] Joe Rosko: Okay. So uh being from Los Angeles, did that kind of have an impact on you early to want to be a performer, or how did you kind of get into wanting to be on stage or in front of the camera?

[10:54] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah, I really didn't have a choice. Um, my whole family does community theater. And so um I from the time I was like two, uh and before that, my parents were doing shows in our local community theater, and I was like backstage in a crib sleeping, and then I was like a carry-on baby in a crowd scene when I was two, and then by the time I was five, I was like playing the little kids in the shows, and then I and I was also thrown into dance class as well. And so I've been doing that since I was little, and um being from LA, I actually didn't do any TV and film because my mom was like, I am not taking three hours to drive down to Hollywood to wait for you to audition. I was like, But mom, she was like, No. So I didn't do any of that, but I did a lot of, I had a went to a fantastic dance studio that just has incredible training, and um there's actually a great pocket of just fun fantastic community theaters and theater programs in our little area and uh northern LA County, and lots of great Broadway people have come out of that little pocket.

And so I did that, and I just kind of realized like this is what I want to do, and I made it over to the East Coast because I knew I wanted to go to school on the East Coast because I didn't want to get stuck in LA because I'd seen that happen to a lot of people, and so I went to Syracuse and I went from really great weather to uh the worst weather of all.

[12:21] Joe Rosko: Yeah, figured it out. Another school with an interesting mascot. It's out of the orange.

[12:27] Jonalyn Saxer: Just straight up. Now you all at one point it was the orange men, correct?

[12:34] Joe Rosko: And now they changed it to Syracuse Orange.

[12:37] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah.

[12:39] Joe Rosko: Um, yeah, have some friends up from the Syracuse area. Yeah, the weather can be quite daunting, definitely compared to your upbringing in LA for sure.

[12:49] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah. Um so all right, so you're in Syracuse now. Um, how's your experience in college as far as like were you dead set on trying to make it to Broadway or what were your aspirations going to school uh for performing?

[13:08] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah, I was very much very straightforward. And I think it had also helped that I had such a significant dance training and I was like Broadway or bust, you know, just kind of we all how we all are in BFA programs. Um, especially back when I was there. I don't think we quite knew as much as we do now, like all the different opportunities there are in the theater world, but I was very much just like Broadway, I want to do this, I wanna work with Susan Strowman, I wanna do this and this. And I just auditioned every summer for summer stock and I worked, I did 42nd Street all three summers. Um, yeah, yeah. I've done that show like six or seven times now. And so I was like, and I started meeting people who had gotten cloth who had been on tours or had been on Broadway or gotten close to Broadway, and I felt it getting closer and closer.

Um and I just, you know, I was very lucky. Syracuse is really good. They don't let you get away with just being like, well, you dance, so you don't really have to do anything else. They were really on me about my singing and my acting. Uh, you know, I did a straight play, I did a song cycle musical that I self-produced. Um, and they were really great. And I think that's why I'm able to be an understudy, is because I have the dance training that I have, and then I got all, and then they were like, ah, that's not good enough to just dance. And I was like, Oh, it's not. Yeah. And uh they really pushed me.

[14:36] Joe Rosko: Yeah, a big uh justified and well deserved uh uproar of praise for understudies as of late, um, you know, due to some comments that were made by certain particular people. Um, let's get into your understudy experience. Like, tell us uh maybe a story or two of a couple of tracks within a show that you were in that were either uh amazingly difficult in a gratifying way, or I don't know, just give us some insight. The understudy uh world is, you know, like I just said, being spotlighted. And I think that there's some listeners out there that could benefit from hearing a story or two about your experience as an understudy.

[15:27] Jonalyn Saxer: Yeah, well, I have a lot of really wildly different understudy and swing because I started out as a swing uh and my first show was Bullets Over Broadway. And the way that, which was choreographed by Susan Strowman and the way I was taught the show, because I was a replacement swing, is I was in a studio by myself for two and a half weeks, and I was just taught all the choreography, and then I was kind of handed the uh show Bible, which for us was on stage right. So I was like shared it on my iPad, and they were like, okay, and I was like, oh, okay. And so then I would go into like during the show or with our dance or other swing and our dance captain, um, my friend Cynthia, I would like go into the lobby and practice where on the stage they were.

Whereas when I swung cats, I was taught each track one at a time. So I wasn't just like taught all of the choreography. When I learned the ball for the first time, I learned the ball as Bomb. And I didn't learn anything in the ball that Bomb didn't do. It was only when I got to my other tracks that I started to learn those other pieces. So that was very different for me. Um, because I was like, wait, I don't have to do this all on my own. And it's hard because if your first experience is being taught everything, then that's what you expect. And I kind of feel that I was lucky that I was kind of just like thrown into it because I never felt like, wait, why aren't you teaching me this? I was like, okay, I just gotta know it.

I have you've given me all the information I need, and now I just have to know it. Um, but with that though, cats is a very difficult show to swing, and you're really just understudying. I really just understudied five parts, um, because they're all vastly different, and that was the most challenging. I never, though I had a lot of dance training, I was always a tapper first, and I never I was never great at ballet, and so cats was just a show I never thought I could be in. I was like, you have to wear jazz shoes. Nobody's ever gonna pay me to wear jazz shoes on a stage because no one should see my feet point because they aren't great. They're terrible. I was like, I'm wearing heels for the rest of my life, I'll be fine.

Um, nodding cats, and so I I remember uh auditioning for that, and it was like December 30th, they had the call. It was in the Neil Simon, and I'm there and I'm expecting to see like, you know, 20 people, and we get to start the audition, and there's four of us. And then I'm like kind of watching everybody dance, and I'm like, oh my God, I might get this job. And um, I learned a lot. Uh, I understudied three roles, and I remember, except for maybe bomb, every time I debuted a track in cats, um, I exited not out of the normal stage door. I went out our other stage door to avoid people and barely made it home before bursting out in tears. Cause I just was so uh I I hold Broadway and I hold myself to a really high standard.

And I have so much respect for my coworkers that for me, because like Cassandra, for example, is not a part, I would ever just be hired to play. In in my mind, I was like, you know, Emily Pinenberg, who originally played her, is like just an unbelievable dancer. And I'm like, I don't do the things she does, like I can cover it, fine, you know, but I felt so crazy. And at one point I was on for Cassandra for about a solid month. Just you know, seven shows a week essentially. Uh, and another swing would do the the eighth show. And I was just so it messed me up so much, and it also taught me to have courage in myself and to like make things your own, which really helped me once I got to understanding things in MEAN GIRLS.

But it was really hard for me to be okay because I was like, I'm I'm meant to cover this. I'm not meant to play this role. And I feel like I'm letting audiences down, which is not a great thing to tell yourself. Um everybody else in that cast was also so supportive of me. But I do feel like with all of this understudy stuff that's happening, you have to be aware of even the little things you say, because we take that, you know, it's so hard to feel like you should be playing the role when you don't play it every night sometimes. Um, and it's hard to get over those mental blocks.

[19:53] Jonalyn Saxer: Um, another crazy story is I like last day last minute added two more covers for me, which was Tantomile and Jenny Annie Dots. And I never thought I'd play Tantomile because she's like the second biggest dance track in Cats. And I was doing the lab for MEAN GIRLS during the day, and they decided to add Tantomile for me after I had started the lab. So I would leave Mean Girls Rehearsal to go to the matinee of cats. And then and during the matinee, I rehearsed Tantomile for like two and a half hours. And then I think after that rehearsal, I think I maybe got another hour or two of rehearsal during the matinee the next day. And then that night I tracked it, and I think the next day I went on as tantomile.

It was like I didn't know what I was doing. That was the first time I'd ever been on stage in a track where I was like, I don't know where I go next. And luckily she has a partner the whole time, and Corey John Stein was just like this way, and I was like, that way.

[20:56] Joe Rosko: I'm sure you're more than equipped to do the job because uh if not, they wouldn't have trusted you to do all the many things they're asking. It's also you a numbers game, you know. I for you, uh, I I hope that that uh experience has, you know, built up your confidence by now. I'm sure it's a great learning lesson, like you just said. But for those of you that you know are listening and you've been in that place or you're going to be in that place, maybe you're the understudy, but you're not just the quote unquote backup. You essentially are one of two people that the casting director chose to be in this track out of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. So make sure you're giving yourself credit out there for when you're in that position um or if you're in it currently. Uh let's let's transition into West Side to close up our conversation here.

[21:49] Joe Rosko: Um first off, congratulations. Um, I'm attending to see uh the the movie uh not this weekend, but next weekend. I can't wait. Um we have this nice little theater uh in town that like does the whole uh serves you dinner and that kind of thing. So I can't wait to finally see the show. Um it's it's uncommon that it hasn't been released to stream yet. So it's they're really making us go out there and and not be so 2021, 2022, but really go out there and and go to the movie theater, you know, old-fashioned style. Um we talked to Paloma Garcia Lee on the podcast, and she said, hey, it's meant to be seen in a movie theater on that huge big ass screen. So if you can get to that movie theater, don't wait for it to stream. Go out and see it uh in a movie theater. So congrats. Uh tell us about let's start out with the audition process. Um, when did you find out about it and what was that like auditioning for the movie?

[22:47] Jonalyn Saxer: It was really, it was wild, but also it was this very normal because it was an invited dance call. And it was abnormal because it was in Brooklyn. And so it took me like an hour and 15 minutes to get there, which was unfortunate. But it was normal because there were some other people there, but it was, you know, Paloma was there. And my audition for my Broadway debut, Paloma was at, you know, and there were other people from MEAN GIRLS, and um, even in the you know, movie, there are people from MEAN GIRLS. We were all in it together. And so it felt very normal because it was, you know, just as is with every other show, you go to the dance call, and like dance calls are super fun because also it's a great moment to see your friends, you know, it's like a free dance class with your friends.

And um, the first day was fantastic, and I just loved Justin's choreography. I just seen the carousel revival too, which was super fun. So I was like, oh my God, and his associate Craig had been in the show, and I was like, he was so good. Um, and then the second day was when it got wild because we walk in and the Jet Girls were called a little later, and I show up, and there's um, you know, all my friends that were at the boys' call, and we had been getting texts, and we walk in and they're like, Steven Spielberg is here. We're like, what? And so we go in to do our dance, and it was he was there and he got introduced, and it was so exciting because it made me realize I was like, oh, this is his first musical.

Like we go to these dance calls every every week, every day. This is, and he's seeing this like the first time he had his self, you know, he had his iPhone out, just like recording people's feed and like taking videos of us learning, and you're like, ah, there's Judith Spielberg, but also like you're like, wow, we're the people who like know this environment, and he's the one that's new to this environment, which was really crazy. Um, and the casting team was just fantastic, uh, friend of mine from Syracuse was the associate, so we just started like gabbing and everything, which was super fun. Um, Craig Salstein, Justin's associate, made me feel super welcome because he, I don't know, had heard about me or met me at some event and was like, Jonalyn Saxer's here.

And I was like, why are you saying that? I don't know, but okay, I just want this job. Like, but I think the most memorable was there was a time where like a small group of us was called back in to dance, and I'm sure Paloma maybe told you this story. I don't know. Stop me if I'm repeating her. But they called back a small group of us to do the dance again, and they had everyone come out in groups of two, and they had, you know, just randomly called Paloma and me to dance together, and we walked out and we were like, oh my God, yay! And they're like, Stephen was like, Do you guys know each other? And we're like, Yeah, like because we just knew each other from auditions, you know. Again, like I remember her from my very first Broadway audition for Bullets, and it was really fun.

We always joked that like that moment when we danced together was when we booked the job, because we didn't do the dance as two people auditioning separately. We were like, we're here with our friends. We were making eye contact, we were smiling with each other, we and we danced together. And that's I love those moments in auditions when you get to dance with your friends, and it's not like I'm gonna beat you for this, you know, competition. And it's more just like, let's just do this dance together. And it was so magical. Um, another crazy moment was then they had everyone like sing and read, even though the Jet Girls didn't end up singing in the movie. And I go in and I sing and read, and they had said, like, you Steven might have you do the dance again, or we might have you do the dance again.

And everyone's coming out, and we're like, did you dance again? And everyone's like, no, no, I didn't dance. I didn't dance. And I was like, okay, great. So I'm going in and I go in and I sing and I read. And then they'll Steven's like, oh, can she do the dance again? And I was like, sure. And I was like, can we just like run over it one more time? Cause it had been like three hours, three or four hours since we had learned it. And then like, and I look back at this moment now, and like Justin Peck just like casually helped me review his combo, which was like so crazy. And then I just did this dance combination by myself, like with like five feet away from me, Steven Spielberg just like holding his phone, just like filming me do this dance.

And I was I like went to the show to MEAN GIRLS later that night, and I was like, I there's a video of me just like on my own doing this dance combination on Steven Spielberg's iPhone, and like I can't get over that. Um but the great thing about the audition is it really I was like, you know what? I should get back into ballet class. I haven't taken ballet. If you know, if this works out, like I gotta get back into ballet class. And I went back to steps and I, you know, and I hadn't taken ballet in like five years. I really don't like ballet. Um but I got myself back into ballet class, and as I like looked at my phone as I was packing up my stuff to go, and I had a missed call from my agent. And so I walked out and I called them back, and um, I like found out outside of steps after a ballet class that I had gotten the job, which was like really cool. Very cool.

[28:00] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I love I love the uh finding out stories. Those are the best always when when people share how they got the call. Um, all right, so you're on set now and y'all are in filming. Um Paloma shared a story about doing the dance at the gym uh in a a Catholic school with no air conditioning and it was hot as blazes, and and y'all did like a 30-second sequence for 12 hours straight, and you're just sweating through your clothes and all that. Um I sometimes somehow I always end up to having the sweatiest partner too. Like I love Sandro, but man, that kid sweats. And I was like, I'm not just having my sweat on me. I have Sean's sweat all over me. Love that, love that. Uh are there any other s you know, stories or memories from the filming of the movie that just really stick out to you as either being one of your favorites or just funny or just something that was stuck out to you?

[29:06] Jonalyn Saxer: That's so hard. It all seems such a blur. I do remember there was a point for me that was really special. We were kind of at the end of the week and they were getting the different shots for when Maria and Tony are seeing each other. And it was like this moment where it was Maria, but from Tony's perspective. So almost everybody was was being used except for like three of us couples who were behind Tony. So we weren't, you know, that's where the camera essentially was. Um, so we were like sitting in the bleachers, and then we were all like right near where they had the the videos for Steven to watch. And like it was like really crazy, like some uh um God, what is it called? Oh, I totally just lost the word.

Anyways, we're sitting there, and um, Steven turns around to me and he was like, Do you know that? And he was like, Jonalyn, and he told me the story that he from the audition, he's like, You know, at auditions, like he's like, I have to tell you this. Well, at auditions, like sometimes you don't remember people's names, and so we like come up with nicknames for them. And do you remember at the audition, like you had your hair in a super high ponytail? And I was like, Yes. He was like, Do you remember that? And part of me was like, That's always how I wear my hair, but yes, I do remember that, you know. He was like, and I thought it was so great, and we just kept calling you like candy, the candy, the bubblegum girl, you know.

And they came up with this name for me during the auditions, and it ended up like I was gonna have a wig that was a different style, and then I got called back in for wig fittings. This is before shooting, and Kay, our wig designer, was like, Steven said the bubblegum girl had to have a ponytail, so we're gonna use your own hair. You have a ponytail now, and like it kind of like continued, and I love that. Like, I have my own hair and it's a ponytail because Steven saw my ponytail in the audition and like loved the look, and like how crazy is that? And that I remember that happening. Um, but we all had a lot of fun. The gym was hot and it was sweaty. Um, my dress kept growing, and so they kept on having to sew it to my bodice so that my like bodice wasn't showing, and that was such like a film thing. I was like, wow, on Broadway, you can't get sewn into your costumes, you know, because you're gonna have to change out of them. But that thing was just attached to me. Uh, but it was a blast.

[31:34] Joe Rosko: Cool. All right. Well, thank you so much for sharing all that. Um, it's really cool that your family's involved in theater the way that they are currently still. I'm sure they're so, so proud of you. Um, so that's a very cool insight to know about you. So thanks again for chatting with us. We'll let you get to your climbing um with your friends in uh MEAN GIRLS. Wish you the best on the tour. Um, if uh you're listening, you can find um Jonalyn's Instagram handle, JK Saxer, uh, in the description of this episode. You can give it a click. Make sure to give her a follow. And yeah, thanks so much.

[31:35] Jonalyn Saxer: Thank you.

[32:12] Joe Rosko: All right, everyone, those Jonalyn Saxer. Uh again, give her a follow on the gram. Go see West Side STORY. If you're not located in New York City and you see the tour is coming at you, make sure you go see MEAN GIRLS. Again, this is Joe Rosko, Built for the Stage. Thanks again for listening. Later.