This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:25] David Alpert: Welcome to E-Ticket to Broadway, where Broadway meets Main Street.

[0:25] David Alpert: Here's your host, my pal, David Alpert.

[0:23] David Alpert: Thank you for listening to another episode of E-Ticket to Broadway, where our guests may have overcome their stage fright, but will never overcome their fear of Snow White's scary adventures.

[0:36] David Alpert: Are you following E-Ticket on Instagram? Come join the fun and play games and answer trivia throughout the week and see photos and videos of our incredible Broadway guests living their best lives at the Disney parks.

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[0:59] David Alpert: You can support more episodes of this podcast and help grow Gillanus Fund, an organization committed to making the world a more inclusive and accepting place.

[1:10] David Alpert: Imagine it's a small world, but like in real life.

[1:14] David Alpert: On this episode, I get to giggle with a dear friend, a Tony nominee from the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home.

[1:21] David Alpert: Make sure you keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the podcast at all times. And please welcome to E-Ticket to Broadway, Emily Skeggs.

[1:46] Emily Skeggs: I'm so excited to be here.

[1:49] Emily Skeggs: This is super fun. So let's get right to the important items first.

[1:52] Emily Skeggs: You were Tony nominated for your role as Medium Allison in the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home.

[1:57] Emily Skeggs: And you've starred in movies, both on television and the big screen. So my question for you is how excited are you to play Dopey in the live action movie of my life story?

[2:08] Emily Skeggs: Oh, biggest honor of my life. Biggest honor of this movie. It's gonna be great. I can't wait. Honestly, I feel like I will have truly made it and peaked in my career when I am a Disney cartoon.

[2:19] Emily Skeggs: When I am voicing a cartoon or doing some sort of Disney live action. That is the pinnacle of success for me.

[2:26] David Alpert: Because I think you already are a Disney character in real life.

[2:29] Emily Skeggs: Yes, I live it. I live it. So you know, it might as well happen.

[2:35] David Alpert: Yeah.

[2:35] Emily Skeggs: And I think a few years ago, we first discovered that we both love Dopey.

[2:40] Emily Skeggs: An icon. Gay icon.

[2:43] David Alpert: Oh.

[2:44] Emily Skeggs: I argue.

[2:45] David Alpert: There it is.

[2:47] Emily Skeggs: I mean, he does live alone with six other men.

[2:50] Emily Skeggs: And their beds are super close to each other.

[2:53] Emily Skeggs: And they do sing and dance in rhythm.

[2:56] David Alpert: That's true.

[2:56] Emily Skeggs: There's evidence.

[2:57] Emily Skeggs: I mean.

[2:59] David Alpert: Yeah.

[3:00] Emily Skeggs: Someone should investigate.

[3:02] David Alpert: We should get a podcast going on that.

[3:04] Emily Skeggs: Yeah, it could be this one.

[3:07] David Alpert: It could be that.

[3:09] David Alpert: Anyway, let's talk about Disneyland and Disney World. But um, did you grow up watching Disney movies?

[3:15] Emily Skeggs: Obsessed.

[3:16] Emily Skeggs: Obsessed. One time my parents, I had a they realized I was allergic to antibiotics, and they had to see the stuff.

[3:23] David Alpert: Did not expect you to say that.

[3:24] Emily Skeggs: I know, I know, but we're diving right in. They had to take me to the hospital.

[3:28] Emily Skeggs: I turned bright orange and I had a fever of like 104.

[3:31] Emily Skeggs: And they thought I was gonna die, and they brought me home, and the first thing I did is I popped in The Little Mermaid.

[3:39] Emily Skeggs: Uh huh. And just started watching movies. I was like, I went from being comatose to popping in a little VHS of The Little Mermaid.

[3:46] Emily Skeggs: So I was pretty obsessed, obsessed.

[3:49] David Alpert: Did you have a favorite Disney movie as a kid?

[3:52] Emily Skeggs: Um, Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Mulan.

[3:57] David Alpert: Mulan is so great.

[4:00] Emily Skeggs: I'm so excited for the live action of that.

[4:02] David Alpert: Totally.

[4:03] Emily Skeggs: She's a badass.

[4:04] Emily Skeggs: She's so amazing. I love her.

[4:07] Emily Skeggs: I used to like set up little stones in my backyard and like hop from stone to stone pretending.

[4:13] Emily Skeggs: I even had a boom box and I had the little cassette tape soundtrack of Mulan.

[4:18] Emily Skeggs: And I like always like made my own little Disney World because I never went.

[4:24] David Alpert: Really.

[4:25] Emily Skeggs: I went once.

[4:29] Emily Skeggs: I did. I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is its own little Disney World, I guess.

[4:38] David Alpert: When you say that you loved Pocahontas when you got to work with Judy Kuhn, did you die?

[4:43] Emily Skeggs: Oh yeah. We used to we used to run around backstage in Fun Home with Colors of the Wind blasting on a Bluetooth speaker, and everyone would just completely bust into her dressing rooms screaming and dancing.

[4:59] David Alpert: Did she find it funny or traumatizing?

[5:04] Emily Skeggs: No, she's she's so wonderful. She, of course, you know, she plays along. She loves it.

[5:09] Emily Skeggs: I think you know, she's honored. It's an iconic part of a lot of people's lives.

[5:12] David Alpert: Yeah, no kidding.

[5:13] Emily Skeggs: And I love I'm sure she loved when you dressed up as Miko, the raccoon and sat next to her.

[5:21] Emily Skeggs: Oh, uh what I wouldn't give to dress as a raccoon and sit at Judy Kuhn's feet right now.

[5:26] Emily Skeggs: Yeah. What I wouldn't give.

[5:37] David Alpert: If you were to be cast as a Disney character, which character do you think it would be? Who do you most relate to?

[5:44] Emily Skeggs: Oh my god. I think I definitely um more of like a goofy sidekick kind of character than like a leading lady.

[5:54] David Alpert: Okay.

[5:55] Emily Skeggs: And when you say goofy sidekick, you're using like the adjective goofy, not the proper noun Goofy.

[6:01] David Alpert: Correct.

[6:02] Emily Skeggs: We have to be very careful.

[6:04] David Alpert: Yeah, because this is a doctor.

[6:06] Emily Skeggs: Yeah.

[6:08] Emily Skeggs: See, I'm learning. I'm I'm ignorant to a lot of this, and I'm learning.

[6:11] Emily Skeggs: Because although I love Disney, I'm not a huge, I'm not very knowledgeable about the parks.

[6:16] Emily Skeggs: I've only been twice.

[6:18] David Alpert: But what's funny is the juxtaposition of those two trips, which is what I want to talk about specifically.

[6:23] Emily Skeggs: One double justice. And we'll come back to figure out like which sidekick.

[6:26] Emily Skeggs: You know, it could be Miko.

[6:28] Emily Skeggs: It could be.

[6:29] Emily Skeggs: I think I I think I'm definitely some sort of animal.

[6:32] Emily Skeggs: I don't think I am human.

[6:34] Emily Skeggs: 100%. Animal creature.

[6:37] Emily Skeggs: I think I could probably um dip a toe into the Toy Story world.

[6:44] Emily Skeggs: I know it's a different, a different world, but I think I could be a toy.

[6:48] David Alpert: Yes.

[6:48] Emily Skeggs: Or some sort of um alien being.

[6:53] Emily Skeggs: But I'm definitely not human.

[6:55] David Alpert: No, no.

[6:56] Emily Skeggs: Yeah.

[6:57] Emily Skeggs: I can almost see who is Figaro from Pinocchio, the cat, potentially.

[7:02] David Alpert: Oh, I love that.

[7:03] Emily Skeggs: I have to keep thinking about this.

[7:05] Emily Skeggs: I'm gonna pull up a picture of Figaro right now.

[7:07] Emily Skeggs: Oh, yeah, he's this beautiful black and white cat.

[7:11] David Alpert: Do you also like puppets and marionettes?

[7:14] Emily Skeggs: I do I do enjoy puppets, but I God, I wonder if I'm the one.

[7:21] Emily Skeggs: I want to say you're one of the mice from Cinderella.

[7:24] David Alpert: It's possible.

[7:27] Emily Skeggs: Oh, they're super crafty.

[7:31] David Alpert: Oh, great.

[7:32] Emily Skeggs: I was going with like, oh, Emily Skeggs, that mousey one.

[7:36] David Alpert: No, oh my god.

[7:37] Emily Skeggs: Squeaky little mousy Galayo Gataleo.

[7:43] David Alpert: Were you giving me Bohemian Rhapsody?

[7:46] Emily Skeggs: I was.

[7:47] Emily Skeggs: I was.

[7:48] Emily Skeggs: I was.

[7:49] David Alpert: Is it enjoyable for people to just listen to me laugh?

[7:52] Emily Skeggs: I love laughing.

[7:53] David Alpert: Yeah, I think so.

[7:54] David Alpert: I mean, for the few of you that are still listening to this episode.

[7:58] Emily Skeggs: Oh my goodness.

[7:59] David Alpert: No, it's great. We want to laugh.

[8:01] Emily Skeggs: Okay, crazy.

[8:02] David Alpert: Let's laugh.

[8:04] David Alpert: When you shared with me a video of yourself at Disneyland, I laughed out of joy because you looked so happy.

[8:10] David Alpert: And so let's get to this. Talk to me about this first trip to Walt Disney World when you were four years old, I think.

[8:16] Emily Skeggs: Yes, so I was four years old and I was talking to my parents about it.

[8:19] Emily Skeggs: Um because I I sort of vaguely remembered it being some sort of like business trip.

[8:26] Emily Skeggs: Like I knew we were there for mommy for some reason.

[8:31] Emily Skeggs: And um they I remembered one night they had to leave me with a babysitter for some reason, and I was always like, why did they leave me with a babysitter in Disney World?

[8:41] Emily Skeggs: This is so bizarre. And I just got the skinny on it.

[8:44] Emily Skeggs: It was an all expenses paid trip to a Discover magazine event in 1994 where they were trying to, I don't know, do some business with my mom.

[8:57] Emily Skeggs: So they paid her flight in my dad's flight to Disneyland or Disney World, sorry, oops.

[9:04] David Alpert: It's okay.

[9:05] Emily Skeggs: But they didn't pay mine.

[9:09] David Alpert: Did you go to the park?

[9:10] Emily Skeggs: Yes.

[9:11] Emily Skeggs: They put us up at a hotel and it was very nice.

[9:13] Emily Skeggs: I mean, it's just kind of wild to me.

[9:15] Emily Skeggs: Like I always forget that this is a part of like the business world, like free trips to things.

[9:20] David Alpert: Like I don't know what you're talking about.

[9:22] Emily Skeggs: I've never had that before.

[9:24] Emily Skeggs: So I guess that it would also be a pinnacle of my career when I get a free trip to somewhere.

[9:30] David Alpert: But so you're four years old.

[9:32] Emily Skeggs: You go with your parents to Walt Disney World.

[9:35] Emily Skeggs: And it's for my mom's business trip.

[9:38] Emily Skeggs: So one night they leave me with a babysitter, and it's the first time they've ever left me with a stranger before.

[9:48] David Alpert: And which character was it?

[9:51] Emily Skeggs: It was an old an older woman, like that they had hired from I don't who knows where I'm not.

[9:58] David Alpert: No, I'm saying like it must have been a Disney character, like full costume.

[10:01] Emily Skeggs: I wish it had been.

[10:03] Emily Skeggs: That would probably honestly would have been more traumatizing for me because then that night alone in the hotel room while the babysitter sat in I think like the suite or whatever, I watched the California Dancing Raisins commercial and had a recurring nightmare ever since.

[10:19] David Alpert: Oh no, for a long no, and that's not even Florida, that's the other side of the country.

[10:25] Emily Skeggs: Oh yeah, you're right. California.

[10:27] Emily Skeggs: I don't know what was happening.

[10:30] Emily Skeggs: Um yeah, but they had to attend a cocktail party and like a dinner event in order to redeem this trip.

[10:41] David Alpert: Did you go into the parks as well?

[10:44] Emily Skeggs: Yes, and we stayed on a hotel that was like right on the monorail.

[10:48] David Alpert: Okay.

[10:48] Emily Skeggs: And they took me on some they took me on the character breakfast trade, you know, where you go around and you pose with the characters, and I deeply remember that.

[11:00] Emily Skeggs: And I had a little autograph book, and I was so excited to get Daffy Duck's autograph.

[11:06] David Alpert: I'm gonna it's probably Donald or Daisy.

[11:09] Emily Skeggs: Donald.

[11:09] David Alpert: Maybe it was Donald.

[11:11] Emily Skeggs: Yeah.

[11:12] Emily Skeggs: Daffy's actually from a different world.

[11:14] David Alpert: They're probably cousins, they're probably related.

[11:16] Emily Skeggs: They probably meet at conventions.

[11:18] Emily Skeggs: They're like so.

[11:19] David Alpert: Yeah, but this is probably Donald or Daisy.

[11:22] Emily Skeggs: Oh god, excuse my ignorance.

[11:23] David Alpert: I'm so sorry.

[11:24] Emily Skeggs: You were four.

[11:25] David Alpert: It's okay.

[11:25] Emily Skeggs: You were still learning.

[11:26] Emily Skeggs: I was four. A big giant duck head came towards me and it signed my book, and that felt important.

[11:33] David Alpert: Yes, of course.

[11:35] David Alpert: Did you ever find at the Fun Home stage door a duck head came at you for an autograph?

[11:42] Emily Skeggs: Not literally.

[11:44] David Alpert: Okay, good. What's Emily doing?

[11:46] Emily Skeggs: She's signing some ducks.

[11:52] David Alpert: Yeah, that's very kind.

[11:53] Emily Skeggs: Not discriminate.

[11:54] David Alpert: So was the going to the parks traumatic at all? Or it was purely the commercial in the hotel room with the babysitter?

[12:00] Emily Skeggs: Um, no, it was also really, really hot because I think it was the summer in Florida, and my parents—my mom. This is a quote from my mom: "Your heart was beating so badly, I thought you were going to have a heart attack." And it's like one of the top three things that she feels most guilty about. And the other two things that she feels guilty about are accidents where like I rolled off the bed and hit my head as a child, or like, you know, like hit my head while she was carrying me or something. Waiting in line for Big Thunder. And my heart pounding on the ride being so terrified, I was terrified. I mean, that's a young age to go on that ride.

[12:54] David Alpert: It is. And did you go on it, or did you were like, I'm out?

[12:58] Emily Skeggs: No, we went on it, and that's what almost gave me the heart attack, according to my mother.

[13:04] David Alpert: I'm so sorry.

[13:05] Emily Skeggs: No, it's okay. Listen, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

[13:10] David Alpert: Yeah, that's like when I went on Honey, I Shrunk the Audience in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. I was so scared, and then at one point it's like a 3D movie where there's stuff under your seat that would affect you, and they were like, "Where is the snake?" And my mom and I were like, "We're leaving," and we got up and left. I was like, I can't do this anymore.

[13:27] Emily Skeggs: Yeah, sometimes it's too real, and it's not worth traumatizing yourself in that way.

[13:33] David Alpert: Yeah.

[13:34] Emily Skeggs: I'm okay, like on the rides. Like Hannah, I'm okay because I'm like, you know what? If I just close my eyes, I'm fine. But on some rides, like roller coasters, of course, you're like, I'm still gonna feel this, or Honey, I Shrunk the Audience when there was like a rat tail that would like hit your feet. I was like, no, unsubscribed.

[13:54] David Alpert: Yeah, yeah. I don't need that. You know, it's funny too though. Like, I what—so I reclaimed my Disney experience.

[14:01] Emily Skeggs: Yes, tell us about that.

[14:03] David Alpert: And I went with a friend this past year for a couple of hours.

[14:10] Emily Skeggs: What?

[14:11] David Alpert: It was so silly. We had an opportunity, we had a friend who worked in the park, and so we saw The Frozen Show.

[14:19] Emily Skeggs: Mm-hmm.

[14:20] David Alpert: It's very fun.

[14:21] Emily Skeggs: Fabulous.

[14:22] David Alpert: I cried. It's so magical.

[14:24] Emily Skeggs: It's a great production. And we rode a couple rides. Um, but even—what's okay, what is the log flume ride?

[14:36] David Alpert: Splash Mountain.

[14:38] Emily Skeggs: Splash Mountain. And you go down underneath, and it's like you're in an acid trip, and there's a wolf, you know, with a makeshift kitchen. Like for some reason this wolf has an oil can, but it doesn't have shoes. I'm confused. Where's the logo?

[14:57] David Alpert: It's a really—yeah, that Splash Mountain ride. Uh, we could have a whole hour-long dramaturgical conversation because I don't get it.

[15:06] Emily Skeggs: And I'm so—yeah.

[15:08] David Alpert: I don't get it, but to be clear, I love it. I love the aesthetic of it. I love the mushrooms, I love how terrifying it gets for no reason.

[15:17] Emily Skeggs: Yeah, like with their screaming at you to like go to your laughing place. Someone's like, "Why are you mad at me?"

[15:22] David Alpert: Yeah.

[15:23] Emily Skeggs: Yeah. And if I find a hole and I follow it underground, will people be angry and will things be glowing? Like, what are we teaching our children?

[15:33] David Alpert: Yeah.

[15:34] Emily Skeggs: There's a moment too where they're—Br'er Bear is like strung up by his hands and feet.

[15:41] David Alpert: Yeah.

[15:42] Emily Skeggs: And it's not anatomically correct, perhaps.

[15:46] David Alpert: Oh.

[15:47] Emily Skeggs: Which is probably the better choice. Meaning you're like, in real life, you might be seeing more of this bear. But on the Disneyland attraction, we're not gonna see that.

[15:59] David Alpert: Well, aren't some of the bears wearing underwear? Why is this bear not wearing underwear? This is what I don't understand.

[16:05] Emily Skeggs: What I get a little bit confused about the rules of clothing and correct characters.

[16:12] David Alpert: Well, sure. I mean, like Donald wears a shirt and no pants. Mickey wears pants and no shirt. Imagine if a man walked around with a shirt and no pants.

[16:21] Emily Skeggs: I actually—I dated a guy who said that he thought the most humiliating thing for a man is to be wearing only a t-shirt. And that always stuck with me because that is exactly his uniform.

[16:35] David Alpert: Well, maybe that's why Donald Duck is so angry all the time.

[16:39] Emily Skeggs: Is he an angry character?

[16:41] David Alpert: He does have some temper issues.

[16:43] Emily Skeggs: Oh. I do. I hope he and Daisy work through this.

[16:47] David Alpert: Uh, are they going through a thing? I haven't been keeping up.

[16:50] Emily Skeggs: I mean, what I love about that is as angry as he is, Mickey and Goofy have stuck by his side. They all balance each other out.

[16:56] David Alpert: That's what friends are for.

[16:58] Emily Skeggs: Oh, that's sweet. Emily, you shared with me this photo that's on the Instagram page, this on-ride photo of you on Radiator Springs Racers, this amazing car ride.

[17:22] David Alpert: And you—um, it intense. Okay, so tell me about this.

[17:31] Emily Skeggs: That was a really monumental experience for me. I, you know, I am not really a huge rides person. I grew up in New York City. My parents really didn't really take me to, you know, the parks, roller coaster parks or anything. I like rode the Cyclone a bunch of times as growing up, which is also thrilling and terrifying. And um, I don't really know why I don't think I'm gonna do that anymore because I'm old and I have a bad neck. But I hadn't been on a ride, any kind of roller coaster in years. Years, probably years.

[18:11] David Alpert: Yeah.

[18:11] Emily Skeggs: And I—since Pink Thunder. No, you know, I went—I went on a roller—last time I went on a roller coaster was the night before I kissed my boyfriend for the first time of seven going on eight years. So I think rides have bring a huge emotional thing out of me. It's really interesting. I think like that I went—I wrote a bunch of roller coasters that weekend and then—and then we pulled the plug and we started seeing each other. There's a wonderful moment on the Imagineering Story on Disney Plus where they're talking about some of these, you know, high thrill rides, and they say some of the things that humans want is to feel like they're on the brink of death and then be pulled away from that. And then you feel like you're in love and you can kiss, and that's Disney magic, I think.

[19:03] David Alpert: I agree.

[19:05] Emily Skeggs: That was the first ride that I took on my reclaiming trip to Disneyland. That ride was the first ride we did when we got there because it was the one with the shortest line.

[19:20] David Alpert: How is that with the shortest line? Did you single rider it? Did you like go on the special single rider line?

[19:24] Emily Skeggs: I did single rider it. We single ridered it, which was thrilling because I didn't even know that was a thing. I don't under—like my friend Orin who took me, shout out to Orin Whalen. He grew up in Malibu and had like a family pass to Disneyland and used to skip school and like go to Disney. He's obsessed, wanted to be an Imagineer. So he knows everything and he's fabulous. I love him. So he was like getting the single rider line, and we all just kind of—and I ended up in this car with this family that it was a dad and a couple of like older kids and a mom, but it seemed very obvious that they—this was a tradition for them, and the dad was the most excited to be on the ride. And I've never experienced a ride like this before.

It's so real and like it's a car. It's so—it's to me it seems like so stupid. I literally have nightmares where I'm driving cars and like going off of cliffs. I can't play Mario Kart because cars just like freak me out too much. But this—something about this ride was it was my favorite of the whole day. It's an incredible ride. It's so joyous, and the world that they managed to create and the feeling of like actually being in a speeding car. And I loved the Cars franchise. I don't know why. I just really love those cars. But it was thrilling. I cried. I came off the ride crying. Half because like it shook something emotionally in me, just like being like shook around and like being in a car and not crashing, I guess.

Being in a car that can do something like that and not dying is so amazing. And then also this family experiencing it with this strange family and, you know, getting to know them and talking to them and experiencing this joy that, you know, it's something that they look forward to every year is taking this ride together. That was like—I'm such a sentimental person. Somebody called me sapphosexual the other day, and I was like, oh yeah, that's exactly what I am. But that's the magic of Disney too. Just this beautiful environment that the good person wins, that you're always gonna achieve the goal on the rides. But Radiator Racers has this incredible thing that it's part dark ride and then part roller coaster. And it's so—it's themed so perfectly. I love it so much.

[22:05] David Alpert: Emily, if Medium Allison got a job at the parks, which job do you think she would have?

[22:12] Emily Skeggs: There are jobs, right, where you can draw people.

[22:15] David Alpert: Yes.

[22:15] Emily Skeggs: I think she would do some sort of illustrative work, but I also think she would—I mean her father passed on so much knowledge about the way things were made and the way things were created and the style of things and the history of things that I think I could see her being some in some design aspect.

[22:39] David Alpert: Yeah, she could be an Imagineer creating rides.

[22:41] Emily Skeggs: An Imagineer, yes, I always forget the term. Well, what's funny is like, because that's what I thought on Main Street they have artists either, you know, sketching Disney characters, but also like sketching guests' silhouettes on Main Street, like there's a lot of cool art jobs. I think she might kill it.

[23:00] David Alpert: She would definitely kill it.

[23:02] Emily Skeggs: But I think she has more to offer.

[23:06] David Alpert: Okay.

[23:06] Emily Skeggs: Maybe that's like she does it on the weekends, and then the rest of the time she's building and for inspiration.

[23:12] David Alpert: For inspiration and to connect with the people. Emily, you have done an amazing job of representing incredible queer characters throughout your career. And I know that Disney is doing a great job of bringing more queer representation into its films, everything from you know, the new shorts out by Pixar. Um even in the live action Beauty and the Beast, where Josh Gad's character of LeFou had a moment of flirting with a man. How do you think we can encourage that progress to continue forward?

[23:46] Emily Skeggs: I think the more we talk about how much we enjoy these characters and these storylines, and the more we share the impact that they have on our lives and our families' lives and our communities' lives, the more Disney and hopefully other companies and artists will see that those are storylines that really matter, and they're storylines that bring us joy and hope. And you know, I think the big thing about a lot of Disney movies and animated movies in general is they're a lot of them are about this big journey and this struggle, and in the end, people find themselves or you know, these characters gain a sense of like strength or freedom or something, and I think the more that you show people going through that journey and gaining strength, the more people can find that in their own lives, and so I'd love to see more representation of all people and experiences included.

[24:48] David Alpert: 100%. I love that. I can't wait to have a huge animated Disney movie where the lead is a gay man and I can go meet him in the parks.

[24:58] Emily Skeggs: Oh yes, that's so great. And just but again, progress takes time and I'm thrilled that we're starting to see it. And we want to keep encouraging them. And I really appreciate that question, David, because I think it's really important and as a member of the queer community, I am really thankful.

[25:34] David Alpert: Emily, I love you very much and I know a lot about your personal life.

[25:37] Emily Skeggs: I love you.

[25:38] David Alpert: And one of which is that, well thank you. You have an amazing garden at your home.

[25:43] Emily Skeggs: Oh do you ever pretend to be Alice in Wonderland and bring your cat into the garden and start to sing to the animals and pretend?

[25:52] Emily Skeggs: I am I am I kidding not. I wake up every morning and I say how's everybody doing and I check in with everybody and I watch, you know, it's been amazing. Our yard went from kind of like a dirt pit that literally like the sandlot sort of thing with a couple of beautiful old fruit trees to this beautiful garden that I love so much and all this wildlife is coming back. And the other day I saw this fantastic little, um, it's like a snake slithery thing. It's like a lizard with no arms. And I and this yard went from a literal dirt pit where there was not even an insect to slithery creatures with no arms.

[26:36] David Alpert: It's a wonderland.

[26:38] Emily Skeggs: It is a wonderland. It is a wonderland that took a year to create myself with the help of some other people. And it's amazing. It's amazing. And you know, Alice had a cat named Dinah. And you have a cat not named Dinah, but I'm sure you both could go into the garden together.

[26:57] Emily Skeggs: Like, I want to see you in a blue dress with a white apron.

[27:00] Emily Skeggs: Okay, all right. A photo shoot. I'm inspi I'm very inspired by this, actually. I would love I would love to see the new modern Alice in Wonderland, where it's a not a cis white woman, and it's a cat named Bud.

[27:23] David Alpert: You know?

[27:23] Emily Skeggs: Something like interesting. Something let's have like a modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland.

[27:30] David Alpert: I love it. Let's do it.

[27:32] Emily Skeggs: Oh, Philly.

[27:34] David Alpert: We'll be right back.

[27:36] Emily Skeggs: Oh, what's the ball?

[27:51] David Alpert: Fast pass.

[27:56] David Alpert: Emily Skeggs, here come your fast pass answers. You're gonna have 30 seconds on the clock after I ask the first question. Okay, so just rapid fire. Are you ready to go?

[28:06] Emily Skeggs: Oh joy, I'm ready.

[28:08] David Alpert: Here we go. Emily Skeggs, what is your favorite Disney movie?

[28:12] Emily Skeggs: Pocahontas.

[28:13] David Alpert: Name a character from Beauty and the Beast.

[28:17] Emily Skeggs: Uh um Gaston.

[28:21] David Alpert: Favorite Broadway musical.

[28:23] Emily Skeggs: Fun Home.

[28:24] David Alpert: Name one of the seven dwarfs.

[28:27] Emily Skeggs: Dopey Doopy.

[28:29] David Alpert: Favorite Disney song.

[28:31] Emily Skeggs: Uh, Colors of the Wind.

[28:32] David Alpert: Hello, Judy Kuhn.

[28:33] David Alpert: Name another performer from Fun Home.

[28:36] Emily Skeggs: Judy Kuhn.

[28:39] David Alpert: True or false, you live with a cat.

[28:41] Emily Skeggs: True, baby!

[28:42] David Alpert: Time.

[28:46] Emily Skeggs: I'm did I get them all right?

[28:48] David Alpert: You did perfectly. I think every answer was Judy Kuhn related.

[28:53] Emily Skeggs: I got Judy on my mind. She's a very special woman, and you know, I love her, and she uh she deserves our love. Shout out to Judy.

[29:01] David Alpert: I couldn't tell if when you paused after I asked you to name a character from Beauty and the Beast, if you couldn't think of one or if you were just finding your best guess.

[29:08] Emily Skeggs: I was like going through my mind and I was like, uh, there's a fork. Um, candlestick guy.

[29:17] David Alpert: What's the candlestick guy's name?

[29:19] Emily Skeggs: Uh I don't quite remember. But what's funny is I actually mentioned two of the characters because they're title characters. You could have said Beauty and you could have said the Beast.

[29:28] David Alpert: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[29:39] David Alpert: Oh boy. Okay, Emily, here is your trivia question. Walt Disney has been famously quoted that it was all started by a mouse. And Mickey Mouse is perhaps the most beloved Disney character. Quite ironically, which type of animal has quite a dozen feral members that live at the Disneyland resort and help control the quote pest end quote population?

[30:04] Emily Skeggs: What is cats?

[30:07] David Alpert: Yes, it is. The Disneyland cats.

[30:10] David Alpert: They have cats. So in my research, I mean, like, I've actually only seen one of the Disneyland cats, but like there's reports that there's a couple dozen to about 200. They take care of them, they spay and neuter the cats, but they're there to help control the pest population, meaning mice.

[30:28] Emily Skeggs: That I think I um think that's wonderful. As a cat lover, I think that's wonderful. I have been looking into getting a working cat myself from my backyard because I grow a bunch of vegetables and they will keep the rats away.

[30:42] David Alpert: Yeah.

[30:42] Emily Skeggs: From my vegetables. And some cats are just not meant to be inside. Some cats will not live happy lives inside, and you won't live a happy life with them. So I'm all for it. I definitely think that in our next lives we're both going to come back as feral cats of Disneyland.

[31:00] David Alpert: It's my dream.

[31:09] Emily Skeggs: Okay, you can do that, cat. I'll do the other one. I want to be a puma in Patagonia.

[31:14] David Alpert: And I want to live under the castle and have mice for life.

[31:18] Emily Skeggs: And eat the mice that eat all the crap that people leave on the floor in Disneyland.

[31:25] David Alpert: What an ecosystem.

[31:27] Emily Skeggs: They have a lot of good food options now.

[31:29] David Alpert: They do. It's not the food that's at Disney that I'm worried about.

[31:33] Emily Skeggs: It's the food that people bring to Disney.

[31:36] David Alpert: But you can't bring out in outside food.

[31:38] Emily Skeggs: Yeah, but you do.

[31:40] David Alpert: Sorry, I'm poor. I brought a sandwich.

[31:44] Emily Skeggs: Girl, you gotta come with me with my Disney Visa.

[31:46] David Alpert: I do. I do have to come with you.

[32:00] David Alpert: Okay, Emily, here comes your E Ticket to Broadway game. This is called Changing My Major to Throne. All of these Disney characters became royalty in their respective films, and it is your task to tell me who I'm talking about. Are you ready for Changing My Major to Throne?

[32:23] Emily Skeggs: Hmm. Um, yeah, ready as I'll ever be, David.

[32:27] David Alpert: So again, these are all Disney characters that have become royalty. They've literally changed their major to throne. Good for them. I'm gonna keep saying changing the ground.

[32:39] David Alpert: Number one. In Frozen, Princess Anna falls in love right away with Hans and later in love with Kristoff, who, spoiler alert, marries her in Frozen 2, turning this mountain man into royalty. What fellow Tony-nominated actor gave voice to Kristoff?

[33:01] Emily Skeggs: I'm so bad with names. It runs in the family. I can see him, I can hear him.

[33:07] David Alpert: Tell me anything about him.

[33:09] Emily Skeggs: He's so talented and beautiful, and I'm so sorry I've forgotten his name.

[33:13] David Alpert: I'm gonna give you a hint.

[33:15] Emily Skeggs: Please.

[33:16] David Alpert: He was in Spring Awakening and Hamilton.

[33:20] Emily Skeggs: Oh my frickin' fricus.

[33:23] Emily Skeggs: Frickle my pickle. His last name rhymes with.

[33:27] David Alpert: He was in that beautiful TV show.

[33:31] Emily Skeggs: Yes. And I love him.

[33:34] Emily Skeggs: Jonathan.

[33:35] David Alpert: Yes.

[33:38] Emily Skeggs: Groff.

[33:40] David Alpert: Yes, Jonathan Groff. You did it. Do you see this? Maybe it was all the coding I was on when I was four years old, but I cannot remember a thing. I cannot remember names to save my life. I'm very sorry, Jonathan Groff. I love you.

[33:54] David Alpert: Here's her next Changing My Major to Throne question. Oh, Tony Award winner What? I'm scared. This one's way easier.

[34:04] David Alpert: Okay. Tony Award winner, Anika Noni Rose gave voice to Tiana, who ends up marrying a prince and stepping into a royal position. In her movie, what amphibian did Tiana kiss?

[34:16] Emily Skeggs: Uh a frog.

[34:17] Emily Skeggs: I love that movie so much. That song is such a beautiful, beautiful song. She did such a beautiful, beautiful job. I love in Disneyland if you go to New Orleans Square, Tiana makes an appearance so often. She sings. She's great. Love Tiana.

[34:31] David Alpert: Okay, here comes question number three. This woman who came to life on the silver screen in 1950 ends up marrying a prince and becoming royalty, and instead of putting a ring on it, he puts a shoe on it.

[34:43] Emily Skeggs: Oh, that's that's sweet.

[34:48] David Alpert: No, it's not Sleeping Beauty.

[34:49] Emily Skeggs: Cinderella.

[34:51] David Alpert: Cinderella.

[34:52] Emily Skeggs: I think you knew it was Cinderella and just misspoke.

[34:55] David Alpert: I think it's okay.

[34:56] Emily Skeggs: Well, I think it's something about the shoes.

[34:59] David Alpert: I always think should they really match Sleeping Beauty's crown?

[35:05] Emily Skeggs: Like, I don't know why. Like, I s I think of those shoes and I see her crown.

[35:10] David Alpert: The Sleeping Beauty crown.

[35:12] Emily Skeggs: What?

[35:13] David Alpert: Doesn't she wear a little crown in Sleeping Beauty?

[35:16] Emily Skeggs: Sleeping Beauty does.

[35:17] David Alpert: That's I for some reason when I think of Cinderella's shoes, I also think of Sleeping Beauty's crown.

[35:23] Emily Skeggs: Interesting.

[35:24] David Alpert: So this the stories get intermixed for me.

[35:27] Emily Skeggs: There's this terrible joke from the Jungle Cruise, which is why is Cinderella bad at soccer?

[35:35] David Alpert: Because she's always running away from the ball.

[35:38] Emily Skeggs: But it's not her fault. Her coach is a pumpkin.

[35:41] David Alpert: Oh.

[35:42] Emily Skeggs: I know that's the Jungle Cruise.

[35:44] David Alpert: That's great.

[35:45] Emily Skeggs: Love it.

[35:46] David Alpert: Changing my major to throne number four.

[35:48] Emily Skeggs: This average dude who is always one step ahead of everyone else, has a best friend who steals apples.

[35:55] David Alpert: Aladdin!

[35:57] Emily Skeggs: And ends up marrying the princess whose best friend is a tiger, therefore becoming royalty for real this time.

[36:05] David Alpert: Aladdin!

[36:07] Emily Skeggs: I'm sorry, I couldn't keep it in. I needed to let it out because I knew the answer and I was so happy.

[36:13] David Alpert: Yes.

[36:14] Emily Skeggs: It's a boo.

[36:15] David Alpert: A boo really helped you.

[36:16] Emily Skeggs: Shout out your joy.

[36:18] David Alpert: Yes.

[36:25] Emily Skeggs: I remember her saying Ra Raja.

[36:28] David Alpert: Yes, Raja.

[36:29] Emily Skeggs: I remember saying Raja.

[36:33] David Alpert: In that really beautiful voice.

[36:36] Emily Skeggs: Yes.

[36:37] David Alpert: Okay, here's her last changing my major to throne.

[36:43] Emily Skeggs: This queen assumes her royal position by marrying her childhood best friend and was brought to life on Broadway by a literal Tony Award winning musical theater queen, Miss Heather Headley, who has had the honor of starring in not one, but two Disney on Broadway shows, both of whom are women with royal titles.

[37:03] David Alpert: What is the name of the Disney character who becomes a queen by marrying her best friend?

[37:03] Emily Skeggs: Marrying her best friend.

[37:17] David Alpert: Shh.

[37:23] Emily Skeggs: Uh Fricus.

[37:27] David Alpert: I'm gonna give you a hint. Can you feel the love tonight?

[37:32] Emily Skeggs: Oh no, Flying King.

[37:36] David Alpert: Do you remember the name of that queen?

[37:41] Emily Skeggs: Mala.

[37:42] David Alpert: So close.

[37:44] Emily Skeggs: Nala!

[37:45] David Alpert: Nala.

[37:46] Emily Skeggs: It's Nala.

[37:47] David Alpert: I think I'd get my brain tested.

[37:51] Emily Skeggs: No, no, no. She also, um, you know, was the Princess of Nubia and Aida.

[37:56] David Alpert: Oh, yes.

[37:58] Emily Skeggs: She's so fabulous in that.

[38:00] David Alpert: Congratulations, Emily Skeggs. You did very well on changing my major to throne.

[38:05] Emily Skeggs: Um creative team of Fun Home for changing that.

[38:10] David Alpert: No apologies necessary.

[38:11] Emily Skeggs: It's an homage.

[38:13] David Alpert: It's an honor.

[38:15] Emily Skeggs: It's time for some tough choices.

[38:17] David Alpert: Let's play Tweedledee or Tweedledum.

[38:22] Emily Skeggs: Okay, here's your final game. This is called Tweedledee or Tweedledum. I'm gonna give you two options, and you just let me know which one you prefer.

[38:28] David Alpert: Okay.

[38:30] Emily Skeggs: I love these Tweedledees and these Tweedledums.

[38:33] David Alpert: Oh, I love I love them, David.

[38:35] Emily Skeggs: Great.

[38:36] David Alpert: Well, you have to hear them first.

[38:38] Emily Skeggs: I know, but I'm just so excited.

[38:41] David Alpert: First one, Tweedledeer, Tweedledum. Colors of the Wind, or just around the riverbend.

[38:48] Emily Skeggs: Um, just around the riverbend because it's a little bit more adventurous.

[38:51] David Alpert: And I love it.

[38:54] Emily Skeggs: I always want to be just going around just around the riverbend. That's like my perfect day.

[39:00] David Alpert: Tweedledeer, Tweedledum, It's a Small World or Splash Mountain.

[39:07] Emily Skeggs: I have to choose.

[39:09] David Alpert: No.

[39:10] Emily Skeggs: It's a fun podcast.

[39:11] David Alpert: You can say both for different reasons.

[39:15] Emily Skeggs: You know, I think It's a Small World I hold very dear in my heart, and I think that is very important.

[39:21] David Alpert: But the Splash Mountain game uh game ride.

[39:24] Emily Skeggs: The Splash Mountain ride is you know what? It's a Small World.

[39:30] David Alpert: Okay.

[39:31] Emily Skeggs: There it is.

[39:33] David Alpert: Tweedledeer, Tweedledum, changing my major to Joan, or the tiki room theme song.

[39:40] Emily Skeggs: Changing my major to Joan.

[39:42] David Alpert: Okay, can't we?

[39:43] Emily Skeggs: I'm really sorry, but tiki is tiki's tiki's canceled.

[39:43] David Alpert: Tiki's canceled.

[39:51] Emily Skeggs: There's a lot of listeners right now that just gasped like I did.

[39:54] David Alpert: I'm so sorry.

[39:55] Emily Skeggs: Listen, that's not fair either, because changing my major to Joan is an incredible song.

[39:59] David Alpert: And the Sherman and Brothers also wrote an incredible song.

[40:01] Emily Skeggs: They're in two different camps.

[40:02] David Alpert: It was just for fun.

[40:05] Emily Skeggs: It's just for fun, everybody.

[40:08] David Alpert: Tweedledeer, Tweedledum, The Feral Cats of Disneyland, or all of the young child performers who are in Fun Home.

[40:17] Emily Skeggs: I have to choose between them.

[40:20] David Alpert: In this fun game.

[40:22] Emily Skeggs: I'm choosing between cat children that protect a magical place and mm real children that also protect magical things.

[40:34] David Alpert: I'm gonna say the real children is the way to go.

[40:39] Emily Skeggs: That's fair.

[40:39] David Alpert: I'm glad you answered that way.

[40:41] Emily Skeggs: The real children.

[40:42] David Alpert: However, I do want to point out that I mentioned that I want to become a feral cat of Disneyland.

[40:47] Emily Skeggs: I know that's why I hesitated.

[40:48] David Alpert: That's why I hesitated.

[40:50] Emily Skeggs: No, I'm very glad you chose the real people.

[40:53] David Alpert: You know, but you just gotta watch out because I do care about the cats, and I don't want P to coming after me.

[40:58] Emily Skeggs: Here's the deal. This is just a game, and we want to love everyone.

[40:59] David Alpert: We want to love we love everyone.

[41:04] Emily Skeggs: We love everyone.

[41:06] David Alpert: As long as that person loves everyone as well.

[41:09] Emily Skeggs: Yes, cats and children, we love them both, to be clear.

[41:12] David Alpert: And for you and I, our cats are our children.

[41:15] Emily Skeggs: It's also true.

[41:25] David Alpert: Emily Skeggs, the next time you go to Disneyland, what's the first thing you want to do?

[41:29] Emily Skeggs: I'm getting on that cars ride.

[41:31] David Alpert: Right a white to Radiator Springs Racers.

[41:33] Emily Skeggs: I'm I'm going straight to Radiator Springs Racers.

[41:36] David Alpert: But then I also so I know that Star Wars is a controversial topic when it comes to the Disney community.

[41:45] Emily Skeggs: But for my father, that would bring so much joy.

[41:51] David Alpert: He loves Star Wars.

[41:52] Emily Skeggs: He loves Star Wars.

[41:53] David Alpert: And he has grew up on Star Wars in the same way we grew up on Disney.

[41:59] Emily Skeggs: So to be able to take him to that place and watch him light up.

[42:03] David Alpert: I mean, like, uh, for Christmas this year, we told him we're we'll take him.

[42:08] Emily Skeggs: So, and just that slight amount of joy on his face, and um, you know, he asked, like, can I get a lightsaber?

[42:16] David Alpert: You know, like that is that is so special.

[42:19] Emily Skeggs: That's really special.

[42:20] David Alpert: And so, you know, let's go.

[42:23] Emily Skeggs: Let's go to Star Wars.

[42:25] David Alpert: Let's I want to give him that opportunity.

[42:28] Emily Skeggs: For me, as someone that was not familiar with Star Wars, and when they announced Galaxy's Edge coming into Disneyland, I I definitely was um apprehensive, but knowing that there's so many fans of it, and it's the same kind of passion that I hold towards Disney, it definitely makes it feel more right.

[42:44] David Alpert: Exactly.

[42:45] Emily Skeggs: Exactly.

[42:46] David Alpert: I mean, you know, these characters might not be relevant to kids in the future.

[42:51] Emily Skeggs: That's how that's how culture happens and culture changes and new things.

[42:59] David Alpert: Right.

[43:00] Emily Skeggs: Um, I also hope that on the trip that I'll go with you and that we can just take pictures in front of the castle together.

[43:07] David Alpert: And then we're gonna go to Snow White's grotto and look at Dopey.

[43:11] Emily Skeggs: Shall we wear costumes, like some sort of cosplay?

[43:13] David Alpert: Are you a costume?

[43:15] Emily Skeggs: You know, no, I I haven't.

[43:17] David Alpert: I mean, it unless you count like going as David Alpert at Disneyland is a costume.

[43:23] Emily Skeggs: I'll cosplay as you at Disneyland.

[43:26] David Alpert: And I'll cosplay as medium Allison.

[43:29] Emily Skeggs: Perfect.

[43:29] David Alpert: I would say that um you can Disney bound, which is where you wear contemporary clothing that really, you know, signals your brain towards a specific character.

[43:41] Emily Skeggs: So we could definitely do that.

[43:42] David Alpert: I'm that can't be 100% doing Dopey.

[43:45] Emily Skeggs: We could do that.

[43:46] David Alpert: We both do Dopey.

[43:48] Emily Skeggs: No, in that sense, I'll be Mickey and then you can be Dopey.

[43:52] David Alpert: Well, you can be Dopey if you want to be Dopey.

[43:55] Emily Skeggs: I'm really sad that when I was a kid, I have a photo of myself with Dopey, but Dopey rarely makes an appearance on the meeting.

[44:01] David Alpert: Like he'll be in parades and on Fantastic once in a while.

[44:05] Emily Skeggs: Maybe the other six get jealous that he gets all the attention.

[44:09] David Alpert: He's definitely the cutest.

[44:11] Emily Skeggs: Well, uh I think yes.

[44:14] David Alpert: In my opinion.

[44:16] Emily Skeggs: Yeah.

[44:16] David Alpert: These words are my own.

[44:18] Emily Skeggs: But I think Dopey is the cutest.

[44:20] David Alpert: I think he's the cutest little cutie.

[44:25] Emily Skeggs: We're gonna find him, David.

[44:27] David Alpert: We're gonna go to Disney and we are gonna find Dopey dressed as Dopey.

[44:32] Emily Skeggs: I literally asked Snow, I'm like Snow White.

[44:35] David Alpert: What did she say?

[44:36] Emily Skeggs: She says he's in the mines.

[44:37] David Alpert: And I was like, why are they keeping Dopey in the mines so much?

[44:41] Emily Skeggs: He needs sun.

[44:42] David Alpert: He needs vitamin D.

[44:44] Emily Skeggs: Get Dopey out of the mines.

[44:47] David Alpert: I'm gonna start a plan.

[44:49] Emily Skeggs: I don't like that.

[44:51] David Alpert: He's in the mines.

[44:52] Emily Skeggs: Well, there were no things.

[44:55] David Alpert: Yeah, but they do.

[44:57] Emily Skeggs: I don't know.

[44:58] David Alpert: Get him out of the mines.

[44:59] Emily Skeggs: I want to see these mines.

[45:01] David Alpert: I would love to see.

[45:03] Emily Skeggs: Is there a mine?

[45:04] David Alpert: Can you see the mines?

[45:05] Emily Skeggs: Is there a ride where you can see the mines?

[45:07] David Alpert: At Disney World, they've got the mine train.

[45:09] Emily Skeggs: But at um in California, you do get to on Snow White's Scary Adventures, which they're redoing a little bit.

[45:09] David Alpert: You do get to momentarily take a little drive through their mines.

[45:21] Emily Skeggs: But that ride is so terrifying.

[45:23] David Alpert: Usually that's a moment where I'm like recovering from screaming.

[45:26] Emily Skeggs: Oh god.

[45:27] David Alpert: It's a really terrifying ride.

[45:28] Emily Skeggs: Anyway, Emily Skeggs, this has been so much fun.

[45:30] David Alpert: I cannot wait to go on Radiator Springs Racers with you and scream and can't wait.

[45:35] Emily Skeggs: And look at that on-ride photo where you are just living your best life.

[45:40] David Alpert: I don't want to stop talking about Disney with you.

[45:42] Emily Skeggs: I could st I could talk about it forever.

[45:44] David Alpert: We can continue on, but but I think we're gonna say goodbye to our listeners.

[45:48] Emily Skeggs: But Emily, thank you for your time and story and art.

[45:51] David Alpert: And uh we'll see you at the parks.

[45:53] Emily Skeggs: Thank you for having me, David, and thanks for listening. Love you all.

[46:11] David Alpert: That was a fun interview.

[46:13] David Alpert: I just love this podcast, don't you?