This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Dan Tracy: So an actor is saying his lines, and then out of nowhere, he just starts singing.

[0:07] Joe Carroll: Box 67.

[0:15] Dan Tracy: Don't cry for me.

[0:18] Joe Carroll: So good morning.

[0:19] Dan Tracy: Good morning.

[0:22] Joe Carroll: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals.

[0:24] Dan Tracy: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals.

[0:26] Joe Carroll: Dan's still in DC.

[0:27] Dan Tracy: I'm still in DC, but I am drinking coffee out of a Guys Who Like Musicals mug.

[0:32] Joe Carroll: Which you can find on our merch store.

[0:35] Dan Tracy: Hey, look at that.

[0:36] Joe Carroll: Merch store.

[0:36] Dan Tracy: Our merch store.

[0:38] Joe Carroll: Available through our Instagram.

[0:40] Dan Tracy: Instagram, merch store.

[0:42] Joe Carroll: We got shirts.

[0:43] Dan Tracy: We got mugs.

[0:44] Joe Carroll: Yeah, we got lots of things.

[0:46] Dan Tracy: We got VIP backstage tours at Frozen starting February 18th.

[0:54] Joe Carroll: That's a joke, because that's when Joe leaves.

[0:57] Dan Tracy: That's when Joe's unemployed.

[1:00] Joe Carroll: But um I last night was really cool. Uh one of our listeners, uh Ryan was at the show. Um he had on his merch. He had on his shirt, so check out our Instagram. Uh he had on the shirts, he came to see Frozen with his girlfriend in the shirt. It was awesome to meet them.

[1:15] Dan Tracy: Yeah, they came to see Gun and Powder this weekend too.

[1:19] Joe Carroll: They came down to DC to see it.

[1:20] Dan Tracy: Cool.

[1:21] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[1:21] Dan Tracy: He's super cool.

[1:22] Joe Carroll: Shout out to Ryan.

[1:24] Dan Tracy: Shout out.

[1:25] Joe Carroll: And actually, he told me that we shouted out to him in our very first episode.

[1:29] Dan Tracy: I didn't even realize that.

[1:30] Joe Carroll: Cause uh so listen, just uh come bug us at the stage door of our shows, and uh who knows. And we appreciate all of you who have bought some, and hopefully, if you guys get that I think you've mostly all of you have received it. When you do, take a picture in your shirt and send it to us. We'll post it on our Instagram.

[1:45] Dan Tracy: Yeah, we will. Um Yo, how's it going?

[1:51] Joe Carroll: I we just talked for a second before we started recording. Um, your official Gun and Powder opening is officially open tomorrow?

[1:58] Dan Tracy: Or tomorrow. Oh no, it opened. The official opening's tomorrow or yesterday.

[2:01] Joe Carroll: The official opening was Tuesday, February 4th. I think we are celebrating opening as a cast tonight on February 6th. And I guess the critics are in the audience tonight, which I wish I didn't know, but I do.

[2:15] Dan Tracy: Yep, yep.

[2:16] Joe Carroll: So that's the thing that like on the mess up your lines, Dan. Don't mess up your lines. On Broadway shows, the critics come like over the course of a two-week period, kind of whenever they want.

[2:27] Dan Tracy: Right.

[2:27] Joe Carroll: Um it's like a week, it's about ten days, and it's the press opening and it's right before uh the official opening night. So you don't really know when Ben Brantley from the New York Times is sitting in the audience, but you know, you know, you get the unless you're doing unless you're doing uh Moulin Rouge in Boston and the uh lights are kind of up in the house and you can see him sitting on the aisle taking notes at intermission.

[2:48] Dan Tracy: Yikes yikes yikes.

[2:50] Joe Carroll: But he liked that show, so that's good.

[2:53] Dan Tracy: Um how's it going?

[2:55] Joe Carroll: It's going well. Um quick anecdote. I did Tuesday night, I had two major mistakes in the performance.

[3:04] Dan Tracy: Outstanding.

[3:05] Joe Carroll: Which which hurt the team. Definitely hurt the team. Um I fully forgot, fully forgot a line. Oh in the pinnacle uh scene of the show, as far as emotional, the kind of the emotional climax of the show.

[3:20] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[3:21] Joe Carroll: I said a line kind of up one page later.

[3:25] Dan Tracy: Okay.

[3:25] Joe Carroll: And then I gued for about five seconds. And then I just went to the next slide. I was like, okay, we're just gonna move past that. Cool. Bless you. Then I was like, okay, now my heart's racing, and this is in the scene leading up to when I have to sing my big song, which is the eleven o'clock number. So that just happened, and I'm like, okay, shake it off, Dan, you're gonna be fine. So we keep going, I'm like trying to focus deeper into like what I have to say. And we have this little scuffle. Uh me and Saleya have a scuffle, and the gun is supposed to fly across the stage.

[4:04] Dan Tracy: I'm giving away the full plot now.

[4:06] Joe Carroll: Is it the is it the gun of Gun and Powder?

[4:10] Dan Tracy: Uh sort of is it the lead gun? It's not her gun, it's my gun because I'm also an outlaw. I'm like you know, a cowboy.

[4:16] Joe Carroll: Yeah, good job.

[4:20] Dan Tracy: Um anyway, the there's this altercation is supposed to happen without giving up too much plot, and the gun does not go across the stage. It in fact goes to exactly where she's supposed to leave the stage.

[4:30] Joe Carroll: Nice.

[4:35] Dan Tracy: So she could have just picked it up and walked out. And it's if it were exactly. Or just picks it up and shoots me. So the fact that she doesn't is like that doesn't make any sense. And so then I'm thinking about that as I start to sing my song and just uh fully didn't sing the right lyrics.

[4:52] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[4:52] Dan Tracy: Sang the lyrics of the um like the third verse of the song in the first verse. The other the other night, uh, this was like last week or the week before. Um I sing Hans of the Southern Isles Part One.

[5:06] Joe Carroll: Uh huh.

[5:06] Dan Tracy: Which is like nice to meet you, like you know, I'm singing to Anna, you know, the thirteenth son of a king. Um you from a very small kingdom. And then there's the second one, and it's the same melody. Same melody. Different lyrics.

[5:20] Joe Carroll: Right.

[5:20] Dan Tracy: And then the second one is like. You know, it's to the people, I'm you know, you know, uh I'm the leader, I'm gonna lead you like into battle or whatever. And I at one point started uh singing the lyrics to the second one during the first one.

[5:37] Joe Carroll: Sick.

[5:42] Dan Tracy: And and kept going. It was just horrible. So I I can completely sympathize with um just out there on a Broadway stage.

[5:45] Joe Carroll: Just out there on a Broadway stage.

[5:53] Dan Tracy: I have messed up so many times on a Broadway stage. This is a good segue now.

[5:57] Joe Carroll: Yeah, I I saw Aisha posted about how she cracked on stage.

[6:04] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[6:05] Joe Carroll: Doing the show. And then Patty was like, You have no many no idea how many times I've done that.

[6:10] Dan Tracy: Yes, yes, she did so she did I didn't hear her crack, that's the other thing. Like like when you crack, uh whether it's on stage or in an audition, you know, you it's always worse to you than it is to the people listening to you.

[6:22] Joe Carroll: Always.

[6:22] Dan Tracy: Always. So just remember that. But um I I mean I've cracked a million times and told a million stories about that, you know, voice cracking and and having phlegm fly out of my mouth and into the the front row of the audience. I don't know if I've told that story on the podcast, but that was some of the things.

[6:35] Joe Carroll: Oh, I thought it was just what good acting was.

[6:37] Dan Tracy: I do that every day.

[6:38] Joe Carroll: Yeah, so that's good acting. Um so Aisha was on, uh Patty was sick on set uh Sunday night, and uh uh Aisha went on, and Aisha is leaving the show on Sunday, and it was very emotional because it uh she's been with the show since Denver, obviously. If you listen back to our interview with Aisha, it's one of our favorites, and so this may have been the last time that she gets to play Anna. And so she was very emotional, and just was like obviously, you know, when you're in in a place like that, like you you're not hitting all your your marks exactly the way you want to. You know, she was fantastic. She's always great in the show. Um, but so she was a little emotional and and she said that she she cracked uh a bunch, which I didn't actually hear.

Um, but she was crying at a curtain call. She was really, you know, it was emotional, man. She's been a part of that show for over three years, you know, and now she's leaving and uh it's really fun. I I mentioned this in my Instagram post, but I know what she's doing, and uh I think we both know what she's doing. And it's gonna be she is she is so remarkable in this piece. I got to see a reading of it. She's so good. Um and uh the presser the press release for that's gonna come out really soon, and so uh, you know, make sure to look out for what Aisha Jackson is doing next because she she's o she's on a rocket, you know. She's gonna be one of these people who like is gonna lead she's gonna lead a Broadway show, maybe two, and then she's gonna get a series and you're gonna like open up Netflix one day and there's gonna be her face staring back at you. And then she's gonna have her solo album and then she's gonna have her Grammy.

[8:05] Joe Carroll: Right, I see right, right.

[8:06] Dan Tracy: Yep, yep. I see.

[8:08] Joe Carroll: So we talked to this week.

[8:11] Dan Tracy: Oh, right, right. Well, I just wanted to see if there was anything else Gun and Powder related you wanted to share with us. Um you know, any more changes, are they changing things every day?

[8:20] Joe Carroll: I mean, they probably aren't changing things now, but were there more changes, more script pages, more stuff like that?

[8:24] Dan Tracy: No, it's just it's just uh not no no new changes. It's just been interesting. Um, you know, as I said, like the show wasn't the last time we spoke, the show we hadn't really run the show a few times. So it's interesting because I feel like we're still finding it like what it even is for us.

[8:43] Joe Carroll: Right.

[8:44] Dan Tracy: As actors and how the story flows, and the you know, the way in which we do the scenes and play the scenes is still still so new that that's kind of what knocks you on your heels and makes you like forget your lines.

[9:01] Joe Carroll: That makes sense.

[9:02] Dan Tracy: It almost feels like you're still rehearsing. It feels like a workshop production, except like the Broadway producers are in the audience.

[9:09] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and so that's a really it's just a really interesting experience, and it's just like it feels invaluable to me to be comfortable like in the gray and comfortable making mistakes.

[9:20] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[9:21] Joe Carroll: And not really knowing what you're doing. And my scene partner happens to be someone who's done these like really fast Encore shows where she's putting up like Eva Perón in twelve days. So she's she's used to like that speed and just trusting that you know it, but also not maybe not knowing it, and that's just a new experience for me that isn't invaluable part of what I'm doing down here and and is has been really interesting to experience.

[9:49] Dan Tracy: Yeah, yeah, totally, totally.

[9:50] Joe Carroll: Well, that's what TV is. You know, TV and film is like you just fucking excuse my you just show up and you know.

[9:59] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[9:59] Joe Carroll: No, totally. And I I was um I was just listening to uh one of uh Alec Baldwin's interviews with Julianne Moore. Um he said the has this series on his podcast about the Oscar about Oscar winners, and they were talking about just the you know, cutting their teeth early in their career doing soaps. And Julianne Moore was like, you know, I I had 30 pages of dialogue a day.

[10:19] Dan Tracy: Right, you know, and you just show up and you gotta know your words, you gotta and you gotta just that speed is really uh unbelievable, and you're you're in the middle of it, you know, new pages and and uh you know, just trying to be comfortable when you're uncomfortable and trying to tell the story when you really don't know what it is yet. Like it's crazy.

[10:36] Joe Carroll: And do you think uh is your experience that your brain gets better at that as the more you do it?

[10:43] Dan Tracy: Yeah. I think it's a muscle. I have to think so that it's a muscle because like otherwise I'm just scared about the day when hopefully I get a big series regular job, and then you get twenty pages of dialogue you have to memorize every day.

[10:56] Joe Carroll: Right.

[10:57] Dan Tracy: Um like I did this episode of New Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, and Ryan Eggold, who plays um the main dude.

[11:03] Joe Carroll: Yeah, he's great.

[11:04] Dan Tracy: Uh he's just got these massive speeches every episode, just like, you know, pages and pages of monologues to like, you know, the doctors and to like he had this this two-page speech to like a board of directors, you know, and they were gonna film that the next day, and I'm like, gosh, like that it's it's part of the job. Like just straight up memorization and being comfortable is a huge part of the job.

[11:26] Joe Carroll: Right, right.

[11:27] Dan Tracy: Yeah that's so fascinating.

[11:29] Joe Carroll: I'd love to talk to him about that.

[11:31] Dan Tracy: Whether he does actually know it or not.

[11:34] Joe Carroll: You know what I mean?

[11:34] Dan Tracy: Like, yeah, we gotta get a hold of um well, he's number one on the call sheet. Maybe we can bug Ali Lough.

[11:39] Joe Carroll: Well, I want to get Ali Lough on here too. Allie Luff is doing she's doing a bunch of episodes of New Amsterdam and she she's doing this uh show on on uh stars called Heels with a Z. Um that uh came the that press release came out the other day, and um and uh I got to see her when I did the table read for New Amsterdam. She was there and she's um doing a bunch of episodes in New Amsterdam, so maybe we could get her on here and then we'd get him on here, and we could be like, do you actually know all your lines?

[12:06] Dan Tracy: Yeah, exactly.

[12:07] Joe Carroll: How do you learn your lines? You know, and Daniels.

[12:15] Dan Tracy: Um from that interview.

[12:16] Joe Carroll: But I'm like, yeah, when he yeah, it's the speech from it's that famous speech from from the newsroom.

[12:21] Dan Tracy: And that's another great one. We're just plugging other shows, but uh Jeff Daniels' interview with Sam Jones on Off Camera.

[12:27] Joe Carroll: Yeah, he talks about doing that famous speech from newsroom where America's not the greatest country in the world anymore. He talks about, you know, showing up and having to deliver that speech in front of an auditorium full of people, all the executives from HBO, Aaron Sorkin, and everybody's like wondering if they have a show, and he has to be Will McAvoy and and deliver this monologue that he's waited his whole career to deliver. And it's a great interview. So check that one out. Sam Jones Off Camera. That's one of our favorites.

[12:56] Dan Tracy: That's a great podcast.

[12:57] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[12:57] Dan Tracy: Um so this week.

[13:00] Joe Carroll: Yeah, this week.

[13:01] Dan Tracy: We're talking to Anna.

[13:04] Joe Carroll: Um, I'm talking to Anna.

[13:06] Dan Tracy: Uh I uh I got a chance to sit down with Patti Murin yesterday. And um we're um Dan, you need to come home because first of all, because uh we're better together, but I can't be left to my own devices with the technology, man. I'm telling you, it's just I I spent I spent 15 minutes of our interview that I was able to squish in between rehearsal and uh physical therapy in her dressing room. Like we had barely any time. We had like 45 minutes. We had like a tight 45 to like get out all these questions, and I had a million things I wanted to talk to her about, and I spent 15 minutes trying to get the mics right because I don't know what I'm doing. So please come home and take the tech away from me.

[13:47] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[13:50] Dan Tracy: But um the interview is awesome. She's amazing. Um this was just I uh we we decided at the end of it because it was a little short, that after we leave the show, I'm gonna go and uh maybe the two of us can go together and interview her at her apartment um and do a real long exit interview, all things Frozen related.

[14:09] Joe Carroll: Also, she's got some big news coming up um that we couldn't talk about during the interview, but we will be able to talk about in a few weeks that we want to touch on.

[14:17] Joe Carroll: So we're gonna do I'm calling this Patti Murin part one, even though Patti Murin part two has not been recorded yet.

[14:23] Joe Carroll: Um we will do a second one uh in the spring.

[14:27] Joe Carroll: Um but she's we talk about we talk about um I I gave her some rapid fire questions at the end to cover topics from Syracuse University to Caissie Levy talking about the Frozen process, talking about Lysistrata Jones.

[14:40] Joe Carroll: Um I mean she's done she's done a million things, but uh I the thing I would look out for is her story about Nerds.

[14:46] Joe Carroll: Um do you remember the the Nerds story?

[14:50] Joe Carroll: Yeah, it was how it got canceled.

[14:52] Joe Carroll: Right.

[14:53] Joe Carroll: So this is crazy, and I would just listen to um tons of great snippets in this thing.

[14:58] Joe Carroll: But she uh obviously Patti was uh she um she was the original Anna in Frozen.

[15:04] Joe Carroll: Obviously, uh she uh was in the Broadway productions of Lysistrata Jones and Xanadu and she um she was in the Wicked Tour, she was a Glinda for a while.

[15:17] Joe Carroll: Uh Loves Labor's Lost um at the Delacorte Theater, which I saw that was Shakespeare in the Park.

[15:23] Joe Carroll: One of my favorite things I've ever seen um uh was this production of Loves Labor's Lost that was directed by Alex Timbers.

[15:30] Joe Carroll: It was a musical, it was so freaking cool.

[15:32] Joe Carroll: Um and then we didn't even get to talk about this, but we we uh overlapped with Fly by Night.

[15:37] Joe Carroll: Fly by Night was a was a show that they did at Playwrights Horizons that was written by my good friend Will Connolly, uh who I did Once with.

[15:43] Joe Carroll: And um she did that show, and I did all of the readings of that show uh while I was in Once with um Will, and we didn't even get to talk about that, but um we got a million more um uh topics to cover in the next one.

[15:56] Joe Carroll: But um, but yeah, I'll just kind of rattle off some stuff.

[15:58] Joe Carroll: Um, you know, some of her resume.

[16:01] Joe Carroll: Uh well I guess I sort of did.

[16:03] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[16:03] Joe Carroll: We already did that.

[16:04] Joe Carroll: Everybody knows who Patti Murin is.

[16:06] Joe Carroll: I know.

[16:07] Joe Carroll: I just want to make sure that we get it.

[16:08] Joe Carroll: And I love this this, you know, this is what we did when I was leaving Waitress too.

[16:11] Joe Carroll: We got all tried to get all these Waitress people on.

[16:13] Joe Carroll: I think that that's uh that's a great way for you to uh kind of commemorate your final moments with these people before uh February 18th, which is cool.

[16:22] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and just to like get to sit and fawn over them a little bit because when you go to when you go out for a drink, like you know, you don't get to really tell these people how you feel about them, and then but you put a microphone in front of them and you're like, hey, I really love you.

[16:34] Joe Carroll: I'm obsessed with you and truly um Patti Murin had created this world um that I just got to step into and and I I get I get to reap the benefits of all of her hard work and all of the jokes that she created.

[16:47] Joe Carroll: I literally feel like I just showed up and and just you know got uh sort of a cog in the wheel in the Patti Murin show in the best way.

[16:54] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[16:55] Joe Carroll: Um and so um was excited to talk to her.

[16:57] Joe Carroll: Awesome, man.

[16:58] Joe Carroll: I can't wait to check it out.

[16:59] Joe Carroll: I listened to a little bit of it and it sounded great.

[17:02] Joe Carroll: You have such a nice voice.

[17:04] Joe Carroll: Oh it was nice to not have to hear my voice on there, you know.

[17:08] Joe Carroll: Well, I felt the same way when we listen back to Shoshana.

[17:11] Joe Carroll: I don't have to listen to myself, just get to listen to you.

[17:13] Joe Carroll: Right.

[17:13] Joe Carroll: Uh to uh but it's something like it flowed really nicely, and you know, we'll teach you s slowly, we'll get you learning the tech once we'll we'll figure it out.

[17:21] Joe Carroll: Alright.

[17:22] Joe Carroll: Uh well just come home.

[17:23] Joe Carroll: Just come home.

[17:24] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[17:25] Joe Carroll: But uh but yeah, we also this is gonna be a bit of a Frozen blitz um uh in my last uh couple weeks here at the show.

[17:30] Joe Carroll: Uh we're talking to Patti this week, and then um I have uh interviews coming up with Noah Ricketts and Ryan Redmond with Bobby Cratchit and Kevin Delagula, maybe Caissie Levy, uh we'll say yes.

[17:40] Joe Carroll: Um if she's uh she's doing double duty right now with Caroline, or Change, so I don't want to bug her too much.

[17:44] Joe Carroll: But yeah, but I just want to talk to all these people before I leave.

[17:47] Joe Carroll: Um I'm gonna try and get some of the stars of Gun and Powder on too before uh probably next week.

[17:53] Joe Carroll: We're all in the midst of uh, you know, it's like when we're not at work where uh we're all taping multiple tapes a week at this point, so trying to find the next, you mean.

[18:05] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[18:06] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[18:06] Joe Carroll: So people are like busy during the day, like sleeping in and then trying to tape so that we can get ready to do the show.

[18:11] Joe Carroll: But I'm gonna try and get you know, Donald and Soleil and Emmy on because I think they all have really cool careers that are very different in very different ways, which I think what people would would like to hear.

[18:23] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, that'll be awesome.

[18:25] Joe Carroll: Cool.

[18:25] Joe Carroll: Uh brilliant.

[18:26] Joe Carroll: So we'll get into our interview with Patti Murin.

[18:27] Joe Carroll: Uh thanks for hanging out with us again.

[18:29] Joe Carroll: Merch store, check us out on on Instagram and let us know.

[18:32] Joe Carroll: If you go to @GuysWhoLikeMusicals on Instagram, you'll see uh in our link now.

[18:37] Joe Carroll: You can go right to the podcast in the link, or you can go to the merch store and and get some stuff there.

[18:42] Joe Carroll: So we appreciate you.

[18:44] Joe Carroll: All of your uh proceeds from those shirts go to helping us build the show out bigger and better and get better guests.

[18:51] Joe Carroll: So yeah, just the best.

[18:52] Joe Carroll: So thank you.

[18:53] Joe Carroll: And uh here, without further ado, the original, the OG.

[18:59] Joe Carroll: Anna from Arendelle.

[19:01] Patti Murin: Crazy.

[19:02] Patti Murin: I love crazy.

[19:05] Patti Murin: All my life has been a series of doors and my hoops.

[19:10] Patti Murin: I knew it.

[19:11] Patti Murin: I know that you just freaked out for a little bit.

[19:12] Joe Carroll: I was just gonna freak out for a little bit.

[19:15] Patti Murin: Yeah, so nailed it.

[19:16] Patti Murin: So nailed it.

[19:17] Patti Murin: Everything's hard.

[19:19] Patti Murin: Okay, so we just spent what did we was this happen.

[19:20] Patti Murin: We just spent the last like 10 minutes with me freaking out just a little bit.

[19:24] Joe Carroll: Yeah, but it's okay.

[19:24] Patti Murin: I was looking at um Twitter and eating chocolate covered pretzels, so I'm fine.

[19:30] Patti Murin: Cool.

[19:31] Patti Murin: Um okay, Patti.

[19:32] Patti Murin: Hi, Joe.

[19:33] Patti Murin: Thank you for talking to me.

[19:36] Patti Murin: You're talking, you sound like a nerd.

[19:37] Patti Murin: Like you were talking to me.

[19:38] Joe Carroll: Well, see, that's the thing though that I have a microphone in front of you to say all the things that I really think about you in front of you know, in so that dozens and dozens of people can hear it.

[19:47] Patti Murin: It's it's in the name of art.

[19:48] Joe Carroll: It's in the name of art.

[19:49] Patti Murin: Okay.

[19:49] Patti Murin: So the first question.

[19:50] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[19:51] Patti Murin: Um uh what do you love about my performance in particular?

[19:57] Joe Carroll: Your performance.

[19:58] Patti Murin: I love that I'm in like two scenes with you.

[20:01] Joe Carroll: It's really true.

[20:02] Patti Murin: And that's very true.

[20:04] Patti Murin: There's not actually much that we do.

[20:06] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[20:07] Patti Murin: We do together.

[20:07] Patti Murin: We do the beginning.

[20:08] Patti Murin: Yeah, we do the hardest part of the show.

[20:09] Patti Murin: The end.

[20:10] Patti Murin: And the hardest the hardest dance piece that I've ever done.

[20:13] Joe Carroll: Yep.

[20:13] Patti Murin: Um, yeah, definitely.

[20:15] Patti Murin: Yeah.

[20:15] Patti Murin: So so okay, so I want to talk I want to talk about a bunch of things because you're you're on your way out as we sit in your dressing room and we're talking about this.

[20:22] Patti Murin: And so bare walls are staring down at us.

[20:24] Patti Murin: What and I'm sure people have asked, if they haven't, they're probably going to like exit interview things.

[20:29] Patti Murin: Like when you look back at your time at Frozen, it's kind of a horrible question.

[20:31] Patti Murin: But like, what are you what do you remember uh w when you close your eyes and think about this process, what are you gonna take away, do you think?

[20:38] Patti Murin: Oh my goodness.

[20:39] Patti Murin: Um I think because it's been such a long process and it's been so you know, it'll be in April, it'll be four years since the very first reading.

[20:48] Patti Murin: And there were only four of us that went all the way from the first reading all the way until opening on Broadway.

[20:52] Patti Murin: Right.

[20:52] Patti Murin: It was me, Matea Conforti, who was a young Anna, Greg Hildreth who played Olaf, and Kevin Delagula, who was Oaken.

[20:59] Patti Murin: And even he he had a little bit of a you know, in and out path there.

[21:02] Patti Murin: Um, but I think it's just sort of looking back and like thinking like how like I don't know, I don't want to say how young I was, but like, yeah, sort of how young I guess I was, and um just the fact that after this many years there's still I'm still having fun playing her and I'm still finding new things playing her.

[21:22] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[21:22] Patti Murin: Um, and I but I really think that it's like it's the people, it's always the people for me.

[21:26] Patti Murin: It's always like the friends and the family that you make.

[21:29] Patti Murin: And like for me, it's the family at the St. James Theater is what I'm gonna miss.

[21:32] Patti Murin: I mean, by far most of all.

[21:34] Joe Carroll: Right.

[21:35] Patti Murin: Um, not seeing them every day and and whatnot.

[21:38] Patti Murin: But um, yeah, that's that's kind of it.

[21:41] Patti Murin: When I like when I remember this show, it's not about like, oh, I remember the applause and the blah.

[21:45] Patti Murin: It's like, no, I just remember like the dumb things we do backstage, you know, and the dumb like rituals I have with with people.

[21:51] Patti Murin: And um yeah, so that's that's probably that's the overwhelming thing.

[21:56] Joe Carroll: You mentioned the crew, and one of the things that I mean, because I do get to just sort of like you know, fawn all over you a little bit for the next half an hour.

[22:02] Joe Carroll: Um that you are so unbelievably inclusive.

[22:06] Joe Carroll: And I feel like that totally comes from the top down where we from the moment I walked in, it was like you're good.

[22:13] Joe Carroll: You I got you.

[22:14] Joe Carroll: We're we're lucky to have you.

[22:15] Joe Carroll: Like, I love you, you're fine.

[22:17] Patti Murin: Thank you.

[22:17] Joe Carroll: And you have that that with everybody, every single person I think would would agree in this building.

[22:21] Joe Carroll: What is that like with with you with the crew in particular?

[22:24] Patti Murin: Because I think I think actors get a bad reputation for showing up.

[22:27] Patti Murin: They don't know anybody's names, they you know, there's a lot of people like that.

[22:31] Patti Murin: And you know, you know, everybody's names, you know, everybody's kids' names, you know, everybody's partners' name, you know, like and and has that always been something that you tried to make an effort to do to to be as inclusive as in as possible?

[22:42] Patti Murin: You know, the thing that I love, I think the most about the theater, uh, in in general is how many walks of life work there.

[22:50] Patti Murin: Right.

[22:50] Patti Murin: I mean, from like front of house to back of house, from the basement to the top floor, you know, from the offices to literally like the turntable.

[22:59] Patti Murin: Could not agree more unbelievable.

[23:01] Patti Murin: Like, you know, generally like the crew, especially like the the house crew and whatnot, the carpenters, they they don't tend to be like musical loving dudes or ladies, you know.

[23:11] Patti Murin: They just like they you know they're salt of the earth working, like hard working people.

[23:17] Patti Murin: And I think that it it's like just getting to to talk to such a range of of people is very much in my sort of like wheelhouse.

[23:27] Patti Murin: Yeah.

[23:28] Patti Murin: I don't I I mean obviously I love actors, but you know I get to spend a lot of time with actors and stuff.

[23:34] Patti Murin: So it's real I I really like meeting different people and new people and I'd also just sort of I feel like I really connect to that that kind of person too.

[23:41] Patti Murin: Like I'll go downstairs and I'm like I don't need to think about this this show right now.

[23:44] Patti Murin: I'll go downstairs to you know the to hang out with the crew because they just watch TV and they kind of bullshit and they're like this is great.

[23:51] Patti Murin: And they're like like there was we did um what was the right when I showed up it was like a game where it was like uh almost like um like senior superlatives right and and I the there was I loved uh most like like who we would you want to be on a desert island with and it was the McDonough family and it's like this family of people who have worked in this this theater these amazing men who've worked here for a long time and they're so handy.

[24:13] Patti Murin: Yes and they will fix anything.

[24:14] Patti Murin: They know how everything works and it's like we have no actual skills.

[24:17] Joe Carroll: No we don't have anything we can't do anything for ourselves.

[24:20] Patti Murin: Right.

[24:21] Patti Murin: Like literally I've learned that if there's one thing it's like I don't I can't even remember how to put clothes on anymore because someone does it for me here.

[24:26] Joe Carroll: Right God.

[24:29] Patti Murin: And so then you know, thank you for you so you you just we lean on those people on the crew people, you know, and i I I just love that.

[24:35] Patti Murin: I just but it's one of the things that that it struck me the most coming in here, like you have led this place with such joy and grace and his this it's hilarious.

[24:47] Joe Carroll: Um what are the give me a couple of the backstage antics because I know uh one of my favorites is when the little girls walk in here every day.

[24:53] Patti Murin: Yes, and like because and they call it Patti Talk, and there's these gorgeous little pictures of it that people have snapped over the course of time, but where the the four little young girls who play young Anna and Young Elsa come in here and they're like, Okay, it's our time now.

[25:05] Patti Murin: Yes.

[25:06] Patti Murin: And I always I every time I pass I I you guys are talking and I'm like, you have such patience and and kindness for them because I imagine there's sometimes that you're like, I don't want to talk to these kids every day.

[25:18] Patti Murin: But they come in here, you give them like like ten or fifty ten minutes of like unadulterated time, like this is their time.

[25:25] Joe Carroll: Right.

[25:25] Patti Murin: Yeah, you know?

[25:26] Patti Murin: It's kind of cool we especially with the young Elsas, because I don't get to see them at all right now.

[25:30] Patti Murin: There is a point in the show in intermission that I get to spend a little bit of time with whatever young Anna is on.

[25:35] Patti Murin: But like I just like to check in and be like, how is school?

[25:37] Patti Murin: What are you doing?

[25:38] Patti Murin: Like, what are you guys studying?

[25:39] Patti Murin: What's going on?

[25:39] Patti Murin: And like honestly, their answers are fantastic.

[25:41] Patti Murin: They're amazing.

[25:42] Patti Murin: Yeah, absolutely amazing.

[25:43] Patti Murin: I mean, like and to see like these, yeah, they're little Broadway kids, but like they're still just like, you know, they're young ladies, you know, they're little kids that we've oh my gosh, we we've gotten to watch the some of them grow from you know, Matea, who was again one of the first ones, like she is a teenager now, she went to her like seventh grade dance this year or something.

[26:02] Patti Murin: One of the other ones has her driver's license.

[26:03] Patti Murin: It's nuts.

[26:04] Patti Murin: So like I just love that.

[26:06] Patti Murin: And I just find kids so fascinating, especially since they're all from such different, they're all from different states.

[26:12] Patti Murin: They're all they all grew up in different places.

[26:14] Patti Murin: Um and I just I don't know.

[26:15] Patti Murin: I'm I'm kind of childlike myself, and so I just find that I get too like when kids come in my room, they're like, Oh, this is the playroom, and 'cause I have toys.

[26:22] Patti Murin: There is a lot of toys.

[26:24] Patti Murin: Literally there's like frozen Lego castle that I put together yesterday sitting in the house.

[26:28] Joe Carroll: When did you do that?

[26:30] Patti Murin: Oh, you know.

[26:31] Patti Murin: Um, that's definitely not for a six-year-old, it's definitely for at least 12 plus.

[26:37] Patti Murin: Oh my god.

[26:38] Patti Murin: Yesterday when Ty was putting my wig on.

[26:40] Patti Murin: Like, that's it.

[26:41] Joe Carroll: Um well, and you do you like back to the kids, you do really treat them as adults, and I think that they are, you know, when you're a kid working in this industry, you know, and we've been really lucky.

[26:51] Patti Murin: There's been a lot of like little kids that you know, great families and the whole thing.

[26:55] Patti Murin: Yep, and I'm still I still I'm still in touch with I mean, I think all of them.

[26:59] Patti Murin: Um they're all they're amazing, you know.

[27:01] Patti Murin: Like Casey and I would always say, like, when we were nervous at the very beginning, we're like, Yeah, but two little girls get on stage and start this show.

[27:07] Patti Murin: Right.

[27:07] Patti Murin: They just get on stage and the curtain comes up and they're there, and they're like, cool.

[27:10] Patti Murin: And you're like, well, if they can do it, we can do it.

[27:13] Patti Murin: Like they're they're inspiring in a you know, in that sort of backwards way.

[27:17] Patti Murin: Um I just think they're adorable.

[27:19] Patti Murin: And you're right, because they are like little grown-ups, and I love keeping up with like, okay, so like what's what's social media is happening?

[27:25] Patti Murin: Like, what's appropriate right now for you guys?

[27:27] Joe Carroll: Totally.

[27:27] Patti Murin: They'll tell me, and they're very, you know, so that's kind of cool.

[27:30] Patti Murin: I feel like I'm sort of keeping in touch with like what's going on with the young people.

[27:30] Patti Murin: young ones, yeah.

[27:37] Patti Murin: Um, and they're just delightful.

[27:37] Patti Murin: Their hearts are so big, and they just like they're just the little squishiest things.

[27:43] Joe Carroll: Oh my god.

[27:43] Patti Murin: I love that.

[27:43] Joe Carroll: And so that's actually a really good, and I joke about this on our show all the time about transitions from one topic to the next, because it like if you're sitting on a bar stool talking to somebody, which we kind of that is sort of the quality of this show, like it just goes all over the place.

[27:56] Joe Carroll: But then when you sit and you're like, actually, I want to like ask this person some questions, you kind of get a little sporadic, as I am now.

[28:01] Joe Carroll: Um, but what you use social media for good, and I'm really interested about that because when your voice on social media is so it's so distinctly you, you stand up for things that you believe in.

[28:16] Joe Carroll: You're goofy on Bachelor Night.

[28:18] Patti Murin: You do like you know there's like this countdown of pictures from the show. I mean, can you talk a little bit about your perspective really for someone who like I hate everything about it and I'm trying to get better at it? Because I still grew up in this time as we both did with like where Facebook was just your friends and just whatever. And now it is it's a platform for you and also like access to this industry. A lot of people don't know what the hell is going on backstage and so can you talk about that a little bit because that to me is you're really good at it.

[28:48] Patti Murin: Thanks. And it's I tend to like Twitter more than Instagram because I'm more of a words person like a visual person. Yeah. Um but I'm even and I'm noticing that Twitter is turning into more of a visual thing as well. Everything's accompanied by like you know a meme or a gif or a picture or something you know a short video clip. But like I just always like found it easier to sort of like put blurbs out in words rather than like find and take the perfect picture with the filters. Like I can't do that. If I don't look good as soon as the picture's taken I'm like whatever that's it I'm done. I don't have time to waste on this um and like you know yeah there is a lot of times where I'm like wow this really is a dumpster fire of a website um you know when like people it's all the trolls and all the things and and all that whatnot and the fake accounts and you're like this is like really this is horrible that this is the way it's allowed to be you know and they're like we reviewed that comment and we found it and you're like he literally like called me like you know the worst name you could call a woman.

But um but like it's also the thing is is that you also sort of um you sort of curate your own thing, you know. You know you follow who you want to follow. You can mute people, you can block people, you can and and there's you can mute words, you can mute hashtags now. So like if you just don't feel like hearing about anything having to do with politics or anything having to do with like, you know, a football game or something, you just mute the word and you're like, great, that's it. So you know, it's a little harder on Twitter because you can't erase comments that other people say. Like on Instagram, Facebook, you can delete other people's comments. And I always say on Facebook, especially, I'm like, my page, my opinions.

[30:18] Patti Murin: Yeah. I don't actually care if like, you know, you put something up on something that I said, which I never post anything controversial on Facebook. Like there's just no point. Right, exactly. Um that is something that our parents' generation is doing. So like that's something they're just arguing on Facebook.

[30:33] Patti Murin: Yeah, my parents aren't either. But it's I see other people's papers. Get off Facebook. Yeah. My wow. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's like, and when people are yeah, it happened one time, they were like, Well, you erase it. I'm like, yeah, because it's my page and it's my opinion.

[30:47] Patti Murin: Yeah. It's it's literally my page. And Instagram's the same thing. It's like, yeah, I put up a picture, you commented on it, but it's my picture. So I get to say if I want that there or not. And sometimes people won't understand, you know, I very rarely delete things, but when I do, you know, if it's like I don't like there's a lot of um, you know, not a lot, one or two times in the last couple of weeks since I've been doing the countdown of leaving leaving frozen. There's been someone who's been like, but why are you leaving? You shouldn't leave. You'd be so happy there. And I'm like, I don't feel like explaining it to you, so I'm just gonna delete your comment. Because it makes my picture not as happy.

[31:19] Patti Murin: Right, right. Yeah, you've made this about you, and it's not yeah. Yep. And I'm like, I don't need to answer to that. Oh, totally. And I've made some like really good friends from Twitter, which is so strange. Like when you meet, you're like, hello, Twitter friend.

[31:30] Patti Murin: Yeah. We've never met, but we've talked intimately about lots of things. Well, I that's a another excellent segue to uh some special guests that we had at the show. Yes. That uh from The Bachelor Nation.

[31:41] Patti Murin: Yeah. So and that's also a great one just to like the bachelor in general, as far as like, you know, what that's a great question of like what do you do in your nights off? What is what is that? Like what what keeps you sane and happy? And one of the things I know you love is is reality TV. And you and my wife have roped me into it completely. So I totally understand. But what was that like? You got it. Can you explain that a little bit? You got into a Twitter conversation with Colton or with The Bachelor.

[32:04] Patti Murin: It was with, so it was during Becca's season. Okay. And it was when Colton and Jason Tartic were on it. And I commented on something, I think one of Jason's comments, but his brother, Steven, actually already followed me because his brother works in the industry. He works in advertising in the industry.

[32:26] Patti Murin: So I always show? Yes. Oh, cool. Yeah. So I was like, that's crazy. So I started following Steven and Jason. And then I found out Jason loves Disney musicals. So in August, it was after it was after the bachelor after they had both lost the bachelorette season, you know, were not the picks, and they were still waiting to find out who was gonna be the bachelor.

[32:48] Patti Murin: Um we just sort of like it just happened Colton and Jason were gonna come to the show. I was like, that's amazing. So they came to the show and it was fantastic, and you know, we went out with them and their friends afterwards and had something to eat, and they're just so delightful and so oh my gosh, there was so much fun. We hit it off with Jason's brother and his husband, Colin and I, and we've done brunch a few times and stuff with them. They're just like they live down the street from us.

[33:10] Patti Murin: Um, and then just you know, uh Colton, he's just really he's one of those guys that's really good about like staying in touch and like FaceTiming and calling and just like and so you know, he him after his season happened, so when he was the bachelor, when I met him before he was the bachelor, and then he became the bachelor, and I was like, now I know the bachelor.

[33:27] Patti Murin: Oh my god, it's just which is like okay, all right. It's just great. And and they I I can't remember exactly how it happened, but then they came to see the show after after there was their first official date after they won. They came to see they gave their first official date was was coming to see Frozen sitting next to my husband, and then we went out for a drink afterwards.

[33:48] Patti Murin: It's unbelievable. So we basically were on their first date with them. Like you just you reach out, and we we've talked to friends before this has happened before, like you just strike up a conversation with somebody, and next thing you know, they're they're the bachelor, and you're starring at a Broadway show and they're coming to see you.

[34:07] Patti Murin: Yeah, it's and it's great. And then because I have the connection to the the bat the show now, and like one of the producers and I are you know, we're connected on Twitter. Hannah Brown, the last bachelorette came, you know, and it's like just and because now I also have friends who work either in like the media industry who cover The Bachelor, or you know, we've had other like former bachelor and bachelorette contestants come, and it's so cool because it's like you're just human people, right?

[34:28] Patti Murin: Right and like it, they're just it's it's really it's really great. That's very cool.

[34:33] Joe Carroll: Yeah, that's very cool.

[34:34] Joe Carroll: Yeah, I'm like I made it right. I've accomplished all my dreams.

[34:39] Patti Murin: Obsessed with all of it. It's just so it's so insane. But also, like, you know, you've uh we've been in this business and been in New York long enough, I think, to be like nothing is outside the realm of reality because this is an even worse transition, but like the back back back now to the f the beginning of Frozen.

[34:55] Joe Carroll: How did did you audition? Did somebody ask you, was it a reading situation? Did you get an offer? Like, how did it even come about?

[35:01] Patti Murin: It was a full-on two-week reading, but it was a full-on audition process, probably a little smaller than it would have been, you know, if it was really for like the whole stage production. But this was the very first step of it. There was a different director, Alex Timbers was the director. And I had uh a relationship with Alex because of Love's Labor's Lost, which we I did Shakespeare in the park.

[35:20] Patti Murin: And that's how you met your husband.

[35:22] Patti Murin: Yes, that's how we started. Yep. I loved that production so much.

[35:27] Patti Murin: Me too. Man, it was so cool. And Kevin Delagula was also in that as well. Which is again, you know, that's and and Greg had worked on Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson with Alex Timbers. And you know, I I say, like, I don't know that I'd be here if not for Alex.

[35:42] Patti Murin: So I still just, you know, I'm very grateful to him for that.

[35:45] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[35:45] Patti Murin: Um, that it was like a full-on audition process. We were in Chicago. It was the first year Colin um was had gotten on a show called Chicago Met on NBC. And so we had picked up and moved there. We still had our place here in New York. It was, you know, we knew we weren't ready to like move to Chicago, and you just never know what these things right.

[36:01] Patti Murin: So we had been there the whole year, and um, and I I was supposed to actually I was supposed to be going out to San Diego to do a show at the Old Globe. And then I got a call that a show that I had done a few uh a workshop of a year earlier, nerds was going to Broadway.

[36:17] Patti Murin: Oh my gosh, this was nerd's time.

[36:19] Patti Murin: Yes. So I obviously was like, yes, nerds, because I loved the show. I loved the director, Casey Hushin, who's actually the associate on Aladdin now. Um, and it was just like it was it was so such a dream job. It was such a such a great show. Started rehearsals. I I you know said no to the San Diego show. I backed out of that, started rehearsals, and our last day in the studio the day before we were supposed to go into the theater, they pulled the plug on it.

[36:46] Patti Murin: It's one of those like theater, you know, like it's it's legend. Legend stories.

[36:50] Patti Murin: Legend and Tracy Beezer was also in the cast. Did you know that?

[36:53] Joe Carroll: No, I didn't.

[36:53] Patti Murin: Yes. Oh my gosh. Tracy Beezer, yeah. Wow. So it it, you know, it was crazy. It was absolutely nuts.

[37:02] Patti Murin: Which is why every time I'm like, I don't care if it's frozen, the musical on Broadway. Anything could happen. And this could not make it. Totally. So I think that one of the it's like it I've gotten, I think, three or four Broadway offers that have never actually made it to Broadway.

[37:15] Patti Murin: Oh, absolutely. So, like, you know, this was yet another example of like, oh, even if you're rehearsing for a Broadway show, you still don't. And you've picked out your dressing room. You still don't get to go do the show.

[37:28] Joe Carroll: But when you said that at one point, uh, we were talking something about uh, you know, long runs or something. We were talking, and you were like, I just I've never been in a hit.

[37:35] Patti Murin: Yeah. I've never been in something longer than you know, on Broadway for maybe what you said six months or I was in Xana do for the whole time.

[37:41] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[37:42] Patti Murin: Um, but that was you know, that was we were afraid of closing every single week. Our grosses were terrible. I have no idea how we lasted that long.

[37:49] Patti Murin: Right. It was like a combination of like not closing during the strike. We were one of the few shows that stayed open. Um, Whoopi Goldberg came in and saved us for a hot second. We had Cheyenne Jackson who saved us for a hot second. I mean, it was it literally like when we got notice, we got like the week notice that we were like, okay, bye.

[38:05] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[38:06] Patti Murin: Yeah, yeah.

[38:06] Patti Murin: That's right. You were saying you just the the comfort that comes with like, hey, we're we're gonna be here for a second, you know. That never happens, especially decorate your dressing room.

[38:15] Patti Murin: And I just remember during that nerds process, somebody posted a picture on Twitter or something that was like you guys getting pizza in the studio. As yes, and it was like we were canceled.

[38:24] Patti Murin: Yeah. As soon as we did that, we because it was like 11 30 in the morning and we had the studio until like six. We were like, okay, well, and we ordered pizza and the interns went out and got all kinds of alcohol. Because what else do you do?

[38:36] Patti Murin: What else do you do? And everyone called their loved ones. And I mean, honestly, I was in a pretty okay position, you know, for that because it wasn't my Broadway debut, like it was gonna be a lot of people's, which is heartbreaking. We were financially stable because of Colin's job with the show.

[38:51] Patti Murin: Um it was just devastating. But I I it was like for me, I got off, I think I got off pretty easy compared to you know, just the yeah, yeah, the things that other people were going through. So, um, but the thing is is that if I hadn't been doing nerds, I would have been out in San Diego doing a different show and I would have missed the auditions for Frozen.

[39:11] Joe Carroll: Well, there you go.

[39:12] Patti Murin: Yeah, yeah. So the good lord works in mysterious ways energy.

[39:18] Joe Carroll: Upside down, yes, yeah.

[39:20] Patti Murin: That's so crazy.

[39:21] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[39:21] Patti Murin: So then, you know, they had announced that they were doing frozen and Alex was doing it. And, you know, I find that the the parts that I'm like, oh my god, I have to play that's that's totally like I have to, I never get like I don't even like make it to like the second round.

[39:34] Patti Murin: I'm like, that's yeah, that's it. I I totally totally agree. You're just like I'm going in, hey, if I'm your maybe, but then the things where you're like, I'm gonna no one else can do this.

[39:44] Joe Carroll: Yeah, I think there's some psychology there.

[39:46] Patti Murin: Yeah, you know, you know, reaching of desperation for the thing.

[39:48] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[39:49] Patti Murin: But instead, I love making the jokes about how our industry is like dating and and you walk in, you walk on a first date and you're like, Hey, how are you? Like I don't really need to go on this, you know, I don't really need to go out with you, but I'd really like to.

[40:00] Joe Carroll: Right.

[40:00] Patti Murin: And you know, if you want to go out with me, that's great.

[40:02] Joe Carroll: Right.

[40:03] Patti Murin: Is is so much more appealing than oh my god, I need a girl's so true.

[40:07] Joe Carroll: Well, I'm gonna use that from now on now that I'm about to start auditioning all the time again.

[40:11] Patti Murin: Right.

[40:12] Patti Murin: Right, exactly, exactly.

[40:14] Patti Murin: So you could just like just everybody, if you want to hang out, we can hang out. Cool.

[40:18] Joe Carroll: So much easier said than done.

[40:19] Patti Murin: Yep.

[40:19] Patti Murin: Yeah.

[40:20] Patti Murin: And so, um So did you really want it though? Did you want did you walk into the frozen process like I I really want to do this, or did you think it was a little outside the realm of reality?

[40:29] Patti Murin: Or I don't know. I walked in knowing that I was in a very good position.

[40:32] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[40:33] Patti Murin: Because I because I my relationship with Alex again, I know that we loved working together. We worked very well together. I also knew that I was very right for the role. You know, from seeing the movie from the first time, I was like, oh my God, that's my Disney prince. I was like, that's me.

[40:44] Patti Murin: That's literally me. And I also knew actually, this is another kind of funny story. Is the October right before that, or two two Octobers before that? So it was about a year and a half before this. I went to Brian Yusuf's wedding, who is our music director.

[41:00] Joe Carroll: Nice.

[41:00] Patti Murin: Um, and because Colin was good friends with him and his wife Carrie at the time. And you know, I was friends with them, but I, you know, was his plus one. And um, and I was kind of at a place of being like, what am I doing? Like, do I want to do this? How am I? I was in a show. I was working up a good speed in a holiday in and a great show, but I was just like kind of questioning like how how what what is this?

[41:22] Patti Murin: You know, like where am I going with this? And we walked into Cocktail Hour and Kristen and Bobby Lopez were there, and Kristen turned out, she was like, Patty, oh my god, hi, we want to work with you.

[41:32] Patti Murin: And I was like, Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, like just anytime, anytime, anywhere, you know.

[41:39] Patti Murin: And I walked into the the I well, I went back to Colin and I was like, Well, I guess you can't quit the business when the Lopez is want to work with you.

[41:45] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[41:45] Patti Murin: Exactly. And so with eight people to eat in their entire, you know, and they're like, we want to work with you. That like was me too work with all right.

[41:55] Patti Murin: You know what? Let me just check my schedule.

[41:57] Patti Murin: Yeah. Like that that came at like the most correct time, and like Kristen, they had no idea, of course. I wasn't like, oh, I don't want they're like, no, you're really good. Like they weren't, they were just that was the first thing out of her mouth when she saw me.

[42:08] Patti Murin: And I was like, that's really, really nice. And so I knew walking into that, I was like, Well, I know that they want to work with me, so that's good.

[42:15] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[42:15] Patti Murin: And then, you know, we did the audition, and then we had like a callback process where we did like the mix and match kind of thing. And I just sort of was like, I'm I think I got that.

[42:20] Patti Murin: I think.

[42:28] Joe Carroll: So in those auditions, and this is another compliment where I'm just gonna kind of fawn over you for a second. I showed up and just, I feel like in a totally non-sexual way, hopped on the Patti Murin ride. I showed up and like you created this world with this person that was so easy to just jump in. You created these jokes, these moments, these things that I was like, oh my God, I have to do nothing. I just I literally show up and as long as like I have a heartbeat, I'm gonna survive and I'm gonna thrive in these scenes with you. And what my question is like, did some of the jokes, some of the really great moments, you know, that we, you know, the uh, you know, uh, but I want to be's and the uh, you know, the like falling on the ice cart moments and stuff, were those rehearsal, audition? When did you come up with this stuff and when did it stick?

[43:26] Patti Murin: I think it kind of all happened gradually because you know that first one was just a reading at Stands, and so it was just you know, kind of like feeling out the material and all that, like, you know, making sure that just saying it out loud is funny, right? And then when we started to sort of like, especially with the physical stuff, we really didn't get to physicalize that for real until probably the workshop before we went to Denver, I don't think. And even the ice bridge, we didn't do until Denver. We did what do you know about love? That's six minute song, the ice bridge part of it, crawling along the floor.

[43:56] Joe Carroll: Yeah, totally.

[43:57] Patti Murin: Which is amazing. Where are those videos?

[44:00] Joe Carroll: Right.

[44:01] Patti Murin: Oh, I'm sure. That's all I want for my goodbye present, is just these horrible, horrible moments of like the process. Oh my god. And so I don't know. They kind of because the thing is that when you came in, they all changed a little bit.

[44:13] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[44:13] Patti Murin: You know, so like it was sort of like you know, it I don't know. Yeah, because I still find things that I'm like, oh darn it, why I haven't been doing it like that a whole time. Like, you know, that just sort of make me feel like a better I'm like, oh, that feels way better to do it like that. Or like, oh, that's like this line, you know. I still struggle with lines that I'm just like, I don't know what the it sometimes it feels right, sometimes it doesn't. Um, but it's just like the good thing about this part is that it is so forgiving in the way that I can try anything and not look like a total moron because she is such a like charismatic hot mess.

[44:49] Joe Carroll: Yes.

[44:49] Patti Murin: So like when we fall in love is an open door, the audience literally doesn't know the difference because they're like, oh, that's such an Ana thing to do. Like, well, you said that, and I know you're being nice, but there was a moment two weeks ago where uh we do this lift in love is an open door and it went sideways like that. And it was my fault.

[45:03] Joe Carroll: No, yes, it was.

[45:04] Patti Murin: I took my hands away.

[45:05] Joe Carroll: Okay, but in partnering, it's always the guy's fault.

[45:08] Patti Murin: So the fact that you fell was was 2020.

[45:11] Joe Carroll: Okay. Well, yes, we're equal.

[45:13] Patti Murin: We are equal, but well, when you fall on your head because I've lifted you wrong. Basically, what happened was you fell out of a lift and uh and I set you down to to the ground. You were laying on the ground.

[45:24] Joe Carroll: Yeah, nice and gently.

[45:25] Patti Murin: Uh gently, I laid you onto the floor of the stage at St. James, and then I picked you back up, and we were like, where's the music? And we kept going. And you were like, honestly, nobody probably noticed because that's what Ana, that's who she is. And I I was like, God, I pray that you're right because I've never let like laid someone down on the floor before on a Broadway stage because you fell out of lift.

[45:52] Patti Murin: Oh no, it's happened. It happened with John Riddle multiple times. Like we before we solved all the like the all every single little crevice in our costumes just had to be sewn up. And like, but we only discovered them one by one.

[46:02] Joe Carroll: Oh my god.

[46:02] Patti Murin: Well, there was a crevice in the back of my jacket that and your foot got stuck in the jacket like a couple like a lot of things.

[46:07] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[46:08] Patti Murin: And it's just like that's just that's what it is. No, the first week of previews, I think it was our fourth preview. Literally, we buttoned the number on the floor.

[46:15] Joe Carroll: On the floor, yeah.

[46:16] Patti Murin: I literally was like, and just like threw my arm up. I had my back to the audience, and I just like threw my arm up and turned around. Like, that's what we did.

[46:23] Joe Carroll: That's what we did.

[46:24] Patti Murin: That was it. They actually gave me a clip of it on the little disc drive because I was like, can I please have that forever? Someone please do it. Because there's like a weird little screech in it that I did too that I don't remember doing when it's just what comes out of your mouth.

[46:38] Joe Carroll: Oh my god.

[46:39] Patti Murin: Oh yeah. No, and that's I mean, but that's like that's such the blessing of like this is that you know, if anyone else, and not anyone else, but a lot of other people, if the lot anyone else in the show falls or something, everyone's like, with me, they're like, oh, that's so funny. Look at that funny girl.

[46:52] Joe Carroll: Right, she did that on purpose.

[46:55] Patti Murin: That's what choreography was. And it was like you just gotta, I mean, you know, with the things that I already do with the like the bedhead and the crazy, just like running around like a lunatic. You know what I mean? Like I've I feel like that that is the gift that is Ana is that like you can try anything. And if you're like, oh, I feel like an asshole because I tried that, nobody notices.

[47:15] Joe Carroll: Oh my god.

[47:15] Patti Murin: And I I love it. I love that so much. Well, because I had this ridiculous um technical issue before we started, and it took a lot of people. We're actors, we're not good with tech. And my partner, Dan, is doing a show in DC, and so I have to do all the tech stuff, and I'm not good at the tech stuff. So um but I wanna just a couple quick little things.

[47:33] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[47:34] Patti Murin: Because you have something huge coming up that we will I I'm gonna come and talk to you about at your apartment. I'll come bug you in a couple of weeks afterwards, you know, weeks, months. And we'll dive into even more of this stuff. But I wanna just because this we'll call this Patti Murin part one.

[47:49] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[47:50] Patti Murin: And then we'll once you know there's this big thing that'll get announced in a few weeks, and then we can talk about that. Um what five I'm gonna give you five names or five words.

[48:01] Joe Carroll: Okay.

[48:02] Patti Murin: And just like the first thing that pops in your head, or like, you know, about these things.

[48:07] Joe Carroll: Cool.

[48:08] Patti Murin: Number one, Caissie Levy.

[48:10] Joe Carroll: Oh my god, I love her so much. I was just thinking about her today, actually, and I was like, it's gonna be like because we're so used to seeing each other every day now, and I was just thinking about like how the dates are already marked in my calendar for opening of Caroline or Change. Oh my god. Because like obviously I'm going. I've never seen it. I was like, I don't want to know anything I don't want to know anything about it. I wanna I want this you to be my first, you know, this show, your show to be the first experience. And like we live across the street from each other, you know, and so I'm really hoping that like it leads into, you know, we bump into each other all the time and she'll be doing a show, but I'll have more flexible free time to be like, you know, hey, you wanna hang out, or like I'm gonna come over and say hi to your son and so yeah, nope, she's the best. She's a sister for life. Truly.

[48:49] Joe Carroll: Mm-hmm.

[48:50] Patti Murin: Truly. And I see that, like what's cool about that is like that's not there's no element of that answer that is even remotely contrived. Because I see the way that you guys act. And you know what I mean? Like you you just you feel it. And I mean I think people like sort of like not all people obviously, but some people secretly like when there's like drama between you know what I mean. Like the whole thing with Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. Like they that the thing is is that it's like this is a very hard thing to go through. You know, it's a very hard thing to go through for anybody, and when two women get to do it together, that's incredible.

[49:23] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[49:23] Patti Murin: And so like you know, the good thing is that we're each our own person and we both handle things in very different ways and whatnot, but we're always there for each other, and we always I always said from the beginning, she's the only person in the entire earth that knows exactly what I'm going through.

[49:37] Joe Carroll: Yeah, you know, yeah.

[49:39] Patti Murin: So, like, you know, it just it makes me like really proud that I've never had to like make up a nice answer about her because it just has been like she's the best. She's she's such a strong woman, and she taught me a lot.

[49:51] Joe Carroll: Oh man, I want I want an hour on that.

[49:55] Patti Murin: Okay.

[49:56] Joe Carroll: Yeah, seriously.

[49:57] Patti Murin: Uh number two, Lysistrata Jones.

[50:00] Joe Carroll: No, gone too soon.

[50:03] Patti Murin: Gone too soon. I know. I loved it so much. It was so much fun. It lives on in a way that like, you know, I work with a lot of high school students. One of my students is here is singing a tune from it for his college auditions. Like, like people, it is revered. And when I kid was coming to do this, my former roommate was like, I love Patti Murin so much because uh Cody Davis is your biggest fan. But like that show has that culty following thing, you know. Yep, and I hope that someday eventually, like years, you know, from now, it's like revived, even like in an off Broadway setting. Yes, and I can be like, you know, like when it maybe the time has come that people are like, okay, now like we're ready for this. Because it does, yeah, there's so many people have loved it. Loved it. I loved it. That was another one of those casts that was just like we were just like such a tight-knit family. Totally, you know, and it was just it was too, it was too quick.

[50:52] Joe Carroll: Yeah, yeah.

[50:52] Patti Murin: Uh Syracuse University.

[50:55] Joe Carroll: It was great.

[50:55] Patti Murin: I love it now. Now, you know, my favorite thing is now when people are like, I'm auditioning for a Syracuse. Do you have any tips? And I'm like, no. Because I went there a billion years ago and I don't even know what the audition process is like now. Right. I'm like, nothing specific to Syracuse, just be yourself. Cause you know, but they they just they've still also been so supportive. They're great with their alumni and whatnot, and they've created such an alumni sort of uh club and group and and their the program has like just gotten exponentially better. Um and so I'm still I'm very proud to have gone there and very proud to say because I think that the one of the major things they did was teach me how to act.

[51:32] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[51:32] Patti Murin: Which I think in musical theater programs sometimes get thrown to the wayside. Yeah in turn, you know, in favor of singing and singing high and doing a lot of turns and stuff, like yeah. But I have I think that when I the reason that I have gotten parts, you know, the parts that I have is because I have was taught how to stay grounded in no matter what, you know, um whether it was comedy or cards. Like you're you're such a loony tune, but you have to stay, you're so grounded. And they always say that it's weird in casting breakdowns to be like, it's a comedy, right? But it's grounded. It's like, well, what do you mean? It's like yep, you were you're exemplify that. Yep, it's just like it's so that that was like they sort of encouraged us to be our own version of our own real person. So yep, go orange.

[52:16] Joe Carroll: Number it was really cold there.

[52:18] Patti Murin: God. I visited the school and it was really cold and and like uh it was cold and a rainy and and a lightning bolt struck behind the big uh like school on the hill. It's like the big thing. I was like, oh this yeah, this is like Hogwarts or something.

[52:31] Joe Carroll: Yeah, that's that's the the um man the Adams Family Mansion is actually based on one of the buildings on on campus.

[52:37] Patti Murin: I'm obsessed with that.

[52:38] Joe Carroll: Oh yeah.

[52:39] Patti Murin: Okay. We're dark. Number four.

[52:41] Joe Carroll: Dogs.

[52:41] Patti Murin: I love them. I want all of them. I love them so much. I love them so I just I just love it.

[52:47] Joe Carroll: How many dogs do you have?

[52:48] Patti Murin: Two.

[52:48] Joe Carroll: Two.

[52:48] Patti Murin: Yeah. Only two. Uh yeah. If we if we didn't live in the city and we live full time, like you know, at our house with the backyard, I would uh be asking for like 700. But one of our dogs is kind of sensitive and he's you know smart and he I think would die if another dog came because we already threw one on him. We were like, here's your brother, and he was like, what?

[53:09] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[53:09] Patti Murin: Um but I just I love dogs. I love other people's dogs. I love we have the bomb sniffing dog here, Caroline. Caroline is the greatest thing. She's the most popular creature in this building. She is so sweet.

[53:17] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[53:19] Patti Murin: The people on social media, she's a she's a social media celebrity. She's a star. Caroline. I've decided I'm gonna write a children's book about her.

[53:25] Joe Carroll: Oh my god.

[53:26] Patti Murin: Well, my favorite thing is dogs at work. So just dogs working in general. Like I follow them, like like the ski patrol dogs. Like the avalanche dogs, any of the bomb dogs, like any of the dogs working at the airport. Uh-huh. Any of the canine, you know, patrol dogs. Because they're they're working.

[53:41] Joe Carroll: They're working, yeah.

[53:42] Patti Murin: But they don't know. Like they're they're like, I'm just doing my thing, just sniffing. I'm gonna get a treat, want to do this right. It's like you're they're saving lives.

[53:49] Joe Carroll: Yes.

[53:49] Patti Murin: They don't know all the lives that you know, it's just they're unbelievable. I know, they really are. They're like, we when you say we don't deserve dogs, it's actually true.

[53:56] Joe Carroll: It's true.

[53:57] Patti Murin: It's really true. The last the last one.

[53:59] Joe Carroll: What do you love about wine?

[54:02] Patti Murin: Oh wine, oh, wine. I think I love the ritual of it. Yes. Like, yeah, most of all, I love the ritual of like either going out and like having a glass of wine with your friends or going home and being like, I'm gonna have a glass of wine while I watch this house hunters, you know.

[54:21] Joe Carroll: Right, right, right.

[54:22] Patti Murin: Um, but I also love wine tasting, and maybe that's actually about the ritual too. I love the the like the process of it and like the like event making of it yes you know and I also love that like you know it's it's there's good wine and there's bad wine and there's cheap wine and there's expensive wine and it's just sort of it's one of those things that like you can try all the wine you know like for years and never have all of the wine that exists. Right right right and they keep coming up with like new wines or like new like you know organic or like the like I I can't even keep I don't know new one they're like orange wine is popular and I'm like what the heck is orange wine? I have no idea.

[54:58] Joe Carroll: So I mean I do want to say I was a h ahead of the rose curve I was drinking rose like two years before Rose became popular.

[55:05] Patti Murin: So I feel like I'm like you know a little bit of like a yeah wine professional you I would say I would also say you're a wine professional they say 10,000 hours makes you a genius. I'm pretty sure that I'm a wine genius at this point.

[55:19] Joe Carroll: That's the title of the episode Patti Murin wine genius.

[55:22] Patti Murin: I honestly I have I have so many more questions for you and I wanna I want to say just in this moment thank you for taking me in so well when I started I've never had as much fun playing opposite someone I've never felt so um so comfortable and accepted in a show coming in as the new guy can be a little tricky. Yep and you opened your arms and let me into your show and I I love you for it and we're gonna talk in a couple of months.

[55:56] Joe Carroll: Yeah because this is way too short.

[56:00] Patti Murin: I know because yeah, there's more questions. Because we didn't even talk about books. Like, I need like I think yes, yeah. There's just like a million things. But but I I love you and thank you.

[56:06] Joe Carroll: I love you too.

[56:07] Patti Murin: It really helps that you're not an asshole.

[56:09] Joe Carroll: You hear that, everyone from Patti's mouth Joe Carroll is not an asshole.

[56:09] Patti Murin: Not an asshole.

[56:14] Joe Carroll: No, he's the best.

[56:15] Patti Murin: Only plays one in Frozen.

[56:16] Joe Carroll: Exactly, but he plays it so well because he's nice.