This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Jenna Ushkowitz: While you were skipping stones, building forts and flying kites, I was missing school and all my Saturday nights. Other kids were climbing trees and rolling down hills. I was singing songs to pay my family's bills. Little me, growing up Broadway. Little me.

[0:21] Marc Tumminelli: Hello, I'm Marc Tumminelli, and welcome back to the Little Me podcast. I'm so excited about my guest today. So let's get to it. As a child, she appeared on Sesame Street and made her Broadway debut in the 1996 Broadway revival of The King and I. Her other Broadway credits include Spring Awakening and Waitress. Her film and TV credits include the film version of the musical Hello Again, Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, One Night in San Diego, Yellow Fever, and as Tina Cohen Chang on Fox's smash hit Glee, please welcome Jenna Ushkowitz.

[0:51] Jenna Ushkowitz: Hi, Marc.

[0:52] Marc Tumminelli: Hello.

[0:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: So you Googled something that has haunted me for my whole life, but that I was never it.

[1:04] Marc Tumminelli: You were never, it says you're a violin player.

[1:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: I know. It's on my Wikipedia, it's on my IMDB. I don't know where that came from.

[1:12] Marc Tumminelli: But we're leaving it. It's my favorite.

[1:14] Jenna Ushkowitz: We have to. It's too good. This is gonna haunt me forever.

[1:16] Marc Tumminelli: How do you think that happens?

[1:18] Jenna Ushkowitz: I don't know.

[1:20] Marc Tumminelli: I have no idea.

[1:22] Jenna Ushkowitz: I a little bit of like, is she gonna be weird about me bringing up Sweet Life of Zack and Cody if she was like an extra? But um the violin player, obviously.

[1:31] Jenna Ushkowitz: I'm gonna it's like kind of wildly racist, and I it's okay. I was used to being the token as a child. It's fine. I think we're off to a really good start.

[1:43] Marc Tumminelli: So Jenna, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so excited to chat with you. And I did a Jenna deep dive last night, and we have lots of connections that are gonna be very funny.

[1:53] Jenna Ushkowitz: I bet we do.

[1:54] Marc Tumminelli: So let's go back to the beginning. You're born in Seoul, South Korea. Is that correct?

[1:59] Jenna Ushkowitz: That's correct. Almost everything else on that is correct. I was born in Seoul. I was adopted at three months, and I was brought to JFK to be picked up by my parents, Brad and Judy, at three months old. And I grew up on Long Island, which is about an hour out of the city. From a very young age, I was a total ham. And I would go up to people at restaurants and say hello, and like love to put on shows with like pots and pans and my diapers, and you know, I was just always like a tiny little performer, just out the womb and straight over the sea to America.

[2:37] Jenna Ushkowitz: To Broadway.

[2:38] Marc Tumminelli: To Broadway. I'm obsessed that you're from East.

[2:42] Jenna Ushkowitz: Did you say East Meadow?

[2:44] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. I grew up in Westbury and went to Clark High School in Westbury.

[2:48] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh my gosh!

[2:49] Marc Tumminelli: You're neighbors.

[2:50] Jenna Ushkowitz: We are neighbors. And then you went to Holy Trinity, which was like performing school I wanted to go to. And my parents were like, We're poor. You're not going there. My brother had gone there first. So I was like, You better let me go there.

[3:05] Marc Tumminelli: So you're this adorable kid going up to people at restaurants, and your parents are like, we gotta get her into show business. Do they know anything about the world of the show?

[3:13] Jenna Ushkowitz: There was a manager on Long Island that I started with, and he kind of got me into print and commercial, and then Sesame Street. And then we moved on to obviously Broadway, but it was really not that was not the plan. Like that wasn't like the trajectory. They just wanted to like get me to have some like a good, you know, comfortable bank account for college one day.

[3:39] Marc Tumminelli: Well, that worked out.

[3:40] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, it did actually. I'm very grateful. And I did a ton of commercials, and then we kind of made our way into the Broadway world where I booked The King and I on an agent's call. And I mean, it was just like life-changing for me in a way that I saw a community in a different way. I was surrounded by more Asians than I had ever been surrounded by in my entire life, because on Long Island, you know, it's pretty white. So it was a new world for me, and I just absolutely fell in love with Broadway. I was the first one in the theater, I was the last one out at night.

[4:17] Marc Tumminelli: So The King and I was this huge Broadway revival with Neil Simon, right?

[4:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: In 1997, starring Donna Murphy. And I watched you last night at the Macy's parade. First of all, it's like torture, like we're these children are freezing. What do you remember about that?

[4:37] Jenna Ushkowitz: Winter ever. I mean, it was probably one of the coldest Thanksgivings that we've ever had. And we had like we were normally in bare feet, but they put little like heat warmers in our like slippers, and they like dyed them gold. And I remember we got a hotel room that night in the city, which was like very special because otherwise, I was checking back and forth to the city every day to do the show. My dad bought a minivan actually at that time so that I could have a seat to lay in on the way home so I could go to school in the morning.

[5:07] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my god, that's the sweetest.

[5:09] Jenna Ushkowitz: I know he was amazing. And um we did so, yeah. The parade though, you obviously have to get up super super early, go to the theater, get ready, then be shuttled over. So I ended up getting a hotel room. I don't remember where, but it was like so exciting to like get a hotel room, get up early, go see your friends, and like do the parade. But it was so windy, and those poor, poor wives had like that sleeveless top with just a sash. And we were, I mean, luckily I had long sleeves and long skirt, and then they like one little tiny kid who's sitting on Donna Murphy's lap, who's like, I'm literally shivering. That's probably little Jackie or Jeff, but just like shivering, which now they're like 21. And I'm like, oh, right, right, right. And also, like you have like a big moment. You're like the first solo. It's I was like, oh, that girl's gonna be a star.

[6:00] Marc Tumminelli: What do you remember about doing The King and I on Broadway, other than the community? What do you remember about getting used to that schedule and that excitement?

[6:10] Jenna Ushkowitz: It was different than anything I had ever obviously experienced. And I remember learning like a lot of, I mean, we were in a lot of that show. The kids are in like a huge amount of that show. I had nine costume changes. You're there the entire time. And obviously, you have a Wrangler when you're a kid on Broadway, but there were 14 of us, so it was a lot of kind of like just hubbub and chaos all the time. I remember very vividly, like the mothers in the show, the actresses who played our mothers. I remember the rehearsal period at 800 Broadway, where they used to rehearse Broadway shows a lot back in the day.

[6:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: Back in the day.

[6:52] Marc Tumminelli: Back in the day.

[6:54] Jenna Ushkowitz: I just remember getting into the theater for the very first time ever. My brother was at college and he came home and surprised me at the theater. It was just like a really, it's just your first of everything, and I got to do it so young, but it's such a formative time in my life that I'll never like those are some of my earliest memories actually.

[7:21] Marc Tumminelli: Did you have that amazing King and I show jacket with the elephant on the box?

[7:26] Jenna Ushkowitz: Of course I did. I have the winter jacket. I have the jean jacket. I mean I dressed up as Mrs. Anna for fourth grade in Halloween. Our costume designer made me a Mrs. Anna hoop dress from the schoolroom and I got to school on Long Island at Parkway Elementary which is like down the block from my house and they're all like so what are you for Halloween?

[7:36] Marc Tumminelli: I can't imagine that makes you very popular with the other children.

[7:50] Jenna Ushkowitz: Definitely not, definitely not. They were like can I hide under your dress and I was like that's the idea. That's it. That's the bit. So get on your ear. But I yeah it was not but I was like the cool kid who got to like go do Broadway and my teachers were like so wonderful and so great and so understanding. They all came to see the show and it was just like it felt like my after school. It felt like my after school but I remember like you just learn how to react really quickly learn responsibility and discipline and schedule really quickly and like yeah I would my parents made me go to school I went to school every day except for Wednesdays I would go like maybe in the morning but um I slept on the way home and that show is long.

It's like a two hour 50 minute show. So like we weren't home until almost midnight every night and my dad would drop me off one of the other moms with the younger kids would like take me in between shows and then he would come back at night. And that was at the time when New World Stages was actually a three dollar movie theater. So I know I used to play all the time.

[9:00] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my gosh.

[9:00] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah. He would go do that all the time. And um I went, I went on Sally Jessy Raphael. For those of you who don't know, it was a talk show back in the day about kids in commercials. And I think like Abigail Breslin was like in her stroller at that time because Spencer and all, and we there's a bunch of us on it. But Sally asked me, hey Jenna, so what do your parents do? And you're like in this show for three hours. And I was like, Well, my mom says she walks the streets. And I didn't, and I mean they cut to her, her face is in her hands. Because I remember her saying that she's like, they must think I walked the streets or something. Not kids know everything, they pick up everything and they repeat everything. So I got to mortify my mother as well.

[9:46] Marc Tumminelli: Was it very cool for you to see your parents like proud of you to have this experience of like, look at our daughter on Broadway?

[9:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: I mean, I always think that's such a special thing for parents.

[9:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, they loved it. I mean, they the parents also had a great community of like, you know, 14 of us. They were so proud. I mean, they would bring everybody to the show and like Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna were so gracious in meeting all of our families, all of our people. And yeah, I mean, it was definitely like a moment where I don't think that was again like it wasn't really the trajectory for all of us. It was just kind of happened and fell into our laps along the way early on. And so it was just really exciting, I think, to have found something that we all like could be proud of.

[10:34] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. And so when that experience was over, you were kind of ready for high school, right? Was that around the same time?

[10:40] Jenna Ushkowitz: Middle school.

[10:43] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[10:43] Jenna Ushkowitz: So I was in fourth grade during The King and I.

[10:45] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, okay.

[10:46] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah.

[10:47] Marc Tumminelli: I'm thinking about when in 1996 how old I was.

[10:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: Okay.

[10:53] Marc Tumminelli: So then you go back to being a normal high school kid, a middle school kid doing like New York school plays and things like that.

[10:59] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yes, yes. And then you go to Holy Trinity, which is this like amazing Catholic high school anomaly.

[11:07] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah. Jim Hoare is your caretaker.

[11:10] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[11:10] Jenna Ushkowitz: And he's the best guy.

[11:12] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh he's my he's my mentor. He has will always be my mentor. Like he'll he works you in and he's like she's the like always you gotta get Jim like he's just the greatest guy.

[11:23] Marc Tumminelli: We work together on a lot of licensing.

[11:25] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah definitely I've known him since I was in high school even though I did not go there.

[11:31] Marc Tumminelli: So yeah.

[11:32] Jenna Ushkowitz: I love him. J.H. is the best.

[11:34] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah. I mean I've known him since I was in second grade because my brother went to Holy Trinity and graduated in like '96 and he also I met him Mr. Hoare through my brother and then I did Trinity summer camp which is that high school summer camp and that was all ages. So we every summer I would do like two weeks summer camp. So I was like well groomed by that point to get into Holy Trinity. You know like the kids the parents who like put their kid in the camp so they get into the school. But yeah Holy Trinity was a performing arts high school with an incredible theater director Jim Hoare who really didn't give a leap about me being a professional actor at all. Like it was like if you want to be in these shows at school, you commit to the time, you commit to the commitment, and like I don't really care.

Which was great because it taught me a lot about commitment to the craft and not just commercial auditions at the time, right? It was a little bit different. And we did so many shows. I mean, I think we do like including dance show, Christmas concert, like I think there's like seven or eight shows a year.

[12:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: You guys did the first Lay Miz high school edition when you were in that as well, and honk and into the woods and Laramie Project, like he was you were doing things that were not ready yet for high schools, and you guys were at me project for our Catholic high school was already unheard of. And so that was my senior year. Um, and into the woods too. But yeah, Lay Miz, I was actually cast as a freshman in the in the show, and uh it was supposed to be the Baker's Wife that year. Um and then when we found out that we were gonna do like the first production Lay Miz, they switched it over and all the casts kind of just got replaced within that um, you know, within the show. And it was very exciting.

I mean, Cameron Macintosh came and we really got to format the show for high schools to do um all around the globe. So that was really exciting and fun. And um, it's the first, I'm probably giving this away. This is the first musical I ever saw. And um I'm it's still to to this day one of my favorite musicals ever. And I'm like, wow, the high school production. No, I was a freshman, so I was in the ensemble and I was uh I was the Cosette cover, young Cosette cover. Oh god, that's the cozy. It's just getting worse and worse. Yeah, I don't know. It's just one of those things. Like, but I remember one rehearsal, he was getting Mr. Horror's getting so mad at everybody, and he called me out to like be like, everybody should watch.

There's a freshman here who does this better than you. And I was like, please don't say my name. Please don't say my name. Because that doesn't make you look cool among the senior kids who are like have been there for four years. Um but yeah, I mean, we did every musical. They did Shakespeare, they did uh it was just an incredible, incredible experience. Um, and we took dance instead of gym, we took theater classes. Happy uh Murphy, Happy Murphy. Oh my god. I did Finn's Rainbow with Kathy Murphy at Havstra, and oh my god, we like hated each other, but it was fine. You know what? Ms. Murphy and I did not like each other until later in the years as well. I think she like really crack. Yeah, nothing but crack there.

But great. So you decided to go to Marymount. Were you auditioning at every school, or did you want to stay kind of local? Um, I definitely wanted to stay local. There was a point in which I was going to go the conservatory route. Um, I was looking at Boston Conservatory, I looked at Carnegie, and I looked at um CCM. And it was just something about staying local because I had an agent because I was already in the business that like being able to to do both ideally. I didn't end up doing that, but uh like to be able to do both ideally was like, you know, I think what I had ultimately decided on. So it was either NYU or Marymount. Um I ended up also applying to Hartford because that was like close enough.

Um just to have that also that option of like a proper campus life. Um, but uh ultimately I ended up at Marymount, was very happy with that in hindsight. If you ask me while I was in the school, I don't know that I would tell you I had the same experience. I'm glad that I did it. I actually um was two years behind Annaleigh Ashford, um, who was in the same program at the same time, and we had the same TA, and she I she had done the three year trajectory, and I would always see her at open calls, 6 a.m., suitcase, uh wheelie suitcase in tow, and I'd be like, that girl, she's going places. Um, man, did she? She's she was always amazing, but I have no doubt that her hustle was was gonna get her there too.

Um and that was really I was like, give me her, give me all the classes she took. Tell me exactly how she did that. I need to get out of here. Um yeah, they didn't have a musical theater program. Um they do, but they didn't then, yeah. Exactly. And so I um I was a BA in theater performance with a minor musical theater, which was great. I I loved all of it. No, I saw you as Little Red Riding Hood and into the woods there, and because Danielle Fasio is like my best friend since like 11th grade. Oh my gosh. And so it was just like this very random thing that last night I was putting all the pieces. I was like, wait, I saw that. I was like, Danielle. Um, anyway, so you were great. Tell Danielle, I said hi.

I had done it the year before with Mr. Whore at Holy Trinity as little red. So going in, I was like, I got this. I got this number. I got this, and Michael Montel was directing it. And uh I mean, it's also one of my favorite musicals. So I was just felt very lucky to be able to revisit, revisit that show. Um when did you book Spring Awakening? Had you graduated? I graduated and I was six months out of Marymount at that point. And I had gone in for Spring Awakening about three months into that, you know, out of school. And it was for the tour. And I got to the very final callbacks for the tour. And I was being paired with all the different girls, and we went through the whole process and I didn't book it.

And they said, Oh, we'd love to actually keep her in mind for a future Broadway replacement. Which I was like, you hear that word, and you're like, sure, thanks so much. Nice to meet you. Um, but lo and behold, Lily Cooper was in at LaGuardia still. And in order for her to graduate, she had to complete a show in the school. And she does a stupid SDF where they won't let you graduate. It is so dumb. Go ahead. You're like, so I'll leave my Broadway show to go do the high school show so I can graduate. Why not do this? Um, but it ended up working out because it was supposed to be only a couple of weeks of her gone, and I was like kind of like a vacation swing coming in and and covering, and then they ended up just realizing that they needed the extra swing anyway, and so uh they kept me on for the rest of the run, which was amazing.

Um, I was bartending at the time uh and the in-between and throughout college, and so uh it was just really great. It's six months out, like being able to to leave that and go uh join the show that you never thought you'd be in. I mean, I watched that show from the Raptors many, many times, thinking like there's no way they'd ever cast me in that. And um, but it was like the old it was the only thing playing on my iPod at the time, so it was very exciting. With your little wheel eye botching. What do you remember from that experience of actually being on stage and doing that show? Well, uh, I mean, again, it's like it's one of those shows that everybody dreams of doing, right? And and the music is so wonderful.

But uh the most the the most important thing, I think was that I learned how to be a swing in that show. I had never swung before. Um, and they just I don't know why they put all the faith in me to believe that I could cover four girl roles. Um all of which have each their own part in Mama Who Bore Me. So um that was really hard because it was just a different skill set that I had not really tapped into yet. But I I ended up being like I really liked that. Um my brain kind of works that way. It works really fast, and I I can I'm able to like really separate the tracks. So um I definitely learned a lot about myself in that. And I uh I learned that show in two weeks. Um I learned Marta first, obviously, because Lily was going.

Um, and then I learned Anna and Teya as well, and then they added Ilsa to the track later on, but um I I didn't get a put in. Um, and I didn't get anything. Excuse me, Bear. Shh, doing a podcast. Thank you. Um guys, Bear is the cutest dog you've ever seen. If you're not if you can't see Bear. You can check out my Instagram, he's everywhere, but I I didn't get a put in. So I went on for actually for Anna first. Um had barely rehearsed her barrel. Didn't even have a full costume yet, ready to go. They threw me in, braided my hair. It was like just get out there because everybody had gotten the flu. So uh Phoebe Stroll had everyone's making out with each other. Like, of course they all got it. I mean, the hormones were definitely raging in that show.

Definitely, definitely. Um, and the greatest thing was that like even when you were I was the official off-stage swing, but obviously with the on-stage audience, um the dance captain Aaron Merman was the onstage swing, and so she was swung out all the time to watch the show and take notes. And so I was always on stage. Um, and that was really fun. And I remember being feeling very lucky to have been a part of the original Broadway cast, um, right off like you know, Tony season, and then also um transcended over to the newer casts as well. So that was like uh I got to experience both, and um it's a small tight-knit cast. It's a really um it's a show that'll really take it out of you, too. You know, uh and it's not like I massively like energetic show where you're dancing all over the place, but it's really emotional for for I think for people that age.

So it's definitely um a harder show than I I think he'd think. Now, is this where Ryan Murphy found you? Yes. So um Jim Carnahan was the casting director for Spring Awakening, and he was also the casting director, New York casting director for Glee. So that worked out certainly did. Um we I remember us all getting the audition at the same time for this show. Um, we were in the theater and everybody was like, You're going in tomorrow. Um, and everyone's like, Are you going in? And you're like, Yeah, I'm going in. And luckily, because it was the same casting director, we didn't have to sing at all for our first audition, which was like that never happens. We got some kind of perk. Um, so I got um I got to do Tina's role.

I auditioned for Tina's role. Um, I know a couple of other people auditioned for other roles, obviously, um, in the show, but uh Tina's two audition lines were uh uh uh uh uh I and uh uh uh and so she had cause she had a stutter because she actually had Tourette's to begin with in the first audition. Um yeah, it was definitely something that you don't want to also uh it seemed like you're making fun of it in any way. And so that was definitely difficult and and fun at the same time. Um, and like it really wasn't like a show where you know you or an audition where you're like, Oh my gosh, this is the biggest thing, and this is gonna make my career. Like this was like just another audition, and it was just fun to be in the waiting room with our entire cast, which were like, Well, should we go eat before the show?

Like, great. Um, and and that was in probably September of 2008. Um, no, June of 2008. Um, and it was just tapes being sent to LA, and then I got called uh about a month and a half later saying Ryan Murphy and some producers from the show are actually coming into LA to meet with some actors and they would love to meet with you. So I went in again in probably mid-July. Um and Ryan was there, Dante DiLoretta was there, like uh Ian Brennan was there, a ton of producers, and um that time I did have to sing. And I went in, I sang Waiting for Life to Begin, uh, from Once on This Island, and I messed up and the PN, I made it look like that it was the PM that's fault, the accompanist's fault. And I was like, uh, because that's what we're told to do.

Like make it like just keep going and don't make it like you messed up. Um and then they had me improv a little bit. I met Ryan. I did my two stutter lines, and that was it. And I was like, great, that was really fun. Um went back to the show and then got called in about September, I think it was.

[25:22] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, they said they loved your tape, they're gonna test you for studio, and then if that passes, which I didn't know what that meant at the time, so people don't know you. You test your tape, you test for studio executives, and then if you pass that test, you go to the network and you meet other executives, and then they give the go-ahead. Um, and they said if you pass studio, then you'll have to fly after your show on Thursday night and go and meet, you know, all of Network Fox Network and everybody from 20th century that morning in LA. So I got the call before the show, and they said, Yeah, so your studio test passed, they'd like you to come and get on a red eye tonight. So I got on a red eye.

[26:01] Jenna Ushkowitz: You freaking out.

[26:04] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, I freaked out so badly that I um I thought I got bit by a spider, but I actually just got hives on the plane. Um, and I was like, please let these go away before my audition. I didn't like that would have just been a nightmare. I got in at like seven or eight. They put us in a hotel room to like shower and get ready. I walked over to Fox. Um, I tested for about I don't know, a couple of hours, and then I found out about 10 minutes after that that I got on the roll.

[26:32] Marc Tumminelli: Well, we're gonna talk all about Glee when we come back.

[26:37] Marc Tumminelli: All right, Jenna, we're back and we are gonna chat about Glee.

[26:41] Jenna Ushkowitz: So you find out you got this role in a pilot.

[26:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: We don't know what this is yet, right?

[26:46] Jenna Ushkowitz: We don't know what this is yet. We know that you have a job for about six weeks, and that's all I know.

[26:51] Jenna Ushkowitz: That's a good job.

[26:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: I'll we'll take it. Gosh, it was the I mean it's some uh it was the best paying job I had ever gotten, that's for sure. And it was it was the uh there was always a hope one day that I would get to LA, I would get to Hollywood and work on TV, but like there's no I had no idea what getting picked up or greenlit meant. I didn't know what any of that like really was with the steps. All I knew was we got to sing and dance on TV for six weeks, it was so much fun.

[27:20] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um we did a lot of rehearsal, a lot more rehearsal than we would end up having for the rest of the series. Um at the time, I mean, I had known Leah since we were probably eight, and uh both doing Broadway, obviously having done Spring Awakening together. So I I had like an ally there already and Matt Morrison as well. Um but I you know it wasn't like I then I was like, oh, I guess I'll go back to Spring Awakening after that'll be great. That works out.

[27:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: And the only reason I got out of a Broadway contract, which never happened, is because of Jim Carnahan and because it was the same casting director. So I I was it was like Kismet. I was out. Um yeah, and so I mean, we got to do a slew of Broadway shows, uh Broadway songs. Um I introduced I felt like I got to introduce all my LA cast members to our world on Broadway, and they kind of introduced us to the recording and and pop world.

[28:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um yeah, I mean that that I have a I have a question that I've always thought when I watched the show, I'm like, how is this happening? Because it was so many musical numbers in an episode and there would be a recording and then obviously choreography. Talk to me about how an episode was shot because it seems to me like an impossibility.

[28:42] Jenna Ushkowitz: It was an impossibility. Somehow we did it in our sleep. Um, so I I'll give you like a broad example of a super super glee day and then an overview. So each episode took somewhere between eight and ten days. No, you know, ideally eight, sometimes ten, sometimes more. Um if you had five to six musical numbers, right? Um if you're working on say episode five, um, you'd be prepping for episode six.

[29:16] Jenna Ushkowitz: So while you're shooting episode five and and you know, filming choir room scenes, doing musical numbers, you would then after that day go to the dance studio and start to learn the numbers for the next episode.

[29:32] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh my god, your my brain hurts.

[29:35] Jenna Ushkowitz: No, I mean it's cra it gets crazier. So then um on your lunch breaks, you would normally get put in a shuttle van and gone to the recording studio down the way to record your songs for that episode. Um, because we pre-recorded songs so that we could we could lip sync to those um you know, finished numbers on the day when we were shooting uh uh uh a musical number. Musical numbers normally took about seven to eight hours to shoot completely, um, a group number.

[30:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: And and then in the mornings you would you would probably go and get your fittings for the next episode as well. And if you're doing something like Lady Gaga, you know, you're literally going three or four times because they're creating a bubble suit for you. So it was it was really um, and and that's like if you that was liberal. That is if we had enough time. Like there were times where literally we would learn it an hour before we get on set.

[30:31] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um and there would be no time. And then we'd have the lyric master come over and be like, This are your backgrounds, and here's your color coded sheets, and you know, they'd have to make sure that the time kind of uh matched up with everything. So it was a really wild, wild, sorry, it was a really, really wild experience.

[30:48] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um so when this show premieres, you know, you never know how something's really gonna hit. I mean, if the reviews like there was a buzz coming, like there's this like Broadway like TV show, but then it happened and it was everywhere. I want to hear a little bit about what it was like to be inside of that experience.

[31:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: It being inside was really different because um when the pilot had aired, it was the day, it was after American Idol, and like I think it was May 9th of 2009. And then they decided to wait to air the entire series until the fall of 2009. So in between that time, we went on two full tours. We went on an Australian tour and we went on a hot topic mall tour.

[31:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um when the pilot aired that day after American Idol, we were all together. Uh, the cast watched it together, and we we saw that our version of Don't Stop Believe in was number one on iTunes. And that's the first little tick mark. We were like, okay, cool. This is doing really well. Um I was able to show my family and some selected friends, obviously, before that uh viewing of the pilot.

[32:04] Jenna Ushkowitz: And they all were like, My family was in tears, and I was like, Oh, that's so nice, they're so proud of me. But I don't think that I realized that it was like the show, not just me. Um, and it was just a really I mean, it's probably one of the best pilots that I've ever seen, even you know, remove me from it. Like, it's just a brilliant, brilliant, well done pilot by Red Murphy.

[32:25] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, and then the mall tours, we were like, I hope somebody shows up. Like the series hadn't come out yet. They had no idea what we were about to do. And so we were able to continue to shoot well before things like really started to ramp up. So there was not a lot of outside pressure in terms of like doing it for anybody else other than ourselves, right?

[32:48] Jenna Ushkowitz: And for our the creatives, um, which was really nice because we we call it the glee bubble. Um we went, so sorry, we go back to the mall tours and we would do them in hot topic, and they'd set up these like tables for us to do signatures, and they have you know, gleam merch. And I mean, we would walk into the malls and there would be at least 300 to 500 kids singing don't stop believing. And this was when only the pilot had aired.

[33:14] Jenna Ushkowitz: So we were like, I don't, we don't, I don't understand. And nobody could prep you for that. They could tell you all they wanted, but nobody could prep us for that. So that was the real the first taste of it. Um, and and like a very tangible taste because we just got to meet all these amazing kids who just felt so seen so quickly by one hour of TV.

[33:37] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um and then along the way, obviously, as the show started to air, I mean, it was just like this juggernaut that like this huge snowball effect that like every time another character got introduced, every time another love story got introduced, another song, another huge guest star. I mean, Kristen Chenowith was our first guest star.

[33:59] Jenna Ushkowitz: And that was for me and Chris Colfer huge. Huge. Um, and so that's when I was like, oh wow, like we're gonna get cool guest stars, and like you see a really popular show and all these amazing people come in and out. Um again, it was like we didn't fully, I didn't fully get it until until like year the end of year one, really feeling like that that massive, the like just the bigger picture of the way it was affecting people.

[34:29] Jenna Ushkowitz: But you know, those were the first tastes of it.

[34:31] Jenna Ushkowitz: And I'm sure like all of a sudden you're getting recognized everywhere you go, and you're a Broadway person who's only famous in two blocks and a stage door, you know.

[34:40] Jenna Ushkowitz: That's it.

[34:41] Jenna Ushkowitz: So wild to have that easily turn on.

[34:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, I mean, uh from the fans themselves to the to the paparazzi to you know, eBayers in the airport asking you to sign like 15 glossy photos of yourself.

[35:00] Jenna Ushkowitz: You're like, where did you get these? Where are these problems? And you're like, excuse me. It was really strange. Uh, it was a definitely a different experience for all of us.

[35:08] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, but again, we were so busy with filming the show that like we didn't get out very much. There wasn't a lot of people to have seen us unless we were on a tour, unless we were at a mall, unless we were together in between, like going to dinner.

[35:24] Jenna Ushkowitz: That's when we would get it, and we would all be together. So it felt easier to kind of soften the blow in a way. Um, but we really were in that glee bubble for the about the first two and a half years.

[35:35] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um I felt pretty protected.

[35:37] Marc Tumminelli: And you can disagree with this because it's you, but I I felt like you were able to handle it in a really good way as far as this level of celebrity we weren't reading in tabloids like Jenna Ushkowitz is a nightmare on the set.

[35:48] Jenna Ushkowitz: Like, you know, well avoid a lot of that stuff.

[35:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: I appreciate that. Um, yeah, I I mean I think I'm not a troublemaker. Uh I'm pretty much a rule follower. I really I'm a pupil pleaser. So we, you know, that's a whole other podcast.

[36:04] Jenna Ushkowitz: But yeah, I I think that um I we all kept each other pretty grounded, and and the good thing was was like we were getting grouped together no matter what.

[36:15] Jenna Ushkowitz: Like, you know, I think one of the Towboy covers was like Glee Kids Gone Wild, and we were like, Well, if you mean we had a house party and drank some wine and like maybe like had a dance party, sure, like call of the wild. That that's really not my experience from anybody in the show.

[36:32] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, obviously, like, and and it was easier to get along with everybody than it was to fight because we spent so much time together.

[36:41] Jenna Ushkowitz: I mean, this was a 365 thing, like we I spent I saw these people more than my family.

[36:47] Jenna Ushkowitz: And then you toured with them when you were off.

[36:50] Jenna Ushkowitz: Like you did these crazy arena tours, which is like never happens with anything. I mean, weekends were for photo shoots, so we saw each other on the weekends. After shooting, we would go back to each other's houses.

[37:02] Jenna Ushkowitz: Like that's how much we loved each other. Um Kevin McHale and I lived together at the time. So our house was very popular for people to come through because you know there were two of us there at any time.

[37:13] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, and then the tours were pretty crazy. The first tour was after season uh two, season one, uh full season one. So we had 13 back nine. So end of season one, we did a four-city tour. We did LA, uh Arizona, um, Chicago and New York.

[37:32] Jenna Ushkowitz: And we got to do Radio City, which was like massive for me, obviously.

[37:36] Jenna Ushkowitz: Of course. Um, having been from New York, and um it that was like theater, you know, large theater tours. I don't know what you call it.

[37:47] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, the second tour was 16 cities in six weeks on our hiatus. Um, we did three stops internationally.

[37:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, and it was cuckoo banana pants. I mean, we were living our rock star dreams, and in retrospect, I wish I had enjoyed it more.

[38:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, I definitely did, and we all like, but we all had our own moments of like breaking down because I mean that was part of our four weeks off, right? So you're just exhausted from doing three seasons of 22 episodes, and that's 10 months out of the year. Um, but at the same time, like I if I could do that tour all over again, I would. Um like selling out a stadium and having people scream for you. Like and then have it happen. And it was the closest thing to theater at the time for me too. Other than like, you know, doing the show. So like that was really fun because the live um interactive kind of instant gratification was was like it was that high that I hadn't felt in a long time. So that was really it was just absolutely amazing.

You recorded a ton of songs, uh, you specifically on all of those albums. And you know, there's like how there's like 20 albums. Oh my god. So 700 songs, and you recorded a ton of them, or most of them. Now, what is your favorite thing when you look back and like this was the best thing that I got to do?

[39:16] Jenna Ushkowitz: So hard. Um, yeah, I think I have different feelings about group numbers, right? The huge group numbers, but for me personally, I think my favorite was I think my favorite one of my favorites was Celine Dion, one of her was doing Because You Love Me. And the other was Florence and the Machine, um, doing Dog Days, Shake It Out, Shake It Off, Shake It Out, Shake It Out. Um yeah, any of like the the artists that I really admired, Lady Gaga, those were really fun for me. No, what was not fun to do? Do you do you have an hour? Um you can name one, you can name one or two very unfun songs to sing. Kong Num style was really hard and a little cringe-worthy.

[40:08] Jenna Ushkowitz: Okay. Um it was just the longest it took to learn a different language. It's just really hard. Um say no more. I got it. It was a lot. Um, and the other one, you know what was it was really fun and and also really hard to actually shoot was um the singing in the rain medley that we did, the mashup with Gwyneth Paltrow, because I say that because they built that um like like a foot-high kind of the stage for water, and we had to kick it around, and then by the end of the number where they were like, we're shooting it in like high def and like really slow. So if you kick the water up, it's gonna look really cool. So they just kept encouraging us to like kick up the water, and like it was like on our faces. By the time we finished one take, my rain boots were completely filled with water.

[41:02] Jenna Ushkowitz: So like the ones like that were super affecty in that way, like um, we fell in love, the one in the pool, that pool was cold. It was a cold pool. So those were the more difficult ones were like the ones where we had to do like these like trickery adventure like numbers. Um put on where your character was going in the later seasons. Um, you know, they actually we take this as the the you know the the sweetest form of flattery, I guess, but like they started to write for what was happening in real life in some ways, not not completely, but um, you know, like Darren and I, I I told them that I worked in theater and I had some boyfriends that were you ended up coming out, and so they went with the Blaine and Tina story for the Sadie Hawkins dance.

[41:58] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um it's just so silly. And um, you know, they definitely it was a little bit true to life, uh, but I think once the the New York crew moved over to their part, like Tina definitely got a different um different time to shine because she was like the older upperclassman who had like been through the ropes. Um which again also kind of like mirrored life, like me, Kevin, Cord, we were all like had been there for so long that these new kids were like, let us show you the way. Um, which was really fun. And Tina, I I really liked that Tina got to become like come out of her shell, become a little bit of a diva, even though I don't know that that storyline really like stuck with people.

[42:42] Jenna Ushkowitz: I really enjoyed playing that that character. Was there anything that they asked you to do that you were like, I no, absolutely not. This is not a good move for Tina or the show or you know what? I don't think so. I don't think there was anything that I we also didn't have that much say. Um, but there isn't anything. I'm sure you could have tried to have say whether or not they were listening to you.

[43:05] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh, we definitely tried. I mean, that's how I know. We definitely tried. But no, I mean they they did a good job. It was just so much, so many people to write for. Like it's just you lose sight of like the you know the the focus, right? Um, but I think that the only thing that I really pushed back on was my wardrobe after a while. So because she was in lace, because she was in like chains, she was in like these huge numbers, I was like sitting there one day and see I think it must have been season three, season two or three, and I was like, I can't do it anymore.

[43:41] Jenna Ushkowitz: I just yeah, like there was a point where I was like, I if I have to do this for another three years, I I I might rip literally take a scissor and just go naked the entire rest of the series because it's just a lot, it's a lot of prep. Um, so we definitely that's where you see Tina's like kind of mob look come into play, her like simpler black dresses come into play. That's definitely something that I was like, I need somebody's gotta help me out a little bit. How hard was it to leave it behind?

[44:10] Jenna Ushkowitz: You know, I mean, this is a huge thing that is the world knows that has been part of your life, you know, for most of your adult life. Yeah. Yeah. How do you say goodbye to that and see what else is out there for you? You know, it started to happen very slowly over the last few years. I think a lot of people um kind of started getting their own opportunities, pursuing things that they had always wanted to do. Um, like in, you know, Chris writing all of his amazing New York Times bestsellers. And um, so we definitely like we started to transition out because the core group had already kind of separated into the two different storylines.

[44:46] Jenna Ushkowitz: It felt like there was this natural progression of like saying goodbye very slowly. Um by the time the show is over, I think a lot of us were were ready for something different and ready for a break. Um it's now I definitely miss it more than I missed it then. Um but we had a really good send-off, everybody came back for the last episode. It was really fun to revisit the pilot into the episode 2009 in the finale. That definitely gave us another kind of sense of closure and saying goodbye to those characters and the way we started it.

[45:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um it was hard. It definitely was hard because that's that's like most people's claim to fame. That's most people, you know, with the the golden opportunity and the gold golden ticket into the rest of the, you know, the industry. So um I don't know that we'll ever say goodbye to it fully. It keeps coming back into my life. I mean, we have Zooms every quarantine, you know, every quarantine that was a quarantine we've ever had, and every will have. Um the the zoo we we had uh in the beginning of quarantine, we'd have a Friday Zoom with the entire like a bunch of the writers and a bunch of the cast.

[45:56] Jenna Ushkowitz: And so, you know, we're family at this point, and that that's something that bonds you for forever. Kind of like being in a Broadway show, you get bonded, but this was like uh the show I'm cracking, yeah, special in that way. Talk to me about like was there something you wanted to do right away? Like, I want to do a Brady show, I want to do another sitcom, I want to do a drama. Like, was there something on your radar?

[46:18] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, yeah, I think that I wanted to to dive into multicam initially, um, in terms of like TV. That was the way I was gonna go. And then um I kind of got swept back to New York, uh uh family and taking a I call it the Glee Talks from LA a little bit. Um, because I had moved here for the show. It was all I really knew of LA. And so I just needed to get out for a little while.

[46:47] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, and that was important because Hello Again then happened uh very quickly after Mike John LaCusa musical to stage version. Lincoln Center musical to yeah, exactly. That that got um adapted for for screen, and it's it was like kind of my rebellion against Glee, not rebellion or goodbye, it was like my goodbye. It was like, okay, let's do this character that's completely not like Tina. That's something else that I can do that um was in the realm of like what I knew, you know.

[47:22] Jenna Ushkowitz: You know, I was and it's a movie with Audra McDonald, Shyan Jackson, Martha. Yeah, nobody's it seems like a good choice. Yeah, that's not like a good fit. Um but ultimately I only shot two weekends. Like that film was shot in weekends, uh each vignette. And that was like it was just a challenging project for me. It was really exciting to do something new.

[47:39] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um and then I had done Yellow Fever, which was just a a straight dramedy uh indie film, which is also really fun and kind of fun to explore a different character. Not completely unlike Tina, but you know different. And then and then Waitress kind of came along and that was like I had known how I I always know that I want to do music you know do stage uh and do Broadway but like to to think about doing something like Sierra Boggess's music uh with a f all female creative team.

[48:19] Jenna Ushkowitz: I had so Comiko actually got me a ticket to come see her and um I just loved it. Um I had originally I had originally sent in a tape from LA um way back for I think it was the for the um uh where do they do it? Oh my gosh my Harvard at um uh where ART thank you ART so hard to remember my brain is also not really operating today but I feel you um yeah at ART and so it was just something that like it was just a dream come true.

[48:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: I I loved the music I had discovered Jesse Mueller through that um and the goddess that she is in in performing and I mean that whole cast was amazing. But uh yeah, that kind of fell into my lap and it a really perfect time. Um I saw you do it and it looked like you were having the time of your life.

[49:13] Jenna Ushkowitz: So whether we were or you weren't, you sure made me feel that way. I was, I really was. It was just something so different from what I had been doing, and that was like all I needed. You know what I mean? It was the best medicine to sing Sara's music.

[49:29] Jenna Ushkowitz: And also let everyone know that like you're a real Broadway performer. Sometimes it will get confused if you do a TV show that's about what you know how to do, and that you can't, you don't do eight shows a week. And you you know, like that whole different, you know, muscle. It's a different yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it was it was nice to return to my roots.

[49:50] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um and and it's funny because I had done it was like every I think it was like every 10 years I had done a show then. Just every time I got into it. You know, the the case, but uh yeah, that was really nice. So it was just I needed a break. And then I I moved back to LA um recently in 2018 to to reproduce, you know, kind of revisit things in a different way, kind of visit acting again, but also to produce more.

[50:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: So talk to me about producing. So you're a Tony Award winning producer. People might not know. Um tell me how producing started for you and how did that all unravel?

[50:32] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, I mean, long story short, my first pre-producing venture and fundraising was my role as a co-producer on the revival of Once on this Island at Circle in the Square, which Alex Newell starred in.

[50:45] Jenna Ushkowitz: So it's like this weird full circle thing that happened. Um, but Hunter Arnold, the lead producer, ended up wanting to bring in other producers, um, you know, just diverse uh of diverse backgrounds, and he couldn't really find them. And so he was like, I'm just gonna start making the new general generations of producers then. So we started this program called Uplift, which allows younger producers um under 40, LGBTQ, um, you know, different backgrounds, just anybody really who wanted to get into it. And so um I applied and got in with my producing partner Ashley Latimer, who had kind of introduced me to Hunter, and um, you know, Ashley and I raised money very quickly uh for the show, and ended up uh, you know, kind of being taken under Hunter's wing and really like I'm like a producing mentor.

And uh we won the Tony that year. So it was it was amazing. It was like I'll never forget that forever. Yeah, it was a really yeah. I mean, they were everybody involved in that was just truly spectacular. And I I just love the show. Every time I saw it, I would just weep. Um also produced our producer listed on Be More Chill and the Inheritance last season on Broadway, um, which did not quite have the experience that it should have had on Broadway, um, which is such a bummer, but I think there's live for those things.

[52:14] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess what's like tell me what's coming up, what's next? I have a couple more questions, and then we have to do obsessed and quickfire. So what's coming up for you that you're excited about? And I know it's the wildest time ever to be excited about it again.

[52:27] Jenna Ushkowitz: It really is the wildest time. I mean, truly, I'm just kind of right now, like uh I was in a creative slump for a while. Um, I'm really looking to produce more. Uh, I just directed my first short, um, and that was really exciting. I produced that as well. So just getting into new kind of uh you know, facets of the of the industry has been really exciting for me and like kind of soaking up new information, really watching like what kind of content is out there, watching this like the diversity pool get bigger and bigger and bigger, um, and the opportunities get more and more has been really exciting for me. So um yeah, I mean, and I'm I'm getting married in next year.

[53:08] Marc Tumminelli: So thank you.

[53:10] Jenna Ushkowitz: So it feels like all these kind of like personal wins are happening right now, which I I'm really okay with uh at the moment, and it's been really nice, but um that's not to say that a job won't come along and sweep me up. I'm totally open to it.

[53:24] Marc Tumminelli: I think you've done so much for young Asian performers, especially Broadway kids that I work with. And uh do you ever feel like that is a big weight to bear, or do you just love it? Or talk to me a little bit about that?

[53:36] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, that's a good question. I mean, I remember growing up and having Lea Salonga be like my my idol. I mean, uh Saigon was on repeat, you know, flower drum songs. So to to hear that actually is very nice, so thank you. Um it it feels like uh an exciting thing to be able to uh to do and to hold on to because I have that and I I would feel very sad if to find out that those kids don't have somebody to emulate and to work, you know, towards to create their own, you know, careers. Um, but yeah, I do think it's a responsibility. I think that again, like, you know, I'm not trying to put myself in the tabloids, I'm trying to be a good role model, I'm trying to use it for good. I'm trying, you know, it's like I I've always felt like an activist kind of philanthropist part of me. Um really fills me up. So I just try to use it and and use it in a way where I can set a good example for people.

[54:34] Marc Tumminelli: Well, you definitely have done that, and I'm so thankful to hear your story today. And you're just like such a shiny light. I mean, I'm sure everyone's like obsessed with you. So bravo.

[54:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: Thank you. I don't know that everybody, but it's very tell me what you're obsessed with right now, Jenna.

[54:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: Okay, so in terms of music, um, I'm actually I'm loving Billie Eilish right now, but um uh otherwise I'm I'm this I have this weird folk uh obsession at the moment. Um, and Mumford and Sons is feeling that need to breathe, is another one that I love. Um I just watched Queen's Gambit on Netflix. So good. So good. Um, and I'm also watching Ted Lasso, which is very funny and unassuming, and I I thoroughly enjoyed it. Um, and uh for me, my my new hobby is tennis. So I've been playing a lot of tennis, which is safe and outside. Love it. My obsessed this week is the crown, like everyone else, but it is so good, and it is it is bringing me a level of British joy that I cannot destroy things to look forward to, you know.

[55:41] Marc Tumminelli: All right, are you ready for the Broadway workshop quick fire questions? These are a list of questions put together by me and some of my students. Here we go. Favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, um, first Broadway show you saw.

[55:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: Lame is one thing about working with Donna Murphy.

[55:59] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh just the loveliest. She's the best.

[56:04] Marc Tumminelli: Did you see her in Hello Dolly?

[56:05] Jenna Ushkowitz: Of course I did. I've seen her in everything that she's done since. I mean, she's a What would your superhero power be?

[56:14] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, you know, I've been watching a lot of Harry Potter, and I feel like having the invisibility cloak or being able to be invisible would be really fun. Um yeah, I'll take that. It's like being a fly on the wall. You know what I mean? You'd be able to like pop in things that you'd never you'd never be able to witness otherwise.

[56:32] Marc Tumminelli: What do you want on your bagel?

[56:35] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um uh everything bagel, chai uh uh scallion cream cheese, locks, and tomato.

[56:44] Marc Tumminelli: Did you have a pre-show ritual?

[56:46] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh gosh. Every liquid under the sun, uh, vitamins, potato chips, and um talking to Kayala in my dressing room for waitresses, particularly the one. Um emergency tea, espresso, and throat coat.

[57:03] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, liquids. Um, strangest fan interaction.

[57:09] Jenna Ushkowitz: Uh hot topic tour, 2009. Um, this woman came with her newborn with a glee onesie and said, Will you sign my baby?

[57:19] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, that is very strange.

[57:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: Worst audition you can remember.

[57:23] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh god. Every all of them. Um Margarita Ville.

[57:31] Marc Tumminelli: You dodged a bullet there.

[57:33] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um a memory from Mary the Night video.

[57:39] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh my gosh. Hanging out with Lady Gaga. No big deal. Uh she's so cool. So the best. The best.

[57:48] Marc Tumminelli: I want blank movie to be a musical.

[57:52] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh. Um.

[57:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: Center stage.

[57:57] Marc Tumminelli: Who should Patty Lapone play in waitress?

[58:01] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh gosh.

[58:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: Jenna.

[58:07] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, I check that out. If you can have dinner with one person, who would it be?

[58:11] Jenna Ushkowitz: Stephen Sondheim.

[58:13] Marc Tumminelli: Can you name two real housewives?

[58:16] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, Bethany and Jill.

[58:17] Marc Tumminelli: All right, I'll take their original. Most starstruck you've ever been.

[58:26] Jenna Ushkowitz: Oh gosh. Um that's a good one. Uh let me think about this for a second. I gotta say.

[58:44] Marc Tumminelli: Least favorite song you had to sing on tour with Glee.

[58:53] Jenna Ushkowitz: There was a song. What is it called? I blocked it from my memory. Sing About a Butt. Say it about a girl. That one. I don't remember what it's called. Not a fan of the fan.

[59:04] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. Do you get recognized a lot?

[59:08] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um what I get a lot? I feel like we've met before. That's it.

[59:15] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[59:17] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um musical you're okay with never seeing again.

[59:24] Jenna Ushkowitz: No, I'm gonna get in trouble. I mean Grease.

[59:32] Marc Tumminelli: That's fine. And no one from Greece is gonna like call you.

[59:36] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um or are they listening to this? Um, tell us one thing about working with Ryan Murphy.

[59:41] Jenna Ushkowitz: I mean, change Maker. Right. Raise really raise the bar. And also just very funny. We call each other lady.

[59:47] Marc Tumminelli: So most surreal experience as a celebrity.

[59:54] Jenna Ushkowitz: Going on Oprah, meeting Obama.

[59:57] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, these are. These are good ones.

[1:00:01] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah. If you can go back in time and see any Broadway show, what would it be?

[1:00:07] Jenna Ushkowitz: Again, um this is a random one. But if I could go back and watch see another one that I've seen a bunch of times, I would be moving out.

[1:00:16] Marc Tumminelli: All right. Oh god, I love that show. New York or LA.

[1:00:20] Jenna Ushkowitz: Sorry. New York City.

[1:00:24] Marc Tumminelli: First big thing you bought with your glee money.

[1:00:26] Jenna Ushkowitz: It's kind of a gauche question, but it could be funny. You know, I think it was a Louis Vuitton bag.

[1:00:33] Marc Tumminelli: All right. Um, do you do any impressions?

[1:00:37] Jenna Ushkowitz: No.

[1:00:39] Marc Tumminelli: Maybe Ryan Murphy.

[1:00:40] Jenna Ushkowitz: Okay.

[1:00:41] Marc Tumminelli: What what is our your Ryan Murphy impression?

[1:00:44] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, lady, you know, I have a show for you, and I think it would be great. Uh this is a really great role. Um, that's like a great phone call to get.

[1:00:55] Marc Tumminelli: Um have you ever left a show at intermission?

[1:00:59] Jenna Ushkowitz: I'm not gonna ask you what it is.

[1:01:00] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, okay, that's a yes.

[1:01:02] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um, do you have anything from Glee in your house?

[1:01:06] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yes. Um, I have a lot of things. Uh a lot of memorabilia. There's a a tile from the actual wall of the choir room that they broke out for us, and I have the choir room clock in my office.

[1:01:18] Marc Tumminelli: What movie can you watch over and over again?

[1:01:21] Jenna Ushkowitz: Um random, never been kissed, Titanic, and um 10 things I hate about you.

[1:01:30] Marc Tumminelli: I love Titanic.

[1:01:31] Jenna Ushkowitz: Okay. So um, since it's December, um, tell me what your favorite holiday tradition is. And that's our last question.

[1:01:42] Jenna Ushkowitz: You know, I think it is I'm not gonna see my family this year, which is kind of sad, um, which a lot of people are not gonna see their families this year. So I would say we we usually go to my favorite Italian restaurant on Long Island for Christmas Eve, Vincent's and I have a table there. All right. They actually put my little name on a table, which is like really the cream better than Oprah. And so usually we go with the family and we eat uh a big Italian meal on thing on Christmas Eve. So that's my favorite.

[1:02:15] Marc Tumminelli: Jenna, tell the people where they can follow you and find out what's up with uh Jenna Ushkowitz.

[1:02:20] Jenna Ushkowitz: Yeah, I mean, I'm on Instagram, Jenna Ushgo at Jenna Ushkowitz, Twitter at Jenna Ushkowitz, and you know what I mean. That's really those are the places that's the news.

[1:02:30] Marc Tumminelli: Jenna, you are that's in the news. Jenna, you are a delight. And I'm so grateful you took the time to chat with me today. Um I can't wait to see what's next for you. You're really like a dream.

[1:02:42] Jenna Ushkowitz: Thank you so much.

[1:02:43] Jenna Ushkowitz: Thanks for having me. It's so much fun to talk about all this.

[1:02:45] Marc Tumminelli: Awesome. Um, if you're having fun listening to the Little Me podcast, remember to follow us on Instagram at LittleMe Podcast, and I'll see you all soon. Bye-bye.

[1:02:55] Jenna Ushkowitz: Thank you, listeners. This podcast is produced by Alan Seals, Dory Berenstein, and the Broadway Podcast Network, and edited by Derek Gunther. For more information on the Little Me podcast, go to bpn.fm slash little me. And follow me on Instagram at Marc Tumminelli or on Twitter at thatTuminelli. And for more information on workshops, classes, and everything Broadway Workshop, go to BroadwayWorkshop.com. Thank you for listening.