This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Lilli Cooper: 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, welcome back to Little Me Podcast. Happy Thursday or whatever day you're listening to this. Today I have the most special human with me. She made her Broadway debut in high school in the original company of Spring Awakening and went on to star in Wicked, Spongebob Squarepants, and received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Tootsie. She's a total delight. I'm obsessed with her. Please welcome Lilli Cooper.

[0:43] Lilli Cooper: Hello!

[0:44] Marc Tumminelli: Hi! Lilli, we were supposed to do this on March 19th in the Broadway Podcast Network Studio, but that did not happen.

[0:53] Lilli Cooper: Almost a year ago.

[0:54] Marc Tumminelli: Wow. I mean, that is so wild. How are you?

[0:57] Lilli Cooper: How am I? What a loaded question, right? I'm okay, I guess. Like I said before, it's like, I don't know, I'm alive. I'm fairly healthy. You know, those are all the things that we can kind of wish for these days.

[1:09] Marc Tumminelli: You've also created a beautiful sound studio in your home. And I'm like the most proud of this. I don't know if you have had this experience, but during quarantine, I was extremely bored. So I found all of the projects in my apartment, and I transformed my walk-in closet into a recording studio. And here I am.

[1:27] Lilli Cooper: Where are your clothes? Is the big question then.

[1:29] Marc Tumminelli: So luckily I have a two-bedroom, and this is my spare bedroom's walk-in closet.

[1:34] Lilli Cooper: Got it. All right. Okay, fine fancy. Um, we're gonna go. I want to go back to the beginning um and hear about how this all got started for you. Now, if you know Lilli Cooper, you probably know her dad is like a huge Broadway star, Tony Award winner for The Life, Chuck Cooper. Um, talk to me a little bit about growing up in the house where dad is like an enormous theater star.

[1:55] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think the thing that made my upbringing so unique um was the fact that I actually grew up in Hell's Kitchen. I grew up literally blocks away from Broadway, and I grew up in a high-rise in Manhattan Plaza where you know Alicia Keys lived, and you just you name it, everybody lived. And um, so I was really, really just like so fully immersed in the world of theater and the arts from when I was a baby. Um, and especially because my dad uh is and was an actor, and I my first experience with Broadway was you know, backstage at my dad's shows. So I was just I was truly a Broadway baby. I love it so much.

[2:42] Marc Tumminelli: So your dad won a Tony for The Life. You were like six or seven then.

[2:47] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, I believe it was in '97, so I was seven years old.

[2:50] Marc Tumminelli: So do you remember anything about that experience about having this big moment?

[2:55] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, I think I definitely didn't really realize the scope of the Tonys when I was that young, but I remember my brother got to go with him. So my brother was sitting next to him, my brother Eddie, and I remember watching it on TV with my mom and a few friends and my other brother. And um we saw, like they called my dad's name, and my dad truly did not believe it. And my brother had to be like, "You won, go get up, get up." And I saw my brother like push him out of his seat, and I just have like that vivid memory of how funny that was.

[3:25] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my god, it's so cool. Were you singing and dancing? Were you trying to like emulate him? Was that how did it get started for you on your end?

[3:32] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, my performance bug really started with dancing. Um, I started as a dancer, started taking dance classes when I was like five. I did summer intensives every summer for over a decade, and that's really what I loved and what I was pursuing. Um, and it wasn't until uh middle school that I decided to kind of shift my career into musical theater and into singing and acting. Um and something really interesting happened to me in middle school, which is what I think was the kind of catalyst for that shift, which was that I got cyberbullied in seventh grade. And it was a really terrible, terrible year for me, and it was just an awful experience. And I was, you know, with friends who I thought were friends from elementary school who I'd known my entire life, who truly just, you know, were these terrible people that I didn't need to be surrounded by.

And so what I discovered was that I really needed to pursue my secret underlying love for musical theater, and that's when I decided to transition to a performing arts um middle school for eighth grade, and that's when I really found, you know, my family and the group of people that I loved. And so that's sort of what led me to musical theater. Um, and I'm kind of I'm really proud of that, that this kind of like dark thing in my past is what you know inspired me to like follow my dreams.

[4:50] Marc Tumminelli: Well, I think a lot of little theater kids are misfits or they don't figure out where they fit, and then they are in a room and they're doing Seussical in 2020 or whatever, and then all of a sudden they're like, "This is the thing, these are the people that get me," and then their whole life, you know, takes that shift. And I'm sure that experience was similar for you as well.

[5:08] Lilli Cooper: Exactly. Um, talk to me about LaGuardia. So you did you know that you're like, "This is where I want to go to high school?"

[5:17] Lilli Cooper: Forever. I knew that's where I wanted to go to high school because I have two older brothers who are both artists and actors, and they both went to LaGuardia. So it very much felt like a legacy, and I knew I had seen my brothers in plays there. And it always felt so fantastic and so exciting. And you know, watching the movie Fame as a kid, you're just like it's like a dream to go to school. And so I remember it being this really exciting prospect for my future. And um I auditioned when I was in eighth grade and I got in and it was a really great school for me.

[5:54] Marc Tumminelli: Now, were you auditioning professionally at all? Had your family kind of set you up? Like, did you have an agent or a manager as a kid?

[6:01] Lilli Cooper: No, not at all. I had never auditioned really until I got into high school. Um I was super shy actually as a kid, and I think it took a while for me to kind of break out of my shell, like really until I was in high school for a few years to realize that I was even ready to start auditioning or work professionally. So yeah, high school was the first time that I ever started auditioning.

[6:23] Marc Tumminelli: And my first ever audition actually was for um Spring Awakening.

[6:27] Lilli Cooper: Oh my God, that is a wild story. So how did that audition come to you?

[6:30] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, okay. So at LaGuardia, we do musicals every year, and I was in Hair.

[6:35] Marc Tumminelli: Was that the all-school musical?

[6:38] Lilli Cooper: It was, it was the all-school musical.

[6:40] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. Wow. They normally don't do anything edgy ever for that all-school musical.

[6:45] Lilli Cooper: This was very edgy. They were going to do Guys and Dolls, I think, and then they changed it to Hair, which was a pretty big shift.

[6:51] Marc Tumminelli: Yes.

[6:52] Lilli Cooper: Um, and you know, at the end of Act One, instead of everybody being naked, we just invited all of everybody's little siblings to come on stage.

[7:02] Lilli Cooper: It was very strange.

[7:02] Lilli Cooper: Right? I know. I mean, that is the polar opposite. So um, agents and managers come and see shows at LaGuardia, and they kind of scout kids and they'll hand out um cards to people if they're interested in representing them. And I got a card from this wonderful agent, and that I was a little intimidated by even pursuing. So I didn't reach out to her until months after she had given me her card. And I called her one random February, and she said, "Oh, I'm so glad you called me. I actually have this great thing that I was thinking about you for, and it's gonna be perfect. It's this show that really nobody knows about. It's a workshop. Um, so they're developing it. It's called Spring Awakening, and I would love for you to go in for it."

And I was 15 at the time, and so this was my first professional audition ever. My mom had to come with me because I was, you know, a minor. And I had gone into this audition and I sang, I think I had to sing Mama Who Bore Me, and did a few scenes. And in the audition, they asked me if I could learn The Dark I Know Well. And so Duncan Sheik and Kim Grigsby took me into another room and taught me this song, and I had to sing it, you know, at the audition. And the funny thing is, my mom always tells me she was in the waiting room, and she's like, "I knew you booked that job the second you walked in there. They loved you." And of course, I didn't know that. I was like an insecure little 15-year-old. But you know, there was something in me that had this underlying confidence, I think, that allowed me to really show off my uh flex my muscles.

[8:36] Marc Tumminelli: And obviously, your parents were very supportive of you pursuing this in whatever way you wanted, right?

[8:42] Lilli Cooper: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I don't they never pushed me into it. They weren't like, "You must be an artist." Um, I think that would be kind of insane if they did. But they always knew that it was in our blood, it was in our family, and they would not be surprised if it did happen. And so they were incredibly supportive and loved the fact that I ended up following that path.

[9:02] Marc Tumminelli: Were there other kids at LaGuardia that you knew were auditioning for Spring Awakening?

[9:07] Lilli Cooper: Um, no, not at the time. Uh at the time it was just the workshop, which was before off-Broadway. And I don't think I remember anybody auditioning for it then. I do remember later on after Broadway had opened and we were running for a while and they started the tour that a lot of kids from LaGuardia started auditioning for the tour. Um, so I do remember that. But no, I didn't really know anybody else working professionally at the time or really auditioning. It was kind of a unique thing because LaGuardia is very much like a conservatory college, and they were very passionate about us being in school and training before we had ever gone into the field and started auditioning and working professionally. So weirdly enough, it was actually quite a challenge for me to make it work.

[9:58] Marc Tumminelli: Well, we're gonna we're gonna get to the SDF and all of that in a minute.

[10:03] Lilli Cooper: Oh, it's coming.

[10:03] Marc Tumminelli: So you book this big show or what potentially is gonna be a big show. Talk to me about the first few rehearsals of now being like, "Oh, I'm in a professional job where someone's gonna give me a paycheck and I am in 10th grade or whatever."

[10:15] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, so crazy. I think the thing that made it way more comfortable and it felt like a very safe space was that a lot of us were around the same age. And we had to do tutoring during the day because it took us out of school. So for rehearsals, the younger kids who were in high school would come in to rehearsal earlier and then do three to four hours of tutoring in the rehearsal space and then start rehearsal with everybody else. So we had kind of like longer, more intense days than everybody, which was hard. Um, but it was nice that we had each other to kind of rely on. It was at the time in the very beginning, it was Rami Zaiken and Gideon and I were all in um tutoring together. This was before off-Broadway. Uh yeah, it was kind of wild. Thinking back on it, it's so wild. But I just kind of like, I don't know, went through my days and did it. It wasn't until I was outside of that world that I was like, "Whoa, what a wild experience."

[11:16] Lilli Cooper: I do that.

[11:17] Marc Tumminelli: So that subject matter is really obviously very tricky with young people. How was that handled with all of you as far as you know, uh, you know, the direction and the staging? How did did you ever feel uncomfortable? How was all of that brought up to all of you?

[11:32] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, absolutely. I think we all felt uncomfortable at certain times. I mean, I think it's impossible not to. Uh and then like your parents are gonna come see this.

[11:39] Marc Tumminelli: Right. Exactly.

[11:41] Lilli Cooper: But I think that's kind of what it was about, right? It was about like putting people out of their comfort zones and allowing us to talk about things that are uncomfortable and weird and strange, especially with our parents. That's kind of what the show was about, was generational um misunderstandings and miscommunications. And so I think that opened the door for us, or at least for me to be able to like have these conversations with my mom and my dad. My parents had to read the script before I could even go in for it. And so they were very aware of what the subject matter was. And I think we're excited about me exploring this as a young person because you know what's so strange about it was a lot of times when you see high schoolers on stage, they're 30-year-olds, but we were actually 15, 16, 17-year-olds. So we were experiencing the things that this play was about about angst and sexuality and discovering our identities.

[12:44] Lilli Cooper: So it was uncomfortable because of how close to home it was, you know.

[12:50] Marc Tumminelli: Did you know, did you have a sense of where this show was gonna go that it was gonna have this huge, huge impact and Winnipeg and all that?

[12:57] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. I don't think so. I think we all just felt like this is a really cool special experience, and who knows how long it'll last, but we'll remember it forever. And then we were just on this train that didn't stop. And once the momentum started, we were like, oh, this is a big deal. So I don't think at the beginning we ever realized, but it was like, you know, workshop off Broadway, bam, you're moving to Broadway, bam, you're getting great reviews. We're a hit, we get, you know, 15, however many Tony nominations, we win a bunch of Tonies. It just was so fast paced, everything happened so fast, it hardly gave us any time to take it all in. And again, like I said, I feel like it wasn't until I was outside of it that I realized, wow, that was a true phenomenon that I was a part of.

[13:47] Marc Tumminelli: How much did the show change from New York Theater Workshop to Broadway?

[13:51] Lilli Cooper: Um quite a bit, lots of songs, lots of songs changed. Duncan wrote new songs all the time. And actually fun tidbit that not a lot of people know about the origins of at least my involvement in Spring Awakening, is that when I was originally cast, I was cast as Anna, which was subsequently played by a Phoebe Stroll, and in the workshop prior to Off Broadway, the two characters of Marta and Teya were kind of split and the storyline was shared between the two of those characters. And then off Broadway, I was kind of promoted as you will. Yes. I even re-auditioned which was very weird. And I ended up playing Marta who sang The Dark I know well and who had that very dark scene prior to the song. So that was a huge change from the workshop to Off Broadway.

And then the song The Dark NOL actually used to be entirely Marta's and then they wanted to incorporate Ilse's story into it. So then Ilsa was incorporated into the song so a lot of character development a lot of song changes, a lot of choreography changes some scenes were entirely cut. I mean it was drastically changed I think from the workshop to the Broadway production for sure.

[15:15] Marc Tumminelli: Now when you're like 15 years old how are you accessing this darkness that we're talking about in the song and this storyline what how were they helping you kind of create that and what were you doing on your own to kind of figure out who this girl was?

[15:15] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, um, you know, I actually did quite a bit of research. I remember there was a Barnes and Noble right around the street from my high school and I would go into Barnes and Noble and I would look up these nonfiction first story, you know, journal entries and these kind of documentations of experiences and those really helped me because it was definitely a stretch, you know, from my personal experience but I was in acting school at the same time so I think I definitely helped I definitely asked for help from my acting teachers along with my director to really delve deep into those dark subject matters and like I said we were kind of similarly experiencing a lot of the subject matters that the show tackled so you guys were all like kind of little rock stars it was like mini rent like you open on Broadway it's a big hit they're on the Rosie O'Donnell show like every day you know talking about it and people are kind of obsessed with you and it really was this sort of next stage door kind of culture thing kind of I felt like started to happen there with Spring Awakening.

[16:42] Marc Tumminelli: Talk to me about how the balance of being a high school kid and being part of this like very hot group of like teenagers on Broadway.

[16:49] Lilli Cooper: Yeah I mean it was so wild imagine imagine just being a teenager in high school and then you know full force throwing yourself into this very adult professional world. I couldn't handle like going to gym I don't know how we all handled like fans and things it fits super surreal right to have to go to school during the day do your homework and then sign autographs after a show at night. So weird like super strange and then go home and do more homework like it was wild. It was very very jarring it was very surreal. I definitely felt like I was living two lives at the same time I was living my you know adolescent high school life and I was living my very cool professional adult life. Believe me, I thought I was very cool and grown up when I was 16 years old.

Looking back, I'm like, whoo, God, I was such a child. Um, yeah, so it was just such a surreal experience. I mean, I think about I think back on like the energy I must have had to do these things at the same time. I imagining going to high school today, just in general, is terrifying, but having my worst actual nightmare. My actual worst nightmare. Because like I remember waking up at six o'clock in the morning or however early to go to school at 7 a.m. Who who does who on Broadway, besides people who have kids, I guess, wakes up at seven in the morning? No one. Our lives are at night. Like we have to be at a 10 at nighttime. And so it was crazy that I that I even had the energy to do this. And luckily, I was 16, so we did.

[18:25] Marc Tumminelli: So remind talk to me about the Tony Awards. It's a big night. You know, you guys get nominated, you get to perform. There, you know, that camera's right on you, right at the top. Um so now, like you're you're in this place, this thing that you've watched on TV probably, you've seen your dad win, and you're like there doing it. Talk to me about the Tony night.

[18:43] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, so it was my first time at the Tony's, and normally when actors and shows are just performing and aren't personally nominated, you're not in the audience and seeing the Tony's live at Radio City. But our wonderful producers allowed us to attend the Tony Awards. And so we got to dress up and walk down the red carpet and be in the audience and watch the show up until you know we were pulled backstage to perform. And before we did perform, we won so many Tony Awards, and it was so cool. We just like kept standing up and hearing our name being called, and it was just wild. It blew our mind. And so we performed, I think very close to the end of the broadcast. And how it works is like we're in the audience in our cute dresses, they call us backstage, we change into our costumes.

Then we walk on stage and we're set, and there's this scrim in front of us. So we can't see the audience yet until you know they announce our show and the scrim rises, and we see the millions seemingly of people in the audience because there are I don't know, five mezzanines or something in this. I think it's five levels or at Radio City. And so like this curtain just slowly rises, and we slowly see more and more people, and it is terrifying. And then we hear the guitar start, and then we hear Leah start singing. And it I just remember I've I still talk to my girlfriends from Spring Awakening about this memory, about this experience.

[20:22] Lilli Cooper: And keep going. It's okay. Mine is sitting right behind me. Um, I still talk to my girlfriends from Spring Awakening about this experience of looking at each other's eyes and just being like, whoa, we are here, we are doing this.

[20:35] Lilli Cooper: What is happening to us? Um, and then we perform, and it was really like that was a blackout experience for sure. Once it started once I started singing, I don't remember a second of it. I just remember looking back on it and seeing videos. Um, and then we won Best Musical, and we all got to run on stage, which I also think was one of the very first times casts started doing that too. Because like before that, casts didn't go, they weren't in the building. Yeah, because they weren't in the building. So, so like, why would they be running on stage for Best Musical? But you know, the 30 producers and the entire cast all ran on stage when we won Best Musical, and it was really special.

[21:13] Marc Tumminelli: So that was the end of your junior year of high school, yeah.

[21:17] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. So then you have to go, you do obviously do the summer of starring on Broadway. And then you go talk to me about this next year. Like, how do you manage your senior year?

[21:25] Marc Tumminelli: And you're continuing to do the show, I'm assuming, because when Jenna Uschwitz was on this podcast, she said, luckily you had to go back to high school to do your SDF so that she could join the cast of Spring Awakening.

[21:39] Lilli Cooper: Exactly. I think I forget that that was even the like the reason that she joined the cast was because I had so okay, yeah. So my senior year, I had a lot of stuff to do. I was studying. I had to go to my prom and my graduation. And because I was a drama major at LaGuardia, every senior year they have a thing called SDF, the Spring Drama Festival. And in order to get your quote unquote drama diploma, which who cares, and I don't even know where mine is at this point, you needed to do a play. And so even though I was on Broadway working professionally.

[22:17] Marc Tumminelli: That's so wild.

[22:18] Lilli Cooper: I know my school required me to, you know, be a part of a play. And the thing is, as a teenager, as a part of the community of the school, I wanted to. I wanted to be in a play with my friends, of course. So I requested a week of vacation from Spring Awakening, and they generously gave it to me so that I could be in school full time for that week and be in a production of Dracula.

[22:46] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, okay.

[22:48] Lilli Cooper: The most absurd thing that I've ever said in my life. It's it's like I mean, it was basically written by our drama teacher. It was no offense, but like it was real bad.

[22:59] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, well, you know how these things go.

[23:01] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, it was real bad. I played Van Helsing. So I got to murder Dracula every night. That was very satisfying. Um, and then you know, we had our big SDF cast party at the end, and then you know, the next day I just had to go back to school and then do my show at night.

[23:17] Marc Tumminelli: That's wild.

[23:18] Lilli Cooper: And on so on top of that was SATs. I remember I took um the one of the one of my SATs was on a Saturday morning, and I had two shows that day, and it ran super late. And so I remember taking a cab from my SAT to the Eugene O'Neill Theater, doing my braids in the car, and I showed up at like 15 minutes or something. I showed up just in time for me to legally still be able to go on. Because you know, when you like you show up after 15, you have to be booted. So that was a crazy.

[23:51] Marc Tumminelli: Give the girl a break, she's like trying to get her SE booth done.

[23:54] Lilli Cooper: What was the uh I want to know about the kids of LaGuardia because I feel like it had to go one or two ways. Like you were in the hottest show on Broadway that each one of them probably wanted to be in, and you're still like in school. Were they lovely to you? Were they a nightmare? Is it a mix? Talk to me about what school was like while you're doing that craziness, and now you're a hit, it's a big thing.

[24:12] Lilli Cooper: I mean, I'm sure there was some envy involved, but I swear I never felt any negativity from people at from the students at school. Teachers, I can say otherwise, but jealous.

[24:28] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, just a bit.

[24:30] Lilli Cooper: Um the students were amazing. My friends were amazing. They all came to see the show. They were so proud of me. They were so excited for me. I really was one of the first people, I think, at LaGuardia to be working on Broadway at the same time as being in school. So it was kind of this new exciting thing. And I think it kind of opened the door for other kids to be able to do the same thing. So I was really proud of that. A lot of more kids after I did started working. Um and the school was a little bit more lenient about that.

[24:55] Marc Tumminelli: So I was really proud that well, you let Lily Cooper do it.

[25:06] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, exactly. They said that. And then it was my fault for the for the rest of the history.

[25:13] Lilli Cooper: So after having this like huge experience on Broadway, how do you walk away from that and let someone come in and replace you and on all that? It was definitely a hard decision. Um I knew I always knew that I wanted to go to college.

[25:25] Lilli Cooper: And I was right around that age. I was coming to the end of my senior year, and you know, I knew I would have to leave the show in order to do that. And Remy Zakin actually took a year, a gap year in between so that she could do another year of the show. And so as Remy and I were talking and applying to colleges, we decided to leave together because we decided that we were both sort of on this next journey in our lives, ready for this next journey in our lives, and we wanted to be able to go out with each other. And then we talked to the rest of the cast, the rest of the cast wanted to be with us because it felt like we could only finish this out together, you know, just trickle off. Like it didn't feel right to us.

It felt like we started this together and we wanted to finish it together. And it luckily was the perfect time for everything. So, um, Phoebe, Ryan, Tyler, Remy, and I all announced our last shows at the same time. And so we had our final shows together, which is the most wonderful thing ever. I mean, it felt like the show kind of coming to an end with the placements, but it felt like this wonderful final note to our experience together. And it was special to be able to go out and oh, what a good way to close it out.

[26:46] Marc Tumminelli: Lilli, we're gonna take a little tiny mini break and we're gonna come back and talk about Wicked and SpongeBob and Tootsie and all that fun stuff. So we'll be back in a second with Lilli Cooper.

[26:57] Lilli Cooper: We are back with Lilli Cooper. Okay, so you finish Spring Awakening. Talk to me about college.

[27:08] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, so college. I went to Vassar because you're very smart. I'm quite intelligent. Um, I went to Vassar, which is about an hour and a half north of the city. I knew I wanted to go someplace that was fairly close to New York, so I could come home whenever I wanted, maybe potentially continue to audition, um, a place that had a great theater department. And you know, it was really a strange transition for me because like I said, I was living this kind of double life of being a kid, but also being a grown-up, and then going into this very insular bubble of people who some who knew who I was, which that was really strange. And I just wanted to be a normal kid going to college for the first time.

And the fact that I was from New York City and we were going to this kind of like suburban, tiny, tiny campus. Um, it was a really jarring, kind of strange transition for me. I can't say that the first year of college was like a very wonderful experience. But um, I'm really glad that I decided to go to college because I think that that's kind of what it's all about. It's about all of the experiences and meeting people and learning about yourself. And I definitely did that.

[28:36] Lilli Cooper: Was there ever a question?

[28:37] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[28:38] Lilli Cooper: No, I was just gonna say that I went abroad my junior year, and I cannot recommend that more to anybody who's thinking about college because it is the most magical experience is being able to live in another country.

[28:50] Marc Tumminelli: Was there any question that this was gonna be what you were pursuing? Was there a minute where you were like, I'm gonna be a journalist, I'm gonna be a... was there any moment where you're like, I'm not gonna be an actor?

[29:00] Lilli Cooper: I don't think there was ever even like a millisecond of that.

[29:03] Marc Tumminelli: Right.

[29:04] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, there really wasn't. So Wicked is like you do three penny at Atlantic, like you're working you get out of school and you're working, and but Wicked feels like it's the first big adult after college job that you get to do. Is that right?

[29:18] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, I mean, definitely the first big exciting gig that I got to do after college. I did it pretty soon after I graduated. I did a little fringe show, um, actually with Ethan Slater, uh, right outside of college. And then right after that, I did the tour of Wicked. And so I started in the tour and I was the understudy for Elphaba. And as the understudy, you're the second cover. So I hardly went on for Elphaba the entire year that I was on tour, I performed as Elphaba twice. So that was kind of tough because it kind of was a blow to your ego, you know, you think like, oh, I'm here to play this role, and I didn't really get to play her at all. So that was really hard. But I what I was really grateful for was that I paid off my student loans in a year.

Yeah, which was amazing. Um, and I really felt like I paid my dues and I proved myself because Wicked really kept me a part of the Wicked family. They after tour, they asked me to fly to Australia to be the alternate in Australia. So I played Elphaba there, and then I came back to the tour as the standby in Canada for a few weeks, and then finally on Broadway as the standby. So I played Elphaba in three different countries, which was really cool.

[30:19] Marc Tumminelli: So cool.

[30:19] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. And then finally on Broadway as the standby, which I gotta say is, I think the scariest job I've ever had, and hopefully will be the scariest job I'll ever have.

[30:46] Marc Tumminelli: Is it just because you just have to be ready in a second to do it and you're not and it's not in your body?

[30:52] Lilli Cooper: Totally. I mean, like you have to be, you have to think of okay, I have to be physically prepared for this too, and mentally and emotionally prepared for this. I have to be able to like warm up at a moment's notice. I have to be ready to go on in the middle of the show, which I had done once, and that was insane. And it's just a really intense, like when you're all the Elphabas that I know, who a lot of whom were full-time Elphabas and standbys, have said that being the standby is more nerve-wracking than playing the role eight times a week.

[31:24] Marc Tumminelli: It's so it seems like it's so hard. So many young girls look up to you as an artist of color who's played Elphaba, and I think that that has had a huge impact for a lot of kids. Did you ever think about that as like being a big moment?

[31:37] Lilli Cooper: Absolutely. Cause, because you know, um, my mother would always tell me that she thought that I would be a great Elphaba, like when I was younger, and I was like, I don't think that that, I don't think that that's in my cards. I never believed it. And I think a lot of that was because I never saw a woman of color as Elphaba. And um, once I auditioned, I was like, oh mom, you're right. I actually put that in my bio in my first bio. I was my the end of my bio was mom, you were right.

[32:05] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, it's so great.

[32:07] Lilli Cooper: It's like you're wonderful. I watched some bootlegs of you on the show.

[32:11] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my gosh, she's so good.

[32:13] Lilli Cooper: Uh you just are such an interesting actor and you make such great choices. Was there uh moments where you felt like this is where I can put the Lilli Cooper stamp on it? Where you're just trying to get make it happen?

[32:24] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, you know what's really interesting? So it was the first time I had stepped into a show that was already going on, you know, and that is a different skill than starting a show from scratch. And I was lucky enough to have been in an original show, and this was a new learning experience for me, because a lot of it is learning how to fit into the puzzle piece that has already been created, and allowing yourself to and forcing yourself really to kind of shut those parts down that want to create something new and different and rework the wheel because it is a machine and you just have to fit in the right place at the right time. And that was a really challenging thing, is I think that I think there were a lot of moments where I was able to add my Lilli flair to Elphaba, but there are a lot of moments where you know you just gotta do what the girl did before you because it worked.

[33:16] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. So we have to talk about SpongeBob, which is a huge part of your career, having originated the role of Sandy in the... where were you guys in Chicago before pre-Broadway and then moving the show to Broadway. When that audition came in, were you like, Where's what's the what's the oh no?

[33:37] Lilli Cooper: I was so excited. I was like, this is my part. Yes. I knew it. I knew it. I was so confident. I was so excited about it. I loved SpongeBob. I watched it since I was a kid, since it's, you know, premiered in the 90s, I think. And I was so excited because I always loved Sandy. I always felt connected to her. And I knew that Ethan Slater was playing SpongeBob. And um, Ethan and I had gone to college together, done a play in college, and did a fringe show together. So I was like, we are meant to be co-stars. I was just so excited. So I found out how to get this audition. I call Ethan. He's like, When are you going in? I'm gonna be in the audition. I'm gonna be reading with you. And so I was like, Yes!

I was so excited. I was of course nervous, just as I am in any audition, but having a friend there just made it so much more fun and so much safer to just experiment and you know, not be afraid to make mistakes. And that is exactly the environment that Tina, our director created for us, which was to, you know, make sure that we felt safe to try absolutely anything and to not be afraid to make mistakes. And it was the most fun audition I've ever had, and most likely will ever have, and I'll never forget it.

[35:04] Marc Tumminelli: It looked like you guys were having the most fun ever. I mean, just it was like this is a group of people having like such a wonderful, joyous experience. It was like as an audience member who doesn't understand any, I don't know how any connection to SpongeBob. I it was like a little bit like seeing a show in France. I was like, I don't understand what's going on here. But the joy was like coming through, and these kids in the audience. What was that experience like sort of hearing kids have this elevated experience watching something they had watched on TV?

[35:32] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, like in front of them. The coolest thing was that it wasn't only the kids, it was the parents and the grandparents and the friends and the millennials and everything. Everyone loved that show because like you said, it just kind of oozed love and joy and inclusivity. And uh that's what made it so special. We got to really connect to the kids in the audience. There was one moment where I get to run down the aisle and like high five everybody. So I really got to feel that connection and that excitement from all of the kids in the audience. Um, I've never had any other experience like it.

[36:07] Marc Tumminelli: So you leave SpongeBob to do Tootsie. Um, how hard was it to walk away from that SpongeBob family?

[36:14] Lilli Cooper: Oh, so hard. There's some of my best friends. We are still best friends. We have, you know, vacationed together, sung at each other's weddings, like we're truly family. Um, so it was really, really hard. But I got this amazing opportunity to star in Tootsie, which was wild. You know, I didn't go into Tootsie being like, I'm perfect for this part, I'm gonna get this. Tootsie felt very much like a challenge to me that I was really excited to tackle. And once I got the job, I knew I had to leave SpongeBob, which was a really sad choice. But I think that that I was, I mean, how lucky am I to be able to go from one Broadway show to the next, and then the next and then the next from day to day, like Sunday was my last day with SpongeBob, Monday was my first day of rehearsal with Tootsie. It was crazy.

[37:05] Marc Tumminelli: That's wild.

[37:06] Lilli Cooper: So Tootsie was like legitimately the funniest thing. I've funniest, I will say, I have never laughed harder. Maybe Urinetown is the only time I ever laughed that hard at a musical. Um, when you guys were putting that show together, could you feel like this is so funny? Everything that was coming out was, you know, just killer.

[37:23] Lilli Cooper: I mean, those performances were amazing. Talk to me about that rehearsal process a little bit.

[37:27] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, it was intimidating because the thing is everyone in that cast was so funny. It was a group of comedians. And Robert Horn, uh, the book writer, who is one of the funniest, goofiest people I've ever known in my life, uh, was just writing jokes for us moment after moment, and we were trying different jokes and every second, and it was I there wasn't a 10-minute period of rehearsal where we all weren't cracking up laughing. And like that's such an amazing experience in rehearsal. Like you love that. And the uh the awesome thing about it too was that our creative team was really collaborative and wanted us to give our input and wanted us to help out.

[38:10] Lilli Cooper: I mean, there were some jokes that we created that were in the show. Um, and that was really cool too. And of course, you got your first Tony nomination, which is a really big deal. I, you know, working on Broadway from like, you know, 11th grade on, you know, 10th grade on, and here you are having this moment. What did that feel like?

[38:27] Lilli Cooper: Oh my gosh, it was wild. I wasn't expecting it. Um, I was like, of course, I would love to get nominated, but I tried to surrender to whatever was going to happen, right? And so that morning, I turned—or sorry, I set my alarm till after the broadcast so that I—because it's really early in the morning, it's at like 8:30, so that I didn't have to wake up and watch it, you know, on my couch. And I, of course, couldn't sleep at all. So I was like tossing and turning in bed. I'm like, oh, it's probably after nine now, and I'm not getting any phone calls or anything, so it didn't happen. That's okay. I've surrendered to it. I roll over, I look at my phone, and my phone was on silent, and I had like 60 text messages and like a hundred and fifty phone calls. And I was like, wait a minute, this must mean something good. These can't be condolence text messages. And finally, my mom calls me. She's like, Lilli, where have you been? You got nominated for a Tony!

[39:34] Lilli Cooper: Oh my god, that is so wild. Um, and it felt like through was that overwhelming that Tony wildness of having to do the luncheons and the meetings and then do your show at night and then all of that, or was it just talk to me about that?

[39:49] Lilli Cooper: Unbelievable. They do not prepare you for this. It's another job. Like you've added another job on top of your Broadway show. You get nominated on a Tuesday, you go to your show that night, which is a magical show, by the way. Wednesday morning before two shows for everybody, which makes no sense, you're at this like Tony luncheon with all the nominees. And so you have to be on in a cute dress with your makeup done, you know, day one, basically. And then after that, it's interview after interview after photo shoot after, you know, and it's just crazy to add that on top of your eight show week. And don't get me wrong, I was so grateful and loved every minute of it, but my God, I was tired.

[40:29] Marc Tumminelli: It just seems like unfair.

[40:32] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. I know. Um, was that night magical for you?

[40:37] Lilli Cooper: I think it was the most magical night of my life so far. It was incredible. Because again, one of the biggest, um, one of the biggest kind of like recommendations I got from friends of mine who had been nominated prior was to just enjoy the night as much as you possibly could and to take it all in and to not stress about winning. And I really didn't. I didn't think I was going to win. I didn't stress about winning, I didn't stress about a speech. All I did was focus on holy moly, I'm sitting two rows behind Catherine O'Hara and across the aisle from Audra McDonald, and I look fierce in my Zac Posen dress, and my husband looks fierce in his fierce suit next to me. And oh my god, Billy Porter's singing karaoke during the commercial breaks. Like I was just having the most fun ever. It was really incredible.

[41:27] Lilli Cooper: It felt like Tootsie was the show to beat all season. And then this sort of like left happened, which didn't make sense to me. Like I thought you guys were winning every Tony Award. Was that like a tough pill to swallow?

[41:40] Lilli Cooper: Um, I think we were kind of prepared for that. I think we were prepared for that. I think the two that we won, we were definitely expecting and hoping that we would win because I think they were so deserving. Um, Santino Fontana and Robert Horn. And you know, there's a lot of whispers before the actual night and a lot of guesses, and you kind of just sort of prepare yourself for what you think will happen already. So I don't think it really was a surprise to us. Such a bummer, but it was so good. You were wonderful. The show was so fun. Um, I truly wish it had a longer experience on Broadway for, you know, so.

[42:18] Lilli Cooper: I totally agree, but I will say I have, I'm honestly so grateful that we closed when we did because we closed in January of last year—well, 2020. Jesus, what amazing. Okay. Um, and that was a month or two before the pandemic. And so we luckily got to close out our show and say goodbye and really finish it out on a high note. And that was so unique for this season because a lot of the shows didn't get that. And so I'm really grateful that we had that.

[42:49] Marc Tumminelli: Well, you were brilliant, and I'm so glad so many people got to see you do that and could see you not like play a squirrel one month, and then the next month, like this very like put together girl. Like it just, it was a great experience for people to get to see you season to season doing wildly different things. So I hope that that pays off in wild ways in the next coming years.

[43:09] Lilli Cooper: So you've done a thousand TV shows, like going through IMDb last night, and of course you're on like everyone's demo recording for everything. Just like, oh my god, another one. I listened to you sing all night last night. I was like, she's so good. But um, are there things that you're like waiting to happen that will are coming up for you next that you know about that maybe you could share with us?

[43:31] Lilli Cooper: I do have a really exciting project coming up that I can't talk about. I'm doing—it's one of those. I know it's so annoying. But that makes me happy. Yeah, but it—but like you guys will see it soon and it's gonna be great. And I'm really excited. I'm actually heading out of the country soon um to film this project that I'm a part of. And I can't wait. I'm—I think I've always wanted to delve deeper into television work, and um, I think I'm finally getting that opportunity, and I'm really excited.

[43:58] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, congratulations. You deserve it. You're also like a fabulous teacher. You've been teaching at Broadway Workshop for the last couple years, and I'm so grateful to have you working with our students. So thank you for all of that great work and sharing your story and sharing all of that with our kids.

[44:12] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, I always say that I think I get out as much from those workshops as the students do. I genuinely enjoy them just as much. And I feel like I learned just as much. I love, love teaching.

[44:23] Marc Tumminelli: All right. I need to know what you're obsessed with right now. And then we have to do Broadway Workshop Quick Fire questions. So Lilli Cooper, what is your obsessed for this week?

[44:30] Lilli Cooper: I mean, I'm obsessed with Richerton. I just—I couldn't stop. I was like, I was reluctant at first. I'm like, ugh, it's cheesy, whatever. And of course I fell in love with it. It was amazing. I watched the whole thing in like three days.

[44:41] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, it's great. It was my obsessed last week and last week's episode. But um, this week I'm obsessed with Foodility, which is an app for your iPhone or whatever you app, wherever you app. And you kind of—you could take pictures of your food and write it down. I feel like I was spreading a little bit at the end of 2020. And so I just need to reel it in. And this app has like been very helpful and it doesn't like count calories, which makes me crazy. So, uh, Foodility, you can find it on your—if anyone's looking.

[45:13] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, here we go. This is a list of quick fire questions put together by me and Broadway Workshop students. Just go with your first thought, Lilli Cooper. Here we go. Your first audition song.

[45:25] Lilli Cooper: Uh oh. Um, Imagine.

[45:31] Marc Tumminelli: First Broadway show you saw.

[45:35] Lilli Cooper: The Life.

[45:37] Marc Tumminelli: Wait, at like seven? You saw that? I remember that. I remember.

[45:41] Lilli Cooper: I think I saw shows before then, but I genuinely don't remember them. I saw it three times. This is my junior year of high school.

[45:46] Marc Tumminelli: Okay. Um, so obsessed. Have you ever turned down a Broadway offer?

[45:51] Lilli Cooper: No.

[45:54] Marc Tumminelli: Tell us one thing about working with Jonathan Groff.

[45:56] Lilli Cooper: Ah, everyone says that he's the kindest person in the world, and he absolutely is. He will not disappoint. So dreamy.

[46:02] Marc Tumminelli: Um, if you can go back and do one performance of anything from your career, what would it be?

[46:07] Lilli Cooper: Um, I'd love to play Elphaba one more time.

[46:10] Marc Tumminelli: Fill in the blank. Julie Halston is hilarious.

[46:14] Lilli Cooper: Oh, what do you want on your bagel?

[46:18] Lilli Cooper: Locks and capers.

[46:20] Marc Tumminelli: Who is your favorite Elphaba?

[46:23] Lilli Cooper: Christine Dwyer.

[46:24] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, I could talk about it for days.

[46:27] Lilli Cooper: Oh, days. Another podcast about how much we love Christine Dwyer.

[46:31] Marc Tumminelli: So good. Uh, strangest fan interaction.

[46:34] Lilli Cooper: Um, I got a gift card to Sbarro's once.

[46:39] Marc Tumminelli: I think someone else told me that story, and I can't remember who.

[46:43] Lilli Cooper: Maybe it's like a crazy Broadway person that gives me a couple of things. Maybe.

[46:46] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my god. Yeah. I'll get back to you on who it was. Um, one show you will never get over not booking.

[46:53] Lilli Cooper: Oh, um, Book of Mormon.

[46:58] Marc Tumminelli: Go to album for a car trip.

[47:01] Lilli Cooper: Um, Stevie Wonder's anything.

[47:08] Marc Tumminelli: Stevie Wonder anything. Have you ever had to call out mid-show?

[47:13] Lilli Cooper: No, but I did call out five minutes before a show.

[47:17] Lilli Cooper: Brittany Coleman, I'm so sorry.

[47:20] Marc Tumminelli: She's probably not listening. Um, worst audition you can remember.

[47:24] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. Was for Hair at the park in the park. I had to sing um, White Boys, and I forgot the lyrics three times.

[47:34] Marc Tumminelli: Great. Well, you know, you got to do it your high school. You already checked the Hair box. Who's uh your number one favorite Broadway leading man?

[47:43] Lilli Cooper: Ooh, it's a tie between Santino Fontana and Ethan Slater.

[47:46] Marc Tumminelli: Great, I'll take that. Um, I want blank movie to be a musical.

[47:51] Lilli Cooper: Death Becomes Her.

[47:53] Marc Tumminelli: What role should Patti LuPone play in the revival of SpongeBob?

[47:58] Lilli Cooper: Mr. Krabs.

[48:00] Marc Tumminelli: Can you name two real housewives?

[48:03] Lilli Cooper: Uh yeah. Ramona and Sonja.

[48:05] Marc Tumminelli: Yes, thank you, New York. If you could direct the revival of any show, what would it be?

[48:10] Lilli Cooper: The Life.

[48:11] Marc Tumminelli: Name a musical you're okay with never seeing again.

[48:14] Lilli Cooper: Ooh, that's so mean. Uh, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

[48:20] Marc Tumminelli: It was not good. What is your go-to in-between show food?

[48:23] Lilli Cooper: Sushi.

[48:26] Marc Tumminelli: If you can go back in time and see any Broadway show any year, what would it be?

[48:33] Lilli Cooper: Ragtime. All the way. The original.

[48:35] Marc Tumminelli: Who makes you starstruck?

[48:37] Lilli Cooper: Audra.

[48:39] Marc Tumminelli: Same. Have you ever seen a ghost?

[48:42] Lilli Cooper: No. I don't think so. Maybe today's the day.

[48:45] Marc Tumminelli: Um, what is your Starbucks order?

[48:50] Lilli Cooper: Grande iced coffee with coconut milk.

[48:52] Marc Tumminelli: Do you do any impressions?

[48:55] Lilli Cooper: Nope.

[48:56] Marc Tumminelli: I'm gonna get one out of you. Um, how much money would it take you to skydive?

[49:02] Lilli Cooper: Zero dollars.

[49:03] Marc Tumminelli: You're a skydiver.

[49:05] Lilli Cooper: Oh, I want to. I've never done it, but I would love to.

[49:08] Marc Tumminelli: Sounds terrifying. Um, have you ever left a show at intermission?

[49:13] Lilli Cooper: Yeah.

[49:14] Marc Tumminelli: That's fine. You don't have to tell us what it is. What movie can you watch over and over again?

[49:19] Lilli Cooper: Forrest Gump.

[49:20] Marc Tumminelli: Did you receive a million Squirtle things during SpongeBob?

[49:24] Lilli Cooper: I have boxes of them at my mom's house.

[49:26] Marc Tumminelli: Boxes. And what advice do you have for young performers?

[49:30] Lilli Cooper: Be a good person that people want to work with.

[49:34] Marc Tumminelli: Yes, Lilli Cooper. Well, you're a great person that people want to work with. I am so grateful you shared your story with us today. It was such a joy to hear it from you. Tell the people where they can follow you and find out what Lilli Cooper's up to.

[49:45] Lilli Cooper: Yes. So I am on Instagram at Lil Coops, L-I-L C-O-O-P-Z. And Twitter at Lilli Cooper.

[49:53] Marc Tumminelli: Uh, Lilli, you're the best. Thank you so much. It's so great to see you. And I'm excited about whatever this next project is. You'll have to tell me wherever.

[50:04] Lilli Cooper: Okay.

[50:05] Marc Tumminelli: Um, thank you all for listening. We'll be back next week. And remember to subscribe to the LITTLE ME podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts and rate and write a long review and all those things. And follow us on Instagram at LittleMePodcast. I will see you next week.

[50:21] Marc Tumminelli: 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/littleme. And follow me on Instagram at Marc Tumminelli or on Twitter at that Tumminelli. And for more information on workshops, classes, and everything Broadway Workshop, go to BroadwayWorkshop.com. Thank you for listening.