This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Rory O'Malley: You're listening to episode number 74 of Living the Dream with Rory O'Malley.

[0:05] Rory O'Malley: Audition, side job, swimming upstream. Believe it or not, you're living the dream.

[0:12] Rory O'Malley: Hello, dreamers, Rory O'Malley here. Thank you so much for listening to Living the Dream.

[0:16] Rory O'Malley: So I want to get right back to Lesli. But first, please, if you haven't registered, if you don't know where to go to vote on November 6th, if you don't know what's on your ballot, go to BeltTheVote.org.

[0:29] Rory O'Malley: All the information is there, folks. And it's got like pictures of Broadway people on the website so that you will feel at home. You will feel one with your registration with your voting.

[0:43] Rory O'Malley: We're doing this as a group. If it's your first time voting, that's so exciting. We're gonna do this together as a group of theater lovers, and we're gonna belt that vote all the way to the back row of Congress, okay?

[0:58] Rory O'Malley: Uh go to BeltTheVote.org, get all the information that you need to make sure that you're ready to vote and have a plan on November 6th. Now let's get right to it to the lovely, amazing Lesli Margherita.

[1:10] Rory O'Malley: You know who she is. She is uh has such a wonderful social media presence. I've wanted to have her on the podcast for so long, as I say in this interview. But uh, she was a part of the cast of Matilda on Broadway, and she made such a huge splash. She became um really a household name in the Broadway community overnight.

[1:30] Rory O'Malley: Uh, but it was not overnight for her. It was a long haul of really trying to make a name for herself. And I love her story so much. I love her gratitude and I love her enthusiasm, and it's infectious. I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Here is Lesli Margherita.

[1:50] Lesli Margherita: Uh he was in um comedy of Aerosmith.

[1:54] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And then who else is Christine Lakin? Did she review it?

[1:57] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, okay. So all these people. Christine Lakin is a very good friend. She was an Abbey. She played Joni and I was Richie.

[2:02] Lesli Margherita: She was. Oh my god. I can't believe we like never. I I know. I have I don't know how that's possible. We had to have come across each other at some point.

[2:11] Lesli Margherita: Well then I did a play at The Falcon that Gary was like around all the time. What? That Mike Nichols um directed called The Grand Home Method that was like five years ago, right before I moved to New York.

[2:24] Lesli Margherita: Wow. And he was always around and he was the sweetest man. Just the best. He would just I was the only woman, it was just four of us. It was me and Steven Spinella, who's Cookatoo.

[2:34] Lesli Margherita: Oh yeah. Um, and he would just like come around and be like, Lesli. My room, and I'd be like, it's Gary Marshall. Like just yeah, no, he's he was the best, and he created that theater, and just like he made it feel like a family.

[2:52] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. You know, so when I found Matt Walker and the Trubies and Gary in that theater, I was like, okay, I'm gonna do everything I can just to stay in this little circle because this feels like home.

[3:01] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And so I got a job at Timmy Nolan's across the street.

[3:05] Lesli Margherita: Oh my gosh. And I worked, you know, lunch. I used to go there all the time.

[3:08] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. Oh yeah. No, I worked the lunch shift there and um did like the kids' shows for them. And did you know whatever I could. And then I lived in LA for about almost four years.

[3:21] Lesli Margherita: And I had just planned on staying there for maybe the summer. Yeah. Because I was like, oh, I gotta go to New York. Like New York is where I'm gonna live. And then I just really loved it.

[3:31] Lesli Margherita: And once I felt like I had that home and a troop of comedic actors, um like the Trubies. And like people that really want to be there. Yes. Yeah. Like they're actively choosing to live in LA.

[3:42] Lesli Margherita: And that's like, yeah, I felt the same way. And they and they also were like doing theater because they loved it, not as a showcase to get some kind of other job.

[3:53] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. I was like, oh, okay, great. So we can actually do the thing. What we love. Not just hope that. Do you remember um there used to be we're c we've kind of already started. I don't know. Just don't worry.

[4:07] Lesli Margherita: Um Do you remember like when you would do like a uh at least we did this a few times a few shows in LA where they would put together everybody's headshots and packets so that if an agent came, we'd be like, here's our packet, you know, like not just a program, but you get a package.

[4:23] Lesli Margherita: And you'd see people in the audience with a packet, and you'd be like, Oh my god, who are they? Yeah, waiting for Guffman. It's like who is in that state. You watched Barry.

[4:29] Lesli Margherita: Ugh, loved Barry. But it was like residuals, that was my neighborhood. I lived in Studio City and like Yeah, people probably don't realize that's an actual bar. Residuals.

[4:39] Lesli Margherita: But that whole thing, I was like, I lived that for so long. Yeah. That mentality and that like, what's your monologue gonna be? What do you think it's so real?

[4:48] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, it's so real. And it it's it's a very interesting like um uh little environment in in LA because I always say like people are doing theater there because they have to perform somehow.

[5:06] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, you know, and they're not worried about what the New York Times is gonna say. And I and they're not worried about the results as much. And they also aren't worried about money because they're not getting it.

[5:17] Lesli Margherita: They're not making it. They're not making it. Totally. So it's actually a really cool incubator for the city.

[5:23] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, I loved it. I loved it. Yeah. I've never felt so much pressure as I do here.

[5:29] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. It's very singing at 54 Below. Yeah. Which I've seen you do, and you believe the roof off the joint. So I that is like, if you're like, Thank you.

[5:37] Lesli Margherita: But if you're like, oh, I I don't really know the song too well, but I'm just gonna go do it versus like a Catalina. I'd be like, ah, fun, everyone's here, just having a good time.

[5:47] Lesli Margherita: Right. Here's somebody's like, there's a phone up and everybody's judging. I don't know, it's weird. It's weird. Yeah, it's very different.

[5:53] Lesli Margherita: But it's nice because you have both worlds still. You're going back and forth. Yeah, and totally lucky to do that. Yes, yes. Same.

[6:02] Rory O'Malley: Okay, let's let's start.

[6:04] Rory O'Malley: Okay, that was just too good. We'll keep that in. But hi Lesli.

[6:07] Lesli Margherita: Hi, Rory. Thank you so much for doing the podcast.

[6:11] Rory O'Malley: I'm so excited. I kind of stalked you a little bit. I was like, please, you know what? You do this podcast.

[6:15] Lesli Margherita: Well, just you know, I knew you did this podcast and I'm a fan of the podcast.

[6:19] Rory O'Malley: I am I you are like the thing is is that like you are the podcast. Like you put out on your social media, you are already doing all the things that I'm trying to do with this podcast by just the way that you are and how open you are.

[6:35] Lesli Margherita: Thanks.

[6:35] Lesli Margherita: So sometimes too open.

[6:37] Rory O'Malley: No, never. Never.

[6:39] Lesli Margherita: Um, I I just I've always wanted to have you on because I knew you got what I'm trying to do with this.

[6:46] Rory O'Malley: Yeah. And then uh last week I was asked to speak at, I don't even know what that was. Like some like class they have every Friday at USC. It was like the MFAs?

[6:56] Lesli Margherita: I guess so. I didn't even I my manager, she was like, Would you do this thing? I was like, Yeah, yeah. And apparently Josh Gad had done it the week before, and he kept bringing me up, and I was like, whatever shit he was talking about, me, I'm gonna tear him down.

[7:09] Lesli Margherita: You know, so I'm like, all right, I'll do it. And I walk in the room, and there you were, and I was like, Oh my god.

[7:13] Rory O'Malley: I know it was so cool. I found out right before that you were doing it too. And I was like, Oh, because I was afraid I thought I was gonna do it by myself, and I was like, these MFAs are gonna be so sad.

[7:23] Lesli Margherita: But they were rad, they were awesome.

[7:24] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, they were they were great, and and honestly, like those experiences of of getting in front of college students and people who are getting started in the business is why I'm have these conversations because I realized that my Instagram and Twitter feed were lying to them, and that's so horrible.

[7:44] Lesli Margherita: You know, just like the the story that's that's curated and told over a hundred and forty or two hundred and eighty characters and Instagram stories is not it's not real, it's not real, it's not real, it's not it's not a lie, but it's just not the whole story.

[8:00] Rory O'Malley: No, and it's thought out, right? Like even things that seem like oh you're so real. I still think about it and go, Do oh, do I post this? Do I it's not ever as authentic as people think for anybody, right?

[8:14] Lesli Margherita: Well, it I mean, I think that you because of the way that you're you're so funny and you're so open, so you can get on Twitter and say, I just bombed this audition, this is what happened, and everyone can laugh because they know like you're hysterical and funny, and but like it's hard to get for most of us to get on social media and be like, today was a really bad day in this business for me, because people go, Oh god, are they okay?

[8:40] Rory O'Malley: Yes, which is why I was saying, like, not that anything I mean, everything's authentic that I say, but I have to think about it and couch it in a way that will still make you laugh because that's all you can do, right? Is is laugh at these things that happen.

[8:50] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, and so I try and and write it at least in a humorous way, versus I had a really, really bad day, which is at the root of it.

[9:00] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, I mean there's there's truth in the foundation there, but I mean not truth, but that the fact that there is all comedy has some pain attached to it.

[9:09] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, totally.

[9:10] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, and really all you can do is laugh at these things at the end of the day.

[9:14] Rory O'Malley: Yeah. And I think that's what you have been teaching people over social media is to laugh it off that we're all going through these experiences.

[9:24] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, that's the main thing that I love about social media is we are all, whether you're an actor or whatever, lawyer or doctor, we all go through these trying times. We all go through rejection, we all go through nerves, and it's it's universal.

[9:38] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, and so I feel like it just levels the playing field a little bit if you're more honest to be like it's not all look how how amazing I'm in a Broadway show, and uh blah blah blah. I like you know, the majority of us aren't always working, aren't always doing something, and and if you realize that that you're in a an amazing group of people that are going through the same things that you are, it's a little easier to swallow, I think.

[10:02] Rory O'Malley: Absolutely, absolutely.

[10:04] Rory O'Malley: Um, so let's start at the very beginning.

[10:07] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, Andrews would have us do.

[10:10] Lesli Margherita: Um, you were born in California, California on a cattle ranch.

[10:15] Lesli Margherita: Okay, all right, yeah, which is let's get into that cattle ranch. My mom's family are still cattle ranchers in California.

[10:25] Lesli Margherita: So I grew up on this giant ranch, and I have three older sisters, but they're significantly older than me, so they were kind of already out of the house in college when I was.

[10:36] Rory O'Malley: Are you the youngest?

[10:37] Lesli Margherita: I'm the youngest, yeah.

[10:38] Lesli Margherita: So I have I'm connected to the youngest of of families. I'm always drawn to that. I'm an only child to a single mom, but my husband's the youngest, Josh Gad is the youngest. So many of my best friends in high school were all the youngest.

[10:50] Lesli Margherita: And I wonder, I always wonder what is it about the youngest in a family.

[10:53] Lesli Margherita: I think it's the look at me, look at me. I'm significant. I you know, I belong.

[10:56] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[10:58] Lesli Margherita: And it and I think that is just what it, you know, everybody's kind of established.

[11:02] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[11:03] Lesli Margherita: And you have to, it is literally bringing up the rear of the parade, being like, I have a reason to be here.

[11:09] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[11:10] Lesli Margherita: Um, and I think like maybe like you you grow up faster because you have these people close in age to you who've already experienced so much of life, and they're just like, here, here, they're giving you all those tips.

[11:21] Lesli Margherita: And my sisters were already in in high school and college when I was little.

[11:27] Rory O'Malley: Wow.

[11:27] Lesli Margherita: So I definitely had that. But because they were kind of out of the house, it was only me on the on the cattle ranch.

[11:34] Lesli Margherita: So I would do I would start to put on shows with like the cows. For the cows. I would tap dance on we had the septic tank.

[11:41] Lesli Margherita: Oh. And I and it made a great sound, so I just tap dance on the septic tank.

[11:44] Rory O'Malley: Septic tanks make a great sound.

[11:45] Lesli Margherita: Great sound. Good to know. Great sound. Broadway Dance Center. I hope you're listening. Septic tank. Tango.

[11:51] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And I would just like put on these shows, and it's kind of where I would listen to country music because that was kind of always on the kettle ranch.

[12:00] Lesli Margherita: And grew up like loving those women like Reba and Dolly. Uh-huh. And I, you know, it was all the hair and the boobs, and the and I was like, that's what I want to be.

[12:10] Lesli Margherita: So it was a different thing. But yes. And then when I was 12, my family sold the cattle ranch, and I was so excited because I got to move to a regular two-story, like tracked home.

[12:14] Rory O'Malley: Wow.

[12:14] Lesli Margherita: I was so excited. And after that, I became kind of like girly and princessy. I was really tomboyish. And and yeah, but there's still some ranch girl in me.

[12:35] Lesli Margherita: But I stayed in California. I loved it. I went to UCLA primarily because I wanted to do shows at Disneyland.

[12:42] Lesli Margherita: That was the dream. The dream. Wow. And so I knew I started auditioning for them when I was in high school.

[12:48] Lesli Margherita: Wow. And they were like, if you come to school in LA, we'll we'll start to hire you. You have a job, basically. And I thought I was gonna go to USC.

[12:56] Lesli Margherita: And I got accepted at USC, but I didn't get accepted into their like fancy fancy program. They only took the 20.

[13:04] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[13:04] Lesli Margherita: And so I just I was like, well, screw that. I'm going to UCLA.

[13:09] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And I wasn't even a theater major there. I was just like doing my thing. And and because I and then started doing the shows at Disneyland.

[13:18] Lesli Margherita: And I was so happy. Like loved it, loved it. So many performers from Southern California have that story of Disney being kind of their training ground.

[13:29] Lesli Margherita: And if you go to Disneyland and you see the shows there, you realize how brutal it is of a of a pla not brutal, but you know, like it's very rigorous.

[13:40] Lesli Margherita: Best training I ever had. Like it's it's definitely something that's comparable to eight shows a week in a different kind of way.

[13:47] Lesli Margherita: And oh yeah, the the people there are still friends of mine. When I was there, it was me, Stephanie Block, Eden Espinoza, like you know, and at university.

[13:57] Lesli Margherita: It worked out okay for us. But like even, you know, I worked at Universal as well, and that was Wayne Brady, and like all you know, all these people that I and Eden was there too, and all these people that are still working, it was just the best, best training because you had to do six, seven shows a day and full a day a day.

[14:16] Lesli Margherita: I remember I'd show up, and it if it was just a five-show day, I'd be so happy.

[14:23] Rory O'Malley: Light day five shows.

[14:24] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And it's kind of it's it's hard because you the audience is so different from you know, they're not people who came just to see your performance, no, they just happened to walk past that area of the park or something.

[14:37] Rory O'Malley: Totally, and especially like in high school, I worked at a theme park called Great America up north, and it was the same thing, and that was my high school job from when I was 15 to when I graduated. I I would do these shows on the weekends when I was in school, and it for some reason I just I loved it so much.

[14:54] Lesli Margherita: I loved these like short reviews, yeah. And then, you know, I felt like at Disneyland I was finally getting an arc, you know, like Beauty and the Beast or Hunchback. I would play a character for 20 minutes, and that was like, you know, it was the best thing. I loved it so much. Or a series regularly. Literally, it was like what you know, and then you know, I had insurance, I got my equity card. It was a dream energy. Isn't that like people you don't realize when you're young how much having your insurance come from your art is part of your dream, yeah. Like that is when I felt like I was actually an actor, it was when I got insurance through completely completely. And it really like it set me up, you know, you had a 401k, and you uh at 18, you're like, oh, working for a huge company corporation like that, it really kind of instilled in me again.

I knew how lucky I was, and there aren't those jobs that much anymore. You know, the shows have kind of gone away from the theme parks, and it's really sad because I just I love it, but everybody I talk to even in different states you know I worked at Hershey Park or Dollywood or it's it's the same work ethic yeah which I think you can't find anywhere else.

[16:09] Lesli Margherita: No people that have done seven and eight shows a day full out it's it's a different mindset. It absolutely is yeah I don't I I think that a lot of people on Broadway now if they were magically transplanted into that schedule or having to do those shows it would be really challenging for them. I learned how to use my voice save my voice yeah pace yourself it was it I I think it's the best training and if any young person gets a chance to perform a theme park I would do it. Yeah some some sometimes and I think I had this you know like I'd be like well I can't get stuck in certain jobs. Yes you know like where you're like it not just that or like I've had people ask me about like doing background work and or you know working on a set or you know working in an office of a casting department if or being a reader or doing all these things I'm always like do it whatever doors open walk right through them.

[17:03] Lesli Margherita: I went back to Universal I had already done a television series and was still doing like guest stars on TV shows. But they they're you know people look at going oh you did a guest star on a TV show. Those are very few and far between and they're spaced out you can't live off of stuff like that unless you're working all the time. I wasn't it was pretty sporadic. But I went back to Universal even after doing a a TV series and I was like why this is the best job ever I'm performing and I loved it. And those are still some of my best friends, but we were all doing that. It was no different to me than a waitering job.

[17:38] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[17:38] Lesli Margherita: I mean, work is work. And this is like it you have to feed yourself in between quote unquote dream jobs. So take I mean it's kind of like, you know, what this whole discussion has been with Jeffrey Owens, who was um on the Cosby show, and he was kind of shamed for working at Trader Joe's. And now by PS, he has like 12 jobs. I'm like, maybe not should I get a Trader Joe. Someone's a picture of me. I should take a picture of myself.

[18:06] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[18:08] Lesli Margherita: No, but it he is he is not just like he's a great actor, he also was just so good at talking about what that moment was.

[18:19] Rory O'Malley: Yes.

[18:19] Lesli Margherita: Like sometimes people ca are thrown into uh the public and and into a quote unquote controversy, and they can't discuss it in a proper manner. He could not have been more lovely. He was so eloquent and be yes. Oh it was that that you know, work is work and all work should be uh uh treated equally, you know. It was amazing, and God bless him for being able to ride the wave of that moment. And I think that's from being um having been in the business for so long and having been a working actor for so long. I think had that happened to somebody who was younger and maybe had you know a flair of of like one of the Twilight actors or something, you know, that was so popular for a while, and then you're 25 and broke and need to get a job. I don't know that they could handle it that well.

[19:08] Rory O'Malley: Oh, yeah.

[19:08] Lesli Margherita: No, they that you're absolutely right. That having longevity in this business is something that is one, it's very rare, and that you know that if you're you there's a certain point where you realize, like I did, probably like you know, five or six years into kind of getting by and getting some work and even having a little bit of success and then it going away. That if I wanted to stay an actor until retirement, I'm going to have to diversify, that I'm going to have to do all of the things, and sometimes that's gonna be outside of the entertainment world banner that I'm gonna have to feed myself. And there's such a weird stigma, there's such a weird, like, you know, I I hear people all the time, like, I don't want to be seen at a restaurant after I've just done this. I was like, who no one cares?

[19:59] Lesli Margherita: No one cares. And we I remember you said that at USC, like it we think people care. Yeah, they don't. They don't cares. No. No one cares. I mean, I mean, of course, actors were all like, what will everyone think of me? And no one's thinking of you. No one's thinking of it. And I and I see that with love. That gives me a lot of relief.

[20:20] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[20:20] Lesli Margherita: Because every time my ego is like, you know, if you you're seen doing this or that, you may not be able to do these other things. Yeah. When no one cares, everyone's very busy trying to get to stay afloat in this life. And I I found it, and we talked a little bit about it at USA, I found it here a little um more difficult to do other things. Um, even just in this world, people going, you shouldn't do that project because that's uh, you know, it's like a a new writer and it's you make no money and it's blah blah blah. And and I'm very much uh a yes person.

[20:55] Lesli Margherita: So when I moved here five years ago, I said I'm gonna do everything that somebody anybody asks me, I'm going to do it if I can. I'm going to sing in that concert, I'm going to do that reading. Um, and it really helped me because immediately I I just kind of got known as that person that would be like, yeah, she'll she's game, she'll do it, and that's huge.

[21:17] Rory O'Malley: Um, I don't understand the you shouldn't take that project because that that's really beneath you.

[21:22] Lesli Margherita: Right. What I I'm getting to act, I'm getting to sing. I don't I don't understand.

[21:26] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[21:26] Lesli Margherita: And I felt like LA was a a great kind of like, you know, so many of the theaters there are 40 seats and you don't get paid. And but those are some of the best experiences I've ever had. So coming here, I just kind of felt like, well, that's different here than it is in LA.

[21:42] Rory O'Malley: Yes.

[21:42] Lesli Margherita: It is. It is very different, and it's kind of a bummer. It's a kind of a bummer. You are like, oh, so I've had this amount of success and I had this great thing, so now I can't do things.

[21:48] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[21:48] Lesli Margherita: Now I can't do what I still do them, and um I don't know if that's to my detriment or not, but I still, you know what I mean? But again, like though to me, you know, I I try to do as many things as come come my way, but I I I think that no one cares. Like people are not like, oh, she's doing this now. Like, no, like oh they they it's it's wonderful if people even notice you're doing anything.

[22:20] Lesli Margherita: So if they have a judgment that's negative because it's not as great as you know, where you were in in the pecking order of Broadway, then well, screw them. But you know, like this is you're on you're you're on Broadway and they're not, so there you go.

[22:35] Rory O'Malley: There it is.

[22:36] Lesli Margherita: There you go. I mean, and honestly, that's what a lot of that comes from. You know, a lot of the judgment or like you know, negativity is a lot of comparing and despairing and you know, people being sad. I mean, I do it to other people. I have I know that if I if I'm like judging somebody in this business, that I really have to look at myself and be like, What is yes, what's going on inside of you?

[23:00] Rory O'Malley: Yes.

[23:00] Lesli Margherita: What is it about what am I feeling? What am I worried about? What am I, you know, it's totally has to do with me and and no one else. Why have you spent 10 seconds thinking about this person's life choice in their career when you have a lot of work to do on yourself?

[23:17] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[23:18] Lesli Margherita: And I feel like, you know, the bad part of social media is you have you can't escape the comparison.

[23:25] Rory O'Malley: No.

[23:27] Lesli Margherita: So as much as I love it, there is that part as well, which is why I like being honest, because then somebody can go, oh, okay, yeah.

[23:33] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[23:34] Lesli Margherita: But you can't escape it now.

[23:35] Rory O'Malley: No.

[23:36] Lesli Margherita: And it kind of started with like, you know, the uh people writing online, uh anonymously and and you mean like chat boards.

[23:44] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, chat board, smashes board.

[23:45] Lesli Margherita: And you know, I remember like back in the day, that was a huge thing.

[23:48] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[23:49] Lesli Margherita: And I would look, I would read them and then just spiral.

[23:53] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[23:53] Lesli Margherita: And now I have now I have to like read them in public as a joke. Because it it I read them in my I read them in my caray show.

[24:00] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[24:01] Lesli Margherita: And some of them are doozies, but even now I have to have um my best friend Lauren who directs my shows, she has to find them.

[24:09] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[24:09] Lesli Margherita: And yeah, you can't, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You need someone to go through it.

[24:11] Rory O'Malley: Like, if it if she finds the funny, ridiculous ones.

[24:16] Lesli Margherita: I don't, I can't read a lot of stuff, like reviews or anything like that, especially while I'm still doing a show. Like, but my husband can read everything immediately and kind of sit through and be like, this is something you should know.

[24:29] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, you know.

[24:31] Lesli Margherita: What about the times? You know, I don't know why. I can't find the times. Wasn't delivered here. Um, you know, like he'll he'll kind of know yet curate my experience of that. And and including like what's being said online, um, which I never go into chat rooms.

[24:49] Rory O'Malley: You can't.

[24:50] Lesli Margherita: No. Never. And I know I know I understand the urge that some people have. Like if people are saying something about you, you want to see what it is. Like it just seems natural. But I I definitely did in the early days of Book of Mormon because well, one, just to see somebody say that they knew who I was because that was like no one's ever done that before.

[25:13] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[25:13] Lesli Margherita: But secondly, just because I was so I'd been working on that show for three years, so I wanted to know what people thought. And as soon as somebody said something mean about me, I was like, bye, bye everyone. I was can't do it. I was out. I never I never looked back.

[25:27] Rory O'Malley: Um but do you think that your work ethic and your like let's do it comes from being raised on a goddamn cattle ranch?

[25:36] Lesli Margherita: Yes, absolutely. Like, like you have that's 100%. It was it because I started uh I remember I was I think like eight. Um the the Annie was being the National Tour of Annie was was was going around and they were trying to find kids for like the Bay Area San Jose portion of it. Um and I and I loved the movie and I'd always loved singing and dancing, and I had been dancing since I was four. Dancing was first on the septic tank.

[26:10] Lesli Margherita: On the septic tank. And my dad went down and he got the application for Annie. And remember one of my older sisters was like, you don't, you know, you're not gonna get this. Probably just you know, whatever. So my mom took me in the house.

[26:23] Rory O'Malley: I love that you haven't forgotten that.

[26:24] Lesli Margherita: Oh, never, never, never. Um, and I had on like jeans and like a Kermit t-shirt, and my mom drove me down, and she said that there were like 800 girls all done up and dressed with resumes and everything, and and I went with my friend Julianne, and we were in this giant like holding room, and I don't remember this why my mom said that we were making like fart noises on the chair, and this man was kind of like just watching the room, and my mom said that like 10 girls would go in, nine would come out, and I was still in there like hours, hours.

[27:03] Lesli Margherita: Um, and it turns out that I ended up booking one of the orphans. I had never done anything in my life, and that man that was kind of watching the kids was the director.

[27:12] Rory O'Malley: Wow, and it's so funny because years later Matilda did that as well.

[27:15] Lesli Margherita: They would send out somebody to just kind of look at not only the kids, but the parents.

[27:20] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[27:21] Lesli Margherita: And you know, my my mom went up to him and she's like, I we don't have a a resume, she's never done it, and he was like, It's totally fine. Yeah, yeah. And it it for some reason that really resonated with me, and I remember being like, it didn't matter that I wasn't in curlers and I was me.

[27:38] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[27:38] Lesli Margherita: Um, and that stayed with me. I even now, even now. Like I always I I feel a little bit of of an outsider, and I think I always will.

[27:49] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[27:49] Lesli Margherita: Um because I'm usually the outside choice for stuff, and I really am comfortable there.

[27:54] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[27:55] Lesli Margherita: I don't think I would be comfortable being like the one that everyone's like, oh, she's here, she's gonna get the gig.

[28:00] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[28:01] Lesli Margherita: That's a whole nother pressure. But I do think getting back to like the gung-ho attitude, I was like, Yeah, whatever. Born on a ranch, we're gonna do this.

[28:10] Rory O'Malley: And then you were in the show.

[28:11] Lesli Margherita: And then I was in the show. Then I was in the show, and I just like kept doing musicals and in but like, you know, community theater and sometimes professional like that, but I loved it. And so then you go through the Disney training experience, you go to UCLA.

[28:26] Rory O'Malley: What you you didn't your journey isn't, oh, I was in doing Disney in UCLA and then I went to Broadway.

[28:32] Lesli Margherita: Oh no. There's an amazing story in there, which I didn't even know until last week.

[28:38] Rory O'Malley: So what happened?

[28:39] Lesli Margherita: How did you end up in London? How did what it was like that was Yeah. So I always thought I wanted to do Broadway. And my parents took me to look at schools out here, and I was like not ready. Didn't want to move. So went to UCLA and I had Disneyland, loved it. I my junior year of college, it was like 19, I guess. Um I met a manager who like you know, I think I'd done a mailing. Do you remember when you'd do a mailing? And I met him through that, and and he started sending me out for some TV stuff.

[29:16] Lesli Margherita: And I booked they remade fame called Fame LA. Right. It was horrifying. Right. But it was 22 episodes. And I was I was like fearless going, of course I booked a TV show. That's easy. This is this is nothing. But what was interesting is on that TV show, it was the first time I was told I was uh not pretty, I was fat, I um I remember all these things so clearly and going into the show, I had so much confidence, and that was the very first time.

[29:51] Lesli Margherita: Because I was the ugly one on the show. I was the like Doris Vinsecker, like the comedian. And I remember being like, I've never been this. And that changed my confidence so much that after that show, I remember I would go into that.

[30:07] Rory O'Malley: How old?

[30:07] Lesli Margherita: Nineteen. I would audition for things and feel like the ugly, fat, I have to be funny, otherwise people won't like me. Kind of girl for years. Um, and I think that's why I didn't come to New York. I think I felt like, well, you know, I'm not gonna be a Broadway star looking like that, feeling like that, and I really let it get to me. And that was about a good two years that I felt that. And then something changed in LA, and I started booking theater work in Los Angeles, which everyone thinks is so weird.

[30:50] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[30:51] Lesli Margherita: But I started booking leads where I got my confidence back. And I was still working on TV, and you know, because after the 22 episodes, you don't get another series right away. And that was a very hard lesson, but I'm so happy I learned it at that age. Because I went, oh, well, I'm just gonna go back to working at the theme parks and making a living. Um, so then like years go by, and I would still audition for New York shows because they used to come out to LA a lot.

[31:24] Rory O'Malley: Do they not do that anymore?

[31:25] Lesli Margherita: I remember like Madeline Clark Studios, we would always go to the valley, go to Burbank, and they would be like, oh, Jersey Boys is auditioning here. I'm like, totally my chance to be Frankie Valli, you know. But like many, many times I was the one that they'd fly, they don't do this anymore, then they'll fly you out for like a final callback from LA. I remember that was like you can get flown out to New York.

[31:48] Lesli Margherita: And I would stay in a hotel, and like, you know, I came out like a million times for Rent, and it was just a huge thing. And I would get so close, but would never get hired. And this was, I mean, five, six, seven years of just flying out and just not getting anything and not wanting to make the move because I had my family in LA, my theater family, and my, you know, just my friends.

[32:14] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[32:15] Lesli Margherita: I loved LA. I love California and the lifestyle there. So I don't know, you know, I had a great career in LA theater-wise. And um, a friend of mine said, I'm stage managing this reading. It's one act, and the whole team is British, and it's Zorro the musical. I was like, well, that's gonna be a real winner. And it literally wasn't like Madeline Clark.

[32:40] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, and um, I went in to the audition. Um, which oh, which is another thing, I auditioned for everything because in LA you have to audition for everything, theater, everything. Like you couldn't you couldn't be like, uh, offer only. It's just not what you do. So I walked in, and the role that they had called me in for was like the lead like Ines girl.

[33:01] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[33:01] Lesli Margherita: And I read the breakdown, so I was like, oh, oh god, no, I'm the hoary gypsy, and so I said, can I read for that? And I remember walking in and it was like at Madeline Clark and seeing these British guys, and they called me in, I think because I think they thought I was Latin. And they were doing Zorro in Los Angeles because they wanted to.

[33:27] Rory O'Malley: Oh, no, you're fine.

[33:28] Lesli Margherita: I didn't want to turn you off. They were doing it because they wanted more um kind of Latin feel. And I'm Italian and Portuguese, so I definitely have that in me, but it wasn't like I didn't speak Spanish fluently. Not, you know, I could they're just like not British.

[33:45] Rory O'Malley: They're just not British.

[33:47] Lesli Margherita: Literally. So I booked this reading and it was one act and we did it at the El Portal Theater.

[33:52] Rory O'Malley: Oh yeah.

[33:53] Lesli Margherita: And it was only one act, and I immediately loved the show. And all the music was the Gypsy Kings. And so I kind of already knew I was like, Baboleo, I know all this stuff. And I loved this role. And the writer um was kind of writing for me.

[34:07] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[34:07] Lesli Margherita: Anyway. And so um I remember after.

[34:09] Rory O'Malley: Which is such a gift.

[34:10] Lesli Margherita: Once you get your claws into something, and your writer's like, oh, okay, I get you. And then you're, it's like this relationship. It's like, oh my god. And from one act, you know, they didn't really have anything else. And I remember after that, they were like, this is gonna go to London and you're gonna come with it. And I was like, sure, buddy.

[34:27] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, sure.

[34:28] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, from Madeline Clark Studios to London. Yeah, right. And um over the next three years, it's so simple. We have like the same next three years I did every reading and every workshop, and we came to New York and did uh like two week workshop. I did it in San Francisco where the Zorro company is based.

[34:46] Lesli Margherita: And I kept being like, I love this role so much. It's me. It's, you know, I had built it from the ground up, and I kind of went, that's just not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. So I was um planning my wedding, and I was getting married in April, and I get a call in like October. I was doing Kiss Me, Kate in Los Angeles.

[35:07] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, in like Redondo Beach.

[35:08] Lesli Margherita: Right, right, right. And um, I got a call and they were like, so we're gonna tour Zorro in the UK before um the West End. And so we need you to come out here uh January 1st. And I was like, oh well okay, still not thinking it's gonna happen because they said we gotta work it out with equity.

[35:27] Lesli Margherita: Well, I was unknown, so equity would not exchange me.

[35:30] Rory O'Malley: What?

[35:30] Lesli Margherita: Uh huh. So my company had to hire um this is before like it's very easy now to go over there. Okay. This was kind of like right before the boom of people like hair getting to their entire.

[35:42] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[35:42] Lesli Margherita: There was still like the boundaries like a couple years before that, yeah.

[35:45] Rory O'Malley: Walls.

[35:46] Lesli Margherita: Walls. Wow. So my company hired lawyers and got me a work permit. And I went over there and toured the UK with this show, and then came home three days before I got married. And the night before I got married, they said we got a West End theater, so you gotta be back in two weeks.

[36:04] Rory O'Malley: The night before you got married, you found out you were gonna be on the West End in the U.S.

[36:08] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, it was the coolest. And meanwhile, I had never done a Broadway show. I was still very unknown and it was the best time over there. And I love that role, and it was just kind of one of those things that you know it was crazy, and then they don't have the same kind of pressure on awards over there that we do.

[36:31] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[36:31] Lesli Margherita: So I didn't even know that like awards were being announced. And I got a phone call um like after a show one night from our producer, and they they know like the night before um the nominations for like Olivier's and things, and he goes, you're gonna be you're getting an Olivier nomination.

[36:48] Rory O'Malley: I was like, huh?

[36:50] Lesli Margherita: I didn't think it was eligible. I thought you had to be British.

[36:52] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, I just didn't know.

[36:54] Lesli Margherita: And I was like, well, this is the coolest, amazing. And my friend that was Zorro, he's like, listen, Americans don't win, it's probably not gonna happen. I was like, great, just show up and have fun. This was amazing, and I didn't have to perform.

[37:09] Lesli Margherita: Um, I watched my cast, it was like the a blast, and then I won and it was crazy.

[37:17] Rory O'Malley: I've literally been staring over your right shoulder here at your Olivier, which is next to baby Groot, yes, just very casually next to Baby Groot and Wonder Woman and Fred Flintstone.

[37:31] Lesli Margherita: I mean, just all the hits over here.

[37:34] Rory O'Malley: Um, I love that uh setup so so much. How did that feel to go from working in in whatever capacity you were allowed to in Southern California to being on the West End and winning an award?

[37:38] Lesli Margherita: It was unreal, but at the same time, I felt like I've done the work, yeah. You know what I mean? It wasn't a whirlwind, like my life, it was really like I worked for years and years and years, and for it to be in another country was weird, right?

[38:10] Rory O'Malley: Um, but it was the most incredible experience, and it would have been even if I didn't win, you know what I mean? It was just like acceptance of that community, and I learned so much about myself, and I was like the sexy hot one, you know what I mean?

[38:26] Lesli Margherita: Like it totally changed that experience from some asshole producer. I don't know if I can swear on this, you can't telling me I was ugly and fat, to I'm not. That was one person's opinion.

[38:37] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[38:37] Lesli Margherita: And I let that for years just kind of like, you know, it's crazy what people can put in your head. It's funny because when you're younger, people feel like they're allowed to say shitty things to you.

[38:49] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[38:49] Lesli Margherita: People, you know, if people want to come for me now, they don't. You know, like if you somebody wants to say something shitty, they just don't say it because I'm an adult.

[38:57] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[38:58] Lesli Margherita: And that's not how you treat adults. But for some reason, young, impressionable people, they think I can say something shitty to this young person.

[39:07] Rory O'Malley: Yes, and they think they're like doing you a favor.

[39:09] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. And then, you know, it really like kind of changed for me over there where I kind of got this F you attitude.

[39:14] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[39:15] Lesli Margherita: Which is why people don't mess with me now. And I think it's kind of like this Italian, like, don't F with me. Like, I just um, but it really kind of came from that experience, and like owning who I was, the type that I was, the what and I think, you know, I think I wasn't ready to get a Broadway show before that.

[39:35] Rory O'Malley: I don't think I could have owned who I was before that experience.

[39:39] Lesli Margherita: And the funny thing is, you know, I won the Olivier and I remember telling my husband, I was like, oh my god, maybe I can get a Broadway show now.

[39:45] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[39:45] Lesli Margherita: Because I have this. And I came home and I had like two very close calls out here and didn't get them. And I was like, huh.

[39:56] Rory O'Malley: Okay, well, still still not getting the Broadway show.

[40:02] Lesli Margherita: You know, it just didn't translate, I think, like, because I didn't live here, and uh, you know, ironically, the team from Matilda had seen Zorro and the choreographer had seen it a few times and was like, I love this girl, and she dances.

[40:17] Rory O'Malley: And when I got like, I don't know, it's probably about a um nine months after I had been home. A friend of mine said, uh, there's this show that's opening in London. You have to be this role.

[40:28] Lesli Margherita: I saw just saw a preview of it, the show is genius. And that was kind of in the back of my head, and I was like, all right, I'll just, you know, keep my keep tabs on it.

[40:36] Rory O'Malley: Yeah.

[40:36] Lesli Margherita: Um, and then oh, this is such a good, like, oh, so when Matilda, I downloaded the album and I listened to loud that song, and I went, no one can do this but me. I have to do this, this role.

[40:50] Rory O'Malley: Um, and so I told my manager, I was like, please stay on this.

[40:54] Lesli Margherita: Well, I found out it was casting in New York. I found out it was casting in New York because Eden Espinosa called me and said, we call each other Rat. She said, Rat, I have an audition for this this role. It's not me. This is you.

[41:11] Rory O'Malley: And I went, what is it?

[41:12] Lesli Margherita: And she said, it's Matilda, it's Matilda's mother. And I went, oh my god, oh my god, like a year ago, somebody told me about this. I would not have known had this is why it's so important to have like good friends in the business who aren't your enemy, who are want the best for you.

[41:27] Rory O'Malley: I don't know many actresses that would have been like she still went, I don't know if she still went in, but I there aren't that many people who would have been like, you you need to make sure this is on your radar.

[41:37] Lesli Margherita: You need to have your so I call my manager and I flew myself out.

[41:42] Rory O'Malley: And that's so hard to do.

[41:45] Lesli Margherita: Oh, it's it's the worst pin. People, you know, like, oh wow, you gotta go to audition, but you you do that a couple of times and you don't see so much money.

[41:52] Rory O'Malley: I didn't know many people out here.

[41:54] Lesli Margherita: I stayed on my friend Jason's couch. Like, you know, so I went and um Matthew Warchus was in the room and Jim Carnahan, and um Matthew is famous for just no no reaction.

[42:06] Lesli Margherita: And he literally was like, I'll sell you in Zorro. Good job. And I was like, oh, oh. And you know, not knowing him, I was like, this guy hates me.

[42:14] Rory O'Malley: It's just, it's just brilliant man.

[42:17] Lesli Margherita: Good job is the highest praise that you can get from him.

[42:20] Rory O'Malley: Um and so they were like, can you come back in a week?

[42:25] Lesli Margherita: I went, uh-huh, uh-huh, sure, to meet the choreographer. And I was like, oh god. A week. Okay. So I went home. Then I flew back and I had a uh work session with um Peter the choreographer, and he was going to build the New York version on whoever was cast.

[42:43] Lesli Margherita: And he was excited because the the London version, they the they weren't um necessarily like good dancers, the characters weren't good dancers, and he wanted to change that for New York.

[42:53] Rory O'Malley: So I did this crazy like dance session, and worked with the musical director, and I was like, okay, that's it.

[43:01] Lesli Margherita: I waited for like a month, you're still in the mix, still in the mix. Um it was about six months, and I was doing Grease at the Sacramento Music Circus, and I tore my ACL doing the hand jive.

[43:15] Rory O'Malley: I love it.

[43:17] Lesli Margherita: I mean, I don't love that, but like I do, I'm sorry. So this was July, and they were gonna start rehearsal in in January, and I get a phone call. Tim Münch is in California and has like an hour, and he wants to to meet you and see you, and I was like, I so I had to fly from Sacramento to my home.

[43:38] Lesli Margherita: Oh wow, the the night after we opened, um, and ACL is you know, I didn't have to dance, so that I was like, okay, I can fake this.

[43:48] Rory O'Malley: Right.

[43:48] Lesli Margherita: And I went, their problem with me, they were like, they don't think you're tall enough.

[43:53] Rory O'Malley: So then literally, okay, so then Beth Malone was in Grease with me.

[44:00] Lesli Margherita: And Beth is it was an um Fun Home.

[44:02] Rory O'Malley: Fun Home.

[44:03] Lesli Margherita: But she's also a Southern California musical theater actress, yeah. And by the way, one of the quotes that I read, one of the message board things that I read in my cabaret show is somebody came to see Beth and I in that company and they called it Ancient Greece.

[44:18] Rory O'Malley: Now that is rude.

[44:22] Lesli Margherita: I refuse to laugh. I was Rizzo and Beth was Marty. So anyway, so I was like, and this is before Beth had done Fun Home too. This was five years. It was right.

[44:35] Lesli Margherita: We kind of like came here at the same time, which was crazy. But Beth Malone and I went to the mall in Sacramento and bought Kardashian shoes that had a six-inch heel. Now, please, you if you know Beth, this is like hysterical. She's like, I don't, I don't know. So he bought me these heels, and I had like one bum leg. But I like trotted myself in to meet Tim Minchin. And as soon as I did my audition, Tim went, Why did you why'd you need me to see her? That's it. And I still didn't get it. But what I found out was Tim was running late. He was shooting a show, and he only saw one audition that day, and it was mine. And he was only there really because they were seeing celebs for the Trunchbull.

Oh, right. And like the names on the call sheet. I was like, oh, oh, oh. Like big stars. Instead of Bertie. Because they weren't sure they could bring Bertie over. Right. Um, and then I flew back to Sacramento and I didn't hear anything for three more months. And I heard I got Matilda the day that I had my ACL surgery, which was October 1st. I was coming out of surgery and got a phone call in the post-op. Oh my god. That I was getting it, and I had three months to rehab to heal. And an ACL is, that's not major. Um, and I kind of knew it was a possibility because you know you have to like get approved by the estate and all that. So I kind of knew it was a very good possibility I was getting this.

And I had my surgery done by like the Dodgers Lakers guy. Oh really? You were like, we need to do that. Yeah, we need we need to do this. Um, and even if I hadn't gotten it, it would still, you know, but that those three months I have never worked harder and I have never developed a better attitude that I came to New York with, right? Which was I I I can do anything. Yeah, if I can you know come back from an injury like this, I can kind of do anything. And that is your coming to New York for the first time is to be in Matilda on Broadway. That's your first time. That was my first job. And I every single moment of that, I just it was unreal to me, and I still like so emotional. Yeah. Like I remember standing on the first preview, and they do like the gypsy run, yeah.

Um where you invite your friends and family to see your final dress. Yeah. And I was just like freaking out, realizing I remember driving on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles, listening to the recording of "Loud" while I was auditioning, and I remember exactly where I was in the 405 freeway, and every time I'm on it now, I still go, Oh my god. And I was about to step on stage to say those words that I had listened to. I'm gonna cry. Say those words I had listened to for so long on that recording, I couldn't believe I was doing it. Because and it had taken so long. You know, it was in my 30s. Like it just took so long, and I think I appreciated it more. Yeah, I really did, and and I take none of it.

Stu too. Stewie too. Like I take none of it for granted. And I don't know that I would have felt that way had it happened for me at 21, 22. Right, like right out of fame. Yeah. Yeah, that yeah. Telling your story um makes you feel very vulnerable, you know? Yeah. And I I feel like um when people come on and they tell their story, they're like, is this just this has been going on in my head? Yeah. And I'm sharing it, and it's just makes you feel so like naked and like scared. But this is the craziest story. Totally. I've heard now like so many stories of people, you know, and I sometimes they're like, I graduated and then I was on Broadway, and then everything happened, and here I am today, and I'm like, And I wish I I wish I could tell, I'll tell you someday, but the the close calls that I've had, yeah.

And you're like, What crazy, crazy? Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure it was very, very close, especially if you're like going back and forth and like totally absolutely. And even like TV, even TV stuff, like yeah, uh so much stuff where like I'd test against no one and still not get it. And it just like took it's still fing hard. Yeah, it's still hard. Yeah, it's just never goes away.

[49:06] Lesli Margherita: Um, so you you have this beautiful opening in in Matilda, which by the way, I were recording again. We're recording again. Yes, okay. I loved so so much. And I was so excited for the show to come over. So I was living in LA at the time, or I think I was just working in LA and coming back and forth. And I remember begging for tickets to the I I didn't know anyone in the show really, so I was like, oh, please, I really want to come. And I finally got tickets. My husband Gerald and I both loved the show just from listening to the cast recording. And I think I told you the story that Barbara Streisand and Donna Karan were in front of us. So it was still early on. And at one point, Donna Karan pulled out a candy bar and was unwrapping it.

Probably during like Matilda's and and Barbara Streisand put her hand on Donna Karan's shoulder and just shook her head no. And Donna Karan slowly put the candy bar away. It was amazing. Like that that moment to have witnessed that. I don't know if you can top that moment. No, it was great. And I just love that it was at a show that we were loving so so much that we had this extra sideshow going on. Totally. And I remember when she was there. Yeah. Because, well, first of all, I knew that Barbara was there. Yeah. I think Rosie was there the same day. Maybe not. I don't remember. All I remember is that Barbara Streisand, our curtain call was on the scooters. Yes. And she needed to get out before the the masses, before the the the peasants left the theater.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. She got up during the scooters. And it was right when Gabe and I were scooting down, and Gabe said I went, BAAS. Like I couldn't believe she was leaving. Yeah. And I was like, it was kind of perfect that she got up on my bow. Yeah. And just left, like, I can't, I can't deal with this. If you don't almost leave, I don't want to clap for her. And I laughed so hard, but I will never forget that because I was like, oh it was almost like, oh my god, I'm seeing her. I'm I'm 10 feet away from her. Yeah. And also, please don't leave, Babs. Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy. That whole like opening and and um just the you know, and you had it with more like the celebrities that come see it, and you're like, this is crazy.

Sometimes we said we felt like we weren't in a Broadway show, we were hosting the MTV movie awards or something. Just to be able to see because Broadway houses are small, you know, and you can really see into them. So when you see all these people coming to to see the new hot show on on Broadway, it's it's daunting. It's surreal. I know I was so uh proud to be a part of it. I I loved the show so much, and uh I actually didn't get to see it until um I left for a year to do Dames at Sea, which was a spectacular failure, which was an amazing show. And that's the thing, it just didn't it was the same year as Hamilton, right? It just wasn't, you know, with like six white people on a boat was not right the right it wasn't the the the right moment.

No, and it was adorable and we were so proud of it. And Randy Skinner who is just uh a Broadway legend and such an i mean person. I cried often during that because the opening of that show was me by myself in a gold tuxedo tap dancing on a Broadway stage, and I could just remember my dad's no septic tank. It's no septic tank. But when I when as a teenager, my dad had built a room with a floor so that I could tap, and I and um I just felt like your dad is such a like he's building building floors, getting the application for animal and he actually built the theater that I performed in at the theme park Great America. You're kidding because he's a builder yeah he was a contractor and bricklayer and he had built this theater yeah that's which was amazing um but you had you had it you had to make the decision to leave Matilda to do Dames at Sea was that was that difficult really difficult um I knew that my contract was coming up and I knew that that I needed to kind of stretch my wings and the difficult thing is you know that character was so huge and loud yeah yeah um I didn't I I wanted to try it something else I wanted to you know um and what came next was Mona Kent which was also very big and over the top and what I didn't realize is it would take a long time to kind of get people to realize that that's not where I lived that I could do other things which is a whole other battle um but I got Dames at Sea um it was I I've I don't think I'll ever be this lucky literally I was still doing Matilda and it would overlap.

Right. Um because I was gonna go home to LA it had been two years and I said I was only going to move here for a year but it'd been two years and then I got Dames at Sea and um it just didn't last it was, you know, three months.

[54:17] Lesli Margherita: Um and then I went back. I would go back and forth to LA and I went to do Sacramento Music Circus again. And I did, you know, I did Hunchback there, which is the most stunning show. And I wouldn't have been cast here, but California, it's such a family. Right. And, you know, to be able to do that role at a great theater with people who adore you know. And friends that I hadn't seen, and you know, that was the best. And um, a year had gone by in Matilda and I got a phone call saying um that Amy who had replaced me, her contract was up in September, and I knew that they were close, they knew they were closing, which was crazy to me as well. Right. That show should have run a decade. Right. But it's very wordy and very smart and it just So smart.

I think it's difficult for tourists and you know. Yeah. Um that sounded terrible, but you know what you're saying. No, yeah. I mean it's not it's not it not necessarily going to be accepted by the masses unless it you know the Tonys are have a big part to play. It's not uh on all all awards matter, but the Tonys really do kind of give a stamp of approval to a show. And I you know, it every year has different reasons why things win and why things don't. But I certainly think that Matilda should have been given more respect that the Tonys and that if if people i if if it had been that people would have shown up in a way that says this is one, let's go. And and I think it would have been easier for that to happen.

I I mean I I thought it was completely brilliant in every single way. And and not to say that other shows weren't brilliant that year because they they were great and they were they're very different. Yeah. But um they certainly didn't need as much help with tourists coming to see it and say, you know, it's it's a big investment. Yeah, it's a huge investment. So you want somebody to have the stamp of approval, and I think you guys should have gotten more of that. Yeah, and I think you know Tim Minchin is like such a genius. And I thought Groundhog Day was one of the best shows I had ever seen, and that kind of had a that was I didn't see it because it wasn't on long enough, you know, it's just very disappointing. Um I forgot what we were talking about. Um that's just me and you, you know, we just get on these tangents, and then we just keep going.

[56:38] Lesli Margherita: Oh, I went so I was going back to Matilda. They said, Do you want to come and close the show? And I was like, Are you kidding? Yeah. That that would be like the honor of my life. Because I and I had never seen the show. Right. So I sat in the audience and I texted Tim like at intermission, I a picture. I was just bawling. Yeah. And I loved it so much, and I could not believe that A, I had any part in helping create that, yeah, or that I was gonna get to do that again. Yeah, it was just one of those shows that I just would, you know, and I'm a massive theater geek anyway. I go see shows and I'm a wreck, like uh because it's just so beautiful, and I love that I'm even a part of it at all. But this was just like, and I couldn't wait to get back.

I couldn't wait. And so to get to close it was the just the most special. Yeah, very full circle. Yeah, totally full circle, and I loved it, and yeah, and and then you're back to the grind, shows close, and you're like, well, the reality is you gotta you gotta make a living, you gotta I think people always they can't believe that because they think, well, you've got the Olivier, you've got this star role on Broadway, so everything just you know is given to you after that, right? And you you uh you know, and especially for women, I I think that it's it would you have I have to acknowledge that women have it way harder I can't believe how hard uh it is for me I can't imagine what a woman has to go through well especially when you're you know mid 30s is not old but for a business yeah and then and for a woman it's it it's so when that show closed it was kind of yeah it was it's it's a weird thing it's a weird thing anywhere it's a weird thing in Hollywood but it's also a weird thing on Broadway. You just aren't the the new shiny thing right anymore.

[58:29] Lesli Margherita: I have to say you know I've been thinking about this I was talking to I went to go see Lauren Molina and her show last night and we had dinner she's she's tedious. It was funny because when you were talking about having this part be like oh this is in my part like this is like she is doing this thing at Desperate Measures and at New World Stages and you're like oh that's that's Lauren there she is like she's just doing her thing to think I've seen it like three times now you have oh yeah I love her that she was um she and Nick were some of the very first people who kind of um accepted me and and again like finding that group of people that and especially women finding that group of girls supportive that are supportive and and real is very important and she was one of the very first um that I met we met at Fire Island I was doing like one of those shows and I was just wasted and they were doing their act and she was like you need to you need to come and do the skives.

[59:28] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I it was hysterical because I don't know, people like, you know, the gays were buying me drinks, and I was like, this is great, amazing. Um, and I met them there, and they've been so supportive, and she, um, I just think is a spectacular person, and oh yeah, and so talented. Yeah, I the first time I saw that show, I was like, oh my god, no one, no one, no one but you could do this. No one, she's just absolutely spectacular. And now I don't remember at all what I was bringing that up for. We might have to review the tape. Might have to review the tape. Um, but I think I, I, one of the things I'll go, I'll, I'll think of it again. But I do want to, before we finish up, talk about what has been really hard for you in all of this, is that you are married and your husband is in Los Angeles and you're here, and you have to constantly figure out where you physically should be based on work. How have you dealt with that struggle?

[1:00:25] Lesli Margherita: It's really difficult, and it's difficult on a personal level, but also on a professional level because I'm very lucky that I can go back and forth to New York and LA, but most people don't have that, and it's really hard to know where you should be. And I think because I was in LA for so long and no one cared about me here, and then finally I got here, and people went, oh, great, you're part of the club. It's scary to leave and go back home. Right. Um, it feels like more of the right choice if I got a job in LA because I'm like, okay, came what I want, did what I wanted to do here, and now it's time. Stewie's drinking water, he's drinking. Um, but it's really difficult. I think on a personal level, I got really, really lucky that Dan, my husband, supports me as much as he does.

Yeah, um, he's not an actor, but he's kind of in the business, he's a production manager. Um, and he knew that Broadway was my dream. He knew I'm living my dream, and so that makes him incredibly happy. But it's really hard. It's really hard when I'm not working and I'm here.

[1:01:41] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. Because you go, why am I here then? Why wouldn't I be in LA? But it is one of those things where you have to go where the opportunities are. Um, and for a long time they've been here. Yeah. Um, it's difficult. I mean, now, you know, when we met, I was like on tours and things, and so we've kind of always been apart. But now with FaceTime and stuff, at least I can see him. But it's difficult, and you really have to love what you do. Yeah. But the times where I'm not working and we're apart, I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing this for. Right. And he's the one going, you have to stay, you have to go. The breakthrough is coming. And especially when, I mean, you know, there are times where you have incredible disappointments, or you're just not booking work and it gets really dark.

[1:02:33] Lesli Margherita: Yeah. Even for somebody like me. Right. Um, and to not have your person there while it gets dark is really tough. Um, especially you're like me, you've chosen somebody who's not an actor. Yeah. So my husband constantly smacks me out and back into reality. Absolutely. It's like this isn't real life. Yeah. Come back. Yeah. 100%. And you know, he's very, we, I mentioned this before, but he's like very much like if I'm complaining about, you know, something, he's like, okay, so today on the news, here's what happened, and that, you know, he's very much, uh, kind of brings me back to the ground. Yeah. And he was the one when I was going through the rehab of my ACL. I was not allowed to question if I was gonna be able to do it. I was not allowed to say I can't. It was all sports metaphors and like, and he just was being into sports.

[1:03:24] Lesli Margherita: Oh, a lot, yeah. Oh, everything's, he was like, you're my athlete. Literally, he would show me tapes of football players who had ACL injuries and then came back and scored three touchdowns or first game back, and he would just like all, you know, on a loop to the point where I was like, I get it, I get it. But I really did it, and it's like ingrained in my head. You were ready to go into Matilda or the Super Bowl, yes. I would have loved a Super Bowl ring, nice. Yeah, um, but like even now when I have incredible heartbreak disappointments, or it's the lull of, yeah, okay, am I gonna get anything? He's, it's very sports-like, it's the, you know, it's rocky speeches, and but I really appreciate that because it's like nothing, it's not on, you know, yeah, it's not some performer being like, well, at least this person saw you, and right, you know, that he doesn't know anybody here, he doesn't know anything, and he's in terms of like the insider of it, so he's, he's gonna let you be a little upset, but he's not gonna tolerate this like bullshit.

[1:04:30] Lesli Margherita: He's not gonna wallow in it with you, yeah. Because he's like, that's not worth anything. He's very much like your champion. You get, you know, it's coming, it's coming. But sometimes, sometimes you're, you know, your year, the team's not great, but, but yeah, next year might be your year. It's very much like that, and I, uh, totally appreciate that. But it's hard, so yeah, you know, I would love to get a job where we're in the same town, yeah, but that would be great. Yeah, and I think it's, you know, that's coming. That would be like the dream. It is.

[1:04:58] Lesli Margherita: Well, I remember, I remember now why I was bringing up Laura Molina because we were talking about, you know, just like our Broadway experiences after I was, you know, just saying how great she was. And I was saying, like, you know, I've, I personally, I'm in LA. I've only had three Broadway experiences. I was an understudy in Spelling Bee. I was in the, uh, in the original company of Book of Mormon, and I replaced someone in Hamilton. That's it. And I've taken all of the opportunities that have come my way. This isn't me saying, no, no, no, I'm picking and choosing. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing. And, and when you, when you know, I'm in LA trying to get work. It's actually because I want to have more Broadway opportunities.

[1:05:41] Lesli Margherita: Yes. And I'm finding that even being in Book of Mormon and, you know, losing a Tony and, and having Hamilton doesn't mean that there are just all these other Broadway opportunities. But they are, you know, you look at that list when you went into Matilda and there's all these stars going in for these parts. Yeah, that's, it's a little bit easier if more people know you through their TV sessions. Yes. And that's, you know, this year I was so, I loved the, I, the pilot that I got, and I was like, if this goes, I can then go back to Broadway and pick what I want to do if this is a success. Right. And so when the pilot didn't go, it was more almost upsetting because of that.

[1:06:22] Lesli Margherita: Right. To be like, now I gotta get another one so that I can maybe have that opportunity again. But it's a weird thing to be able to say, I want to do this kind of thing on Broadway, but I have to be, yeah, yeah. You have to have TV credits and have some more notoriety. Because I understand it when I don't get a Broadway show for someone that is more known or has a name. Yeah. I do get it. I understand it because I understand the business part of it. And maybe that's, and maybe that goes back to working for Disney, like as an, at an early age. I understood the business part of it.

[1:06:56] Lesli Margherita: Right. So it doesn't make it any easier, but I get it. Yeah. So I'm the same. I'm, I'm trying to like get a TV career so that I can come back and do it. Well, speaking of which, you were on Homeland this last season. And I loved you on that. I would, we, Gerald and I watched that show religiously, and you were, I thought, the best part of that season. And you were so good and, and so different from everything else you've done. So I just was like, oh, this is such an amazing thing, Lesli. And we barely know each other. But like I was like, oh no, this is like, if this is impressing me and the turn that she's taking here, and it's so different from what she's known for on Broadway.

[1:07:40] Lesli Margherita: I know so many people are watching this. I hope so. Yeah. You know, it's been, it's been a difficult, um, in LA and, and everything else, and even Zorro was a very dramatic role. I like had funny lines, but I don't, this big death, and, and um, I, and I, uh, Matthew Warchus said he wanted to hire dramatic actors for the Wormwoods because he was so afraid that it would get too big if with, um, and so coming here, I didn't think it would be an issue doing these two roles back to back that were over the top, and right, um, and it has been. It's been, um, you know, I won't get seen for things because they don't think I can do something, and I'm like, please just let me know.

[1:08:28] Lesli Margherita: But even when, even when you're in a room, there's still a notion of no, don't be too big, you know. And I'm like, and that's how in Matilda right now, and that's happened a lot where someone goes, so you know, this is very real and very small, and I was like, I'm not an idiot, I'm an actor. You're a very good actor. I was like, run, Lesli, get away from it! TV wise, it's so different. They don't, they don't know, they don't, yeah, yeah. They really don't care. And, um, and I, I told my agents, I said, I only want to go out for dramas for a little bit because I really feel like I need to make a change.

[1:09:04] Lesli Margherita: Yeah, and they were great. They were like, they got me out there and I ended up getting home. Well, I ended up before Homeland did a drama on a Netflix series called Seven Seconds. And that was really, I haven't watched that yet, but I have to watch it. It's Regina King. Yeah, she just won the episode. Yeah, it's amazing and very difficult to watch. But that was another like dreary drama. Um, and then I booked Homeland and then just started booking dramas. And then, but then the one comedy I got was the pilot was a multicam, which I love. I love both, but yeah, but you would think, I don't know, Broadway still I think has a, it definitely helps now them that they can go, well, she was on Homeland, but it's a weird, it's a weird thing.

[1:09:47] Lesli Margherita: It's a very, they look at you through a very small thing. Well, you know, like when I was, I mean, I think that's why I haven't had other opportunities, and I'm not saying that to be like, oh, I haven't had other opportunities, but I think that's a real thing because the, the way that they know me is a tap dancing Mormon. I only really have gotten auditions for, um, which is kind of disappointing, but like for either like, uh, like very flamboyant, sassy gays, yeah, but I'm like, well, did you see Mormon? Because he was not that, he just was gay, and I love playing gay characters, but there's a lot of better gays, uh, who can play sassy and, and, and funnier than I am in, in that way, but, um, they kind of just see you in that first thing, and it's hard for them to change it.

[1:10:32] Lesli Margherita: I imagine King George, like for me, you guys are so reserved and small, yeah. That's why it's so amazing. Yeah, but I imagine they still go, oh, he's the funny one in Hamilton, you know, like, yeah, watch the performance, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's, it's, you know, and that's like, look, I, I always say, I'm just glad if they're gonna pigeonhole me into something that I'm at least the pigeonholed somewhere. But, um, but that's, it's harder because you know on TV there's hundreds and hundreds of roles going out every, every day. In Broadway, it's, yeah, such a small amount every season. So you really have to be very rightful with something, especially when the, the, um, audience knows who you're working, so they really want to be like, this makes a, this makes sense because if you've kind of made a name for yourself in a role, I think it's, and there's a, I, I found there's a weird, like, um, there's for some reason people think there's this gravitas to actresses or actors who have done more, um, dramatic and, and I say not Fozzie Bear roles on Broadway, you know what I mean?

[1:11:37] Lesli Margherita: And no matter what I do, even if I'm genius in a role, they still have that in their head, and they go, well, this person though has more, yeah, I, yeah, it's a weird thing that I, you can't fight against it. No, so I just come home and have wine and be like, I, there's just nothing you can do, you know what I mean? Like you can bang your head against the wall, and I have many nights, but you just, there's nothing you can do in the end. Right. Either somebody's gonna say yes or no, and you just keep doing it. You just have to keep going. You have to keep going.

[1:12:06] Rory O'Malley: Well, I think that, you know, I'm so appreciative of you doing this podcast because you are so, um, vulnerable about your experience in real time. And I think that's very hard for artists to do, especially what we do, because they're constantly trying to put their, uh, version of events and their story, you know, in an Instagram story that seems appealing. And, and I maybe that's good for some people who want to be lied to, you know.

[1:12:33] Lesli Margherita: Yeah.

[1:12:38] Rory O'Malley: But for me, what's more compelling and appealing is when people are honest, and I see that coming from you. And I love that we have, uh, a lot of parallels in our story. And I'd like to believe we, like, I know, oh, I, I know you too. We all are too.

[1:12:59] Lesli Margherita: Stu, you are also have the parallels.

[1:13:01] Rory O'Malley: He's guarding us.

[1:13:03] Lesli Margherita: He's guarding wonderful.

[1:13:05] Rory O'Malley: He's guarding up. Um, but I'm publicly asking if you'll be my friend forever now, BFF.

[1:13:11] Lesli Margherita: I would love to be your friend.

[1:13:13] Rory O'Malley: Very, very close to you automatically. And I think that we're, um, hopefully gonna get to work together one day. We'll have to figure that out.

[1:13:20] Lesli Margherita: Maybe in California, you know, what the hell?

[1:13:22] Rory O'Malley: I would love that.

[1:13:24] Lesli Margherita: Um, but maybe we'll be on the same TV show, and then it'll be really successful, and then we can go, we're gonna do a Broadway show together.

[1:13:32] Rory O'Malley: And you will produce it.

[1:13:35] Lesli Margherita: Um, thank you so much for doing this.

[1:13:38] Rory O'Malley: I really, really appreciate it. I think you're a phenomenal talent and, uh, a genuinely, uh, sweet, loving person.

[1:13:45] Lesli Margherita: Thank you.

[1:13:46] Rory O'Malley: I was such a massive, I was a massive fan of you and the podcast. So I was like, hey, I love your podcast. Hoping that you'd be like, why don't you do it?

[1:13:54] Lesli Margherita: No, I was, I, I've wanted to talk to you, and I'm so glad that I'm here in the city and can like sit across from you and actually get to know you instead of just doing it over Skype or something.

[1:14:03] Rory O'Malley: So thank you.

[1:14:04] Lesli Margherita: Thank you.

[1:14:05] Rory O'Malley: Yeah, side job, swimming upstream. Believe it or not, you'll live in the dream.