This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Cara Cooper: Hi everybody, thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of Mamas Talkin' Loud.

[0:04] Jessica Rush: I'm Jessica Rush.

[0:05] Cara Cooper: And I'm Cara Cooper.

[0:06] Jessica Rush: And today we are speaking with Bonita Hamilton and Lindsay Northen about what it's like to be a mom in a long-running Broadway show.

[0:14] Cara Cooper: Uh-oh, oh.

[0:17] Jessica Rush: Uh-oh, Mama's talking loud.

[0:21] Cara Cooper: Mama's talking loud.

[0:23] Jessica Rush: Mama's talking tough.

[0:25] Cara Cooper: Mama's talking.

[0:26] Jessica Rush: How about being good with good enough?

[0:28] Cara Cooper: Mama's talking life.

[0:30] Jessica Rush: Mama's talking proud.

[0:32] Cara Cooper: Mama talking trash.

[0:34] Jessica Rush: Mama's talking loud.

[0:41] Cara Cooper: Hi, everybody. Welcome to this episode of Mamas Talkin' Loud.

[0:44] Jessica Rush: I'm Jessica Rush.

[0:45] Cara Cooper: And I'm Cara Cooper. Thanks for joining us again.

[0:52] Cara Cooper: And the theme for today is what it's like to be a mom and be in a long-running Broadway show.

[0:59] Jessica Rush: So those nice government gigs.

[1:03] Cara Cooper: Basically the best thing ever, but certainly come with some drawbacks, I think. Um, Lindsay, let's start with you. What show are you in?

[1:12] Lindsay Northen: I'm in Wicked, and I have been in Wicked since 2007.

[1:18] Cara Cooper: So 12 years, almost 13.

[1:22] Jessica Rush: Woo! It's a long time.

[1:22] Lindsay Northen: That's a long time. Yeah. Like when I started Wicked, George W. Bush was the president.

[1:32] Cara Cooper: We just learned that.

[1:34] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. I was in the green room when Obama got elected the first and second time.

[1:39] Jessica Rush: Oh, yeah.

[1:40] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. It was a fun day. But I have to say, we've got Bonita here, and she's gonna she's gonna be.

[1:49] Bonita Hamilton: No way.

[1:49] Lindsay Northen: No way.

[1:50] Bonita Hamilton: Way.

[1:53] Bonita Hamilton: I am in The Lion King, and I started The Lion King. My debut was September 29th, 2004.

[2:02] Cara Cooper: So I've been in the show for 15 years.

[2:02] Jessica Rush: Wow.

[2:06] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. I'm impressed that you know the date.

[2:09] Lindsay Northen: Oh, yeah. I started with January 7th. I remember my first rehearsal date for the show, August 31st, 2004.

[2:17] Bonita Hamilton: 2004. Wow.

[2:19] Jessica Rush: I don't remember.

[2:19] Cara Cooper: Well, you guys have more dates to keep track of.

[2:21] Bonita Hamilton: But I don't I don't remember who the president was, though.

[2:25] Lindsay Northen: Oh, okay.

[2:25] Bonita Hamilton: Well, there you go.

[2:26] Cara Cooper: There you go. All right. We could Google.

[2:27] Lindsay Northen: I would have been Bush.

[2:28] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[2:29] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. Same same.

[2:30] Cara Cooper: Okay. So you clearly were in the show in these shows before you were mothers?

[2:36] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[2:36] Lindsay Northen: Yes.

[2:37] Cara Cooper: Um, so talk to us about what that was like. So you got pregnant while you were in the show. Tell us your kids.

[2:46] Bonita Hamilton: Yes. We skip that's helpful. And then let us know. Yeah, give us an in some insight into what that experience was.

[2:53] Bonita Hamilton: So my daughter is Nia Benita. And my no my son is Noah Hamilton. Nia is 14. And Nia is, I'm sorry, Nia is 14, and Noah is 11.

[3:06] Bonita Hamilton: And I got pregnant six months after I started the show.

[3:10] Jessica Rush: Wow. I mean, that's the way to do it though, when you get in one of those shows.

[3:18] Bonita Hamilton: When I booked Jersey Boys, someone said, uh, you need to move your wedding date up so you can start trying to get pregnant now that you have a long time.

[3:26] Bonita Hamilton: It was, it was, I I don't know what my brain was thinking, but I worked until I was eight months pregnant.

[3:33] Jessica Rush: What?

[3:33] Bonita Hamilton: Carrying a 30-pound puppet.

[3:35] Jessica Rush: Wow.

[3:36] Bonita Hamilton: And and they kept saying, You can you can stop. And I was like, no, no, no. Nobody else will do my gig. You know?

[3:43] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[3:43] Bonita Hamilton: Your brain, your brain does something really weird. You kick into survival.

[3:48] Bonita Hamilton: So I would I would do my first uh the first scene is chow down. I I would come off. I had hyperemesis. I would come off my dresser head, a bucket for me.

[4:01] Jessica Rush: Oh gosh.

[4:02] Bonita Hamilton: I would just a barfing hyena.

[4:04] Lindsay Northen: Barf a barfing hyena.

[4:06] Bonita Hamilton: I would barf and then I would come back on. Or sometimes I wouldn't be able to. And my my understudy would come on and she had dreads at the time. She didn't have any makeup on and her dreads would come out of the hood. And she because it was a matter of a two-minute change, you know, just a song, a short song.

[4:24] Lindsay Northen: So wow for the next scene. See, I wanted to stay longer at Wicked, and I definitely felt pressure the whole time to not look pregnant, which was um, which kind of blows. You know what I mean?

[4:37] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, so I was trying to get- You don't have any control over that to be pregnant while I was pregnant the whole time. Because you know, you're playing a shiz university student. Nobody says technically to your face, you have to get out of here, you know, before you look pregnant, but they definitely push you at Wicked.

[4:57] Lindsay Northen: Um they want a date, they want to get somebody in there. I mean, it's a machine, much like Lion King, I'm sure. That machine, they're like, whatever it takes to get this smoothly running, they want you to leave as soon as possible so they can just take care of it.

[5:10] Bonita Hamilton: Right. You know, but like Glinda cannot be pregnant, you know, because that is a plot point that would be an issue.

[5:18] Lindsay Northen: Yes.

[5:19] Bonita Hamilton: So um, yeah, I felt a lot of pressure to like not look pregnant, and so I was like really worried about weight gain and what I look like and the costumes and somebody would like comment like, Oh, I can see your little bump, and I would like fly into a rage.

[5:34] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[5:35] Bonita Hamilton: Also because I was kind of generally emotional pregnant person.

[5:38] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[5:39] Bonita Hamilton: But aren't we all?

[5:40] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[5:40] Bonita Hamilton: I mean, I think I was extra emotional, but um yeah, I was. Um, but yeah, I I wish that I could have enjoyed being pregnant uh, you know, a little bit longer and being in the show and like sort of celebrated. Instead, I was like, Shh, you know.

[5:58] Lindsay Northen: Don't talk about it.

[5:58] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, don't talk about it.

[6:01] Lindsay Northen: Well, don't get me wrong. I they kept I mean you weren't enjoying it, you were throwing up.

[6:04] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, I would say but they kept asking me, Well, do you have any idea when you're gonna be going out? And I would say no.

[6:09] Lindsay Northen: You yeah, you I mean, I don't think you have the right to ask me that. I when I decide to go, I can go in there.

[6:17] Bonita Hamilton: You're right. I kept I kept just pushing myself and my stage manager said, You're running the equivalent of a half marathon every night on stage with your costume on.

[6:29] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[6:29] Bonita Hamilton: And you're carrying your your your creating a human. Yeah, you know. And he said, Cut yourself some slack. We will be here.

[6:40] Lindsay Northen: Oh nice.

[6:40] Bonita Hamilton: I was like, Oh, okay. But I still and on top of it, and I might be talking out of school, I was pl I was doing the workshop for a color the collar purple.

[6:54] Jessica Rush: Oh my god.

[6:54] Bonita Hamilton: I was doing double duty. Um and and I was getting married.

[6:59] Cara Cooper: Oh my goodness, but she's a little insane.

[7:03] Bonita Hamilton: I think so. So yeah, so I was working from 10 until six on the workshop, and then I would have a little dinner, and I had my trusty bucket next to me. And then I would go and do the show from seven, you know, eight until eleven.

[7:19] Jessica Rush: Did you have go ahead?

[7:20] Bonita Hamilton: No, I was just gonna say, I think, particularly with your first child, you know. I mean, I haven't had a second, but you Celia sort of talked about this when she was on with us, which is that you think your life really w isn't gonna change that much. Like, oh, I can just keep doing what I'm doing.

[7:32] Lindsay Northen: Oh yeah.

[7:35] Bonita Hamilton: And then I'm just gonna have this baby and I'm gonna go back to what I'm doing. And the baby's gonna eat vegetables and still and everything. But I'm sure that's sort of what your thought process was. You were like, Well, I've I'm doing it, so and I'm not gonna let it zoom down. I'm just gonna keep going and grow this baby, and you know.

[7:49] Lindsay Northen: It was a control thing. And I remember um Donald Bird asking me because we found out that uh it this this was a pre-Broadway workshop for the color purple. And um, he said, So when is your due date? And I said, Well, my due date is October 8th. And he what? No, I'm sure, and you're like, and I can be ready. And I can be ready in in November.

[8:14] Bonita Hamilton: Uh-huh.

[8:15] Lindsay Northen: I'll be fine.

[8:15] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[8:16] Lindsay Northen: And he was like, huh. Well, that's a control thing for me. And my daughter came 10 days late.

[8:24] Bonita Hamilton: So it was October 18th. And then I was like, no, this baby has to come out so I can, you know, do this because they're gonna be on Oprah. And I want to go to Oprah.

[8:35] Bonita Hamilton: I would have done a lot for Oprah.

[8:37] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, yeah.

[8:38] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[8:39] Lindsay Northen: But it did not work out that way. And the biggest lesson I learned was I am not in control of this. And I'm a control freak, I think, in my house, you know.

[8:51] Bonita Hamilton: That's a big motherhood lesson.

[8:52] Lindsay Northen: Okay.

[8:53] Bonita Hamilton: That's true in general, right? You can't control nearly as much as you want to about who they are and what they do and what happens to them.

[9:01] Lindsay Northen: But you have responsibility.

[9:02] Bonita Hamilton: Oh, for sure. I think that that's really hard because you're like responsible for them, but you can't control as much as you want to.

[9:08] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[9:09] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[9:10] Lindsay Northen: Right.

[9:11] Cara Cooper: For sure. Um, well, tell us, and then did with your with your son, did you you had learned some lessons maybe or did you stay?

[9:20] Bonita Hamilton: I learned lots of lessons and um and and I still worked until I was eight months pregnant with him. I don't know why I did that.

[9:29] Lindsay Northen: Well, you you know, you made a lot more money than I did while you were pregnant.

[9:36] Bonita Hamilton: And then I And you gotta pay for the babies.

[9:38] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, you gotta pay for the babies. But and then I went back. Uh I had Nia in October. I went back in January one.

[9:47] Bonita Hamilton: Wow.

[9:48] Lindsay Northen: Wow.

[9:48] Bonita Hamilton: So I was that's fascinating. What about with Noah?

[9:51] Bonita Hamilton: With Noah, I had him in August. And I I'm not sure. That gets foggy for me. I think I went back in October, November.

[10:03] Lindsay Northen: It all gets really well.

[10:08] Bonita Hamilton: It was interesting because Cara was she got pregnant when we were doing Jersey Boys. So it's been interesting to hear different person different um paths, I suppose. As to when people were there. I mean, Cara stayed the first time.

[10:23] Lindsay Northen: So I was five months pregnant the first time. But I do remember you leaning back in that chair as Mary Delgado with that cigarette. Well, not a real one, but and having that bump under your arm.

[10:35] Bonita Hamilton: And I was like, maybe it is time.

[10:37] Lindsay Northen: I remember there as well. You were like, I saw you in the show when you were that pregnant.

[10:42] Bonita Hamilton: Because I think I had just started my maternity leave. Kara and I were pregnant at the same time, which is part of why we're friends. But um I I think I had just started my maternity leave, and there's nothing sadder than a pregnant hooker.

[10:54] Lindsay Northen: Wow.

[10:55] Bonita Hamilton: She was she was pregnant. There is no sadder than that. And I just but I also knew you were pregnant, so I don't know if you look pregnant or I just was like no, but by the end, people at the stage door would be like which one's the pregnant one?

[11:09] Lindsay Northen: Okay, so I guess it's time for me to leave.

[11:11] Bonita Hamilton: Right. But at the but the same thing, like I didn't want to. I wanted to keep doing the show. And it's just an unfortunate part of storytelling, like the part of Mary Delgado couldn't physically look pregnant. Or you know, um, and so visually I couldn't do the show anymore, but physically I was totally capable of doing it.

[11:30] Lindsay Northen: Well, and that's a conversation that has come up more and more, you know, as more women stay in the business and continue to try to work, is that we are not we are capable of being there for pretty much our entire pregnancy process.

[11:45] Bonita Hamilton: Absolutely, you know, and so it's how do you work that, you know? Like if you don't have a a real maternity leave, if there's nothing in place um to have that happen. Now we have the paid family leave, which which is helpful.

[11:59] Lindsay Northen: Seeing people use that at Wicked, yeah, mostly dads.

[12:02] Bonita Hamilton: I was gonna say a lot of dads at Morgan where my husband works, but yeah, are starting to take advantage of that, and and I'm kind of loving it because Wicked, as I said before, as a huge corporate machine, you know, has definite rules they have to keep in place for when you can take off and how much you can take off, but all of them go out the window with paid family leave because the government's like, sorry about it. That dad's gonna stay home with that baby, so he's not gonna be there.

[12:27] Bonita Hamilton: So one of them is taking their uh paid family leave just like for on Sundays. Like here.

[12:33] Lindsay Northen: Split it up.

[12:35] Bonita Hamilton: You can split it by like that's amazing.

[12:37] Lindsay Northen: That's magical.

[12:38] Bonita Hamilton: You can split it up however you want.

[12:40] Lindsay Northen: Maybe I'll have another baby.

[12:41] Bonita Hamilton: I was gonna just say that baby is born, you're gonna get like even more time.

[12:46] Lindsay Northen: But yeah, so I am encouraged when I see that. You know, and that's a good thing. For sure. Because I think you know, you can't, like you said, you people can hint or say, How are you feeling?

[12:58] Lindsay Northen: Or do you think you may want to think it might be because they can't actually I remember when I worked at Disney at Disney World in the theme parks way back in the early 2000s, and we had someone who was pregnant, but instead of them losing money and losing income and not working, once they couldn't do the show anymore, Disney found another position for that. You know what I mean? Like they shifted them to the wardrobe department, maybe to fold clothes or you know, whatever. But and I think that that's an interesting conversation to have that we are still capable and we'd still like to earn our living.

[13:32] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[13:32] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, I'm not trying to mess up the story being pregnant Glinda at Shiz University, but like, you know, give me another option.

[13:39] Bonita Hamilton: Right, right.

[13:39] Lindsay Northen: Right, exactly. It was so funny. One of our um, well, at a while ago, one of our nalas got sick in the middle of the show. And the only understudy in the show was six months pregnant. And so at the end of the show, here comes this six month pregnant Nala.

[13:58] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[13:58] Lindsay Northen: I mean, that's kind of a unitard situation, right? I mean, yes, of course it, yes, and snug. And it and but changes the story a lot.

[14:07] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, it does.

[14:08] Lindsay Northen: But and it was the biggest joke. We laughed, and it's kind of like you do, you know. Yeah, it's Lion King Lore. It's you know well I think and I think as audience members, it's clearly that someone is pregnant. Do you know what I mean? Like, and I think that we're able to separate it.

[14:24] Bonita Hamilton: I think so to a certain way. It takes a second, you separate it, and then you move on.

[14:27] Lindsay Northen: And then you move on. Like it's well, and one of the things is that there are pregnant people everywhere in real life. So if a story is trying to imitate real life, yeah, unless it it impedes the storytelling, yeah, like there could have been a pregnant girl at Shiz University.

[14:44] Bonita Hamilton: Oh, for sure.

[14:44] Lindsay Northen: Not necessarily Glinda, but and yeah, and also just to um remind everyone, I don't actually play Glenda understudy for Glenda.

[14:51] Bonita Hamilton: Right, but that's one part of your responsibility.

[14:53] Lindsay Northen: So yeah, it is part of my responsibility. But like, yeah, it at Chiz, that's a fun ensemble character choice. That's legit. She got pregnant.

[15:00] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[15:01] Lindsay Northen: Right. But you know what? She didn't quit, and she went to college anyway.

[15:04] Bonita Hamilton: Exactly.

[15:05] Lindsay Northen: Good for her.

[15:06] Bonita Hamilton: And got her degree.

[15:07] Lindsay Northen: There you go. Good for you. Yes. What is uh talking about these long-running shows? What's the best thing you th uh about being in a long-running show? And the worst thing, I mean, you know, do you think you've missed out on things? You know, talk to us a little about um I think the the best thing, first of all, I would never bring up the worst thing about around anyone who didn't ask. Because we're in the one percent, one percent of equity actors who are on production contracts, and so I really try not to complain about it.

[15:37] Bonita Hamilton: But if we are keeping it real today, well, yeah, I mean it's a job. And there are some drawbacks. So best thing I think is that I was able to um have Georgia, which is my daughter, she's six, I was able to have Georgia, knowing that I had a job to go back to as an actor, um, which is an amazing headspace to be in as a pregnant actor. I think that's a luxury.

[15:59] Lindsay Northen: Definitely. Um, knowing after I have this baby, I will be employed again. I don't have to freak out about it. Um also we've gotten to um travel a lot 'cause we 'cause I can schedule vacations, I can sort of predict my schedule somewhat, um, and we can afford it, you know, and that has become our family's favorite thing to do.

[16:21] Bonita Hamilton: Yes, you could travel.

[16:23] Lindsay Northen: We've taken Georgia to France, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, Japan.

[16:29] Bonita Hamilton: That's amazing.

[16:30] Lindsay Northen: And it's been incredible. Uh we love a credit card airline mile situation.

[16:33] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[16:35] Lindsay Northen: Um, so but the drawback for me has been that being in a show for a really long time, I feel like I have sort of disappeared. So it's like I slowly have fallen out of the view of casting directors, of people, of writers, uh, and it is hard to remind people that you're there.

[16:59] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[16:59] Lindsay Northen: I think people, I don't even know really, but I think people hesitate to submit me for things. People, when I do get submitted for things, they're like, Yeah, but she's in Wicked. I don't know. I mean, I'm not in the room, so I can't know if that conversation's happening, but I know that I get fewer and fewer auditions the longer I stay in Wicked.

[17:18] Bonita Hamilton: So uh and while I've really tried to push um a lot of on camera stuff, which I feel like I'm better at.

[17:25] Lindsay Northen: You I mean, you had that run of commercials for that.

[17:28] Bonita Hamilton: I had a really great run on the commercials. There was a big trend there for a minute where I was the most American looking person in the world. And so I was very frequently hired for national television commercials.

[17:39] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[17:39] Bonita Hamilton: Um, which was really great. And I still do a lot of commercials, not as many, but um, as much as I've pushed to be seen f on camera and stuff, that's a very hard thing to cross over from. And also people look at that and they're like, I don't want to work around that show schedule. I don't it's like, you know, trying to get m uh more representation. I have a manager and I've tried to get new people to submit me for TV and they're like, I don't know, you know, you're in the show, and people assume that you won't leave.

[18:09] Lindsay Northen: I will leave. You know, but I feel like professionally and sort of socially almost too, I feel like I disappear a little bit and that you have to um make an effort to be like, hey, I'm over here. You know, like I'm still here and I s and even uh now that I'm a mom and I'm older and wiser and have lived life, I'm even better at a lot of this stuff than I was before. You know, like I'm a deeper person, I'm a stronger person, I'm more interesting, I'm funnier. I'm you know, because I'm a mom and because you know I've lived more life, but I feel like it's harder to get people's attention.

[18:44] Bonita Hamilton: I don't know. Do you feel like that happens to you?

[18:46] Lindsay Northen: Absolutely. Everything that you said, but I I like I have a manager and she submits me for TV. And I've done a couple of things on on TV, but the first thing they say, Well, we're interested, but can you send over her contract with Lion King?

[19:03] Bonita Hamilton: Really?

[19:03] Lindsay Northen: Yes. Does she have any outs? I have every out in the book. Yeah. You know. Um, well, will they let her go? They let me go a lot, which is right. I have unspoken outs, but they want the contract outs when I've had to talk to people about it. But I I I have those contract outs written in. I have got them written in um my agent at the time, um, because when I reached she said, We're only gonna do Lion King for two years. And I said, Fine with me, you know.

[19:31] Bonita Hamilton: Right.

[19:32] Lindsay Northen: And um, but I would have never dreamed that this was how long I did this. Right. And um, so she said, I'm gonna write some outs in your contract because you know, they have a tendency to keep you.

[19:43] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[19:44] Lindsay Northen: And um, I said, Okay, not you know, yeah, I was fresh out of graduate school, and I was like, uh, okay, well, that's fine. Um, but yeah, I feel like I have disappeared. And um, and a lot of times uh people well, I don't know if I'm speaking out of school, and you can edit this out if you would like. But people don't don't take musical theater actors for serious actors.

[20:13] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, no, that's true.

[20:14] Lindsay Northen: And I'm classically trained. Yeah. Like, like I don't think I'm funny. I, you know, I would say that I'm an actor first and not uh a singer. Yeah. And uh, but I can never get that straight play or or they won't even see me for it. You know, oh you're in the line. Uh yeah, no, I'm sorry. It'd be different if you went in the room and did your best and you didn't get it. But if you can't get it through the room, it just doesn't feel fair sometimes, you know, which is a problem everybody has.

[20:43] Bonita Hamilton: Absolutely.

[20:45] Lindsay Northen: But I'm glad to hear that you've uh you know have a similar experience. I really haven't met anybody else who has been in a show longer than me.

[20:51] Bonita Hamilton: Really?

[20:52] Lindsay Northen: This is a treat. Well then yeah, we have people in our show that that have been in the show for 22 years.

[20:58] Bonita Hamilton: Wow.

[20:58] Lindsay Northen: Wow. That's incredible. That's like that woman, oh, I wish I could remember her name. But remember back in the day, there was a woman who was in cats for the entire run, which was like 20 some odd years at the time, right? It was the longest running show. And someone, I mean, she's like Broadway legend. Do you know what I mean? Like, there was this woman and she had two houses and she put her daughter through college. And I I sometimes feel, I don't know if you feel this too, Benina, but like embarrassed to tell people how long ago in this show.

[21:26] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[21:26] Lindsay Northen: But especially other actors.

[21:28] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, but then I think, mmm, I'm good.

[21:31] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? You but I get like this, I get this a lot. Are you still wicked?

[21:38] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[21:38] Lindsay Northen: And uh, and I don't know if they mean to have like an edge to it, but I want to be like, yes, and I'm very grateful, which is usually what I say. Yes, yeah, absolutely. I can live my life, and I have a husband and children or child, and we travel and we're husband. So I'm holding down that end of it.

[21:56] Bonita Hamilton: Well, you know, he has much shorter, more common.

[21:59] Lindsay Northen: I mean, I think that we I think that as actors, we come into this career thinking, you know, we have very high aspirations and we have expectations of what we are thinking it's gonna be. And I'm gonna do this show, and then I'm gonna go to this show, and then the tone is and yeah, and um and I'm not leaving until I get a principal contract, and I'm not gonna understudy anymore, whatever. Do you know what I mean? So, like you have these limitations you put on yourself, and then you get into the grind of what it really is.

[22:25] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, and all the real life around it.

[22:27] Lindsay Northen: The real life. I mean, like you said, Lindsay, it's the one percent like of actors that are you're earning your living and living your lives based on the income that you make as an actor, and there are so few of us who are lucky enough to do that. And I think that you know, you also perspective changes and your priorities shift, for sure. You know, especially once you become a parent, I think.

[22:49] Bonita Hamilton: And everybody's absolutely everybody's different. My friend Lisa Brescia from DM Hansen. She is one of my nearest and dearest friends, and she was in Wicked with me years ago, and she always says, Don't compare and dispair.

[23:00] Lindsay Northen: No.

[23:01] Bonita Hamilton: So like I think that's it's good advice that I try to tell myself a lot, but I still totally do it.

[23:05] Lindsay Northen: It's hard to do that.

[23:07] Bonita Hamilton: Absolutely. It is because not many people can do it.

[23:10] Lindsay Northen: No.

[23:10] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. Not many people can do it, you know. And so I just I wear it as a badge of honor. And you know, when people give me that a little edge, I've got a slick mouth.

[23:21] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[23:21] Bonita Hamilton: And so I said, and how many years have you been in your show? Yeah. On your production contract? Well, or if you have a normal, if you have a normal, nobody would think twice. No, it's like you worked at Bank of America for 12 years. Yeah, nobody would do it. And then you retired and it was fine. You're right at the bank of America. Still working there. Right.

[23:37] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[23:38] Bonita Hamilton: But do you ever worry about um the show letting you go?

[23:44] Lindsay Northen: Well, every year on the principal contracts, we are um uh we get reevaluated.

[23:53] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[23:53] Lindsay Northen: So I'm on a course contract, so a little different.

[23:55] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, so we have to renegotiate our contract every year, and they can say we're gonna go in a different direction.

[24:02] Lindsay Northen: I and they have chosen to keep you every year.

[24:05] Bonita Hamilton: Every year, yes.

[24:05] Lindsay Northen: Wow. I bet that feels good.

[24:07] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah, and it it it's it's I would say it's a blessing. And I I used to get really, really stressed out around this time. Yeah, because everybody comes in and everybody's looking and evaluating, and you have to be at the top of your game. And then um CeeDee Manye, she plays Rafiki, and she's been doing the show for 19 years.

[24:30] Lindsay Northen: Wow, and she's a mother, oh my gosh, as well.

[24:34] Bonita Hamilton: And uh, and she said to me, She said, Benita, you do your show at the top of your game every single night. She said, as long as you do your gig, don't worry about it. Okay. What's gonna happen is gonna happen. Yeah. And you know, and my mother would say, she's you know, a very spiritual person. She said, if you're gonna pray, don't worry. If you're gonna worry, don't pray. And I said, Oh I like it. Okay. So now, hey, yeah, I've done my due diligence. And you know, just keep it. It's another one of those control things, right?

[25:10] Lindsay Northen: It's a control thing, and I have no control over. I mean, it's something I worry about a lot. But because I've seen people bought out a boy kid. Yeah. So every every Saturday I'm like, please don't tell me to come up to the office. Wow. But um, like you said, would there be anything I could do about it? No. So I do try to just do a really really great job and do a little extra on a lot of things. And that's all we can do, right? I mean, same with auditions, it's all the same. All you can do is walk in and do your best.

[25:42] Bonita Hamilton: And be as prepared as you can be.

[25:43] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, yeah. And hope that they see that and respect it and ask you back time and again.

[25:49] Bonita Hamilton: Time and again, you know, um, are there things I'm sure, because I, I mean, I haven't been in a long running show as a mother for a super long time, but there's gotta be things that you've missed out on.

[26:00] Bonita Hamilton: I'm missing the chorus concert tomorrow night.

[26:04] Lindsay Northen: So am I.

[26:04] Bonita Hamilton: Why's it gotta be Thursday?

[26:05] Lindsay Northen: Thursday at 6:30.

[26:08] Bonita Hamilton: It's so close.

[26:09] Lindsay Northen: Right.

[26:11] Bonita Hamilton: Um, because my kids' school is in midtown.

[26:13] Lindsay Northen: So come on, can I get like a 5:30?

[26:16] Bonita Hamilton: Right.

[26:16] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[26:17] Bonita Hamilton: Um, yeah, I miss that every time. And I've just now that she's school aged, I'm starting to notice those things more.

[26:24] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[26:25] Bonita Hamilton: And she's starting to notice them.

[26:26] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, sure.

[26:27] Bonita Hamilton: And she, I, it's making me a little more emotional right now.

[26:30] Lindsay Northen: She's not.

[26:31] Bonita Hamilton: But like she's, um, she was like brought it up, you know, like on the way to school. She was like, I wish you could come to my winter concert.

[26:38] Lindsay Northen: And I was like, oh.

[26:40] Bonita Hamilton: So I'm going to the like final rehearsal music class tomorrow morning at 9:30. I'm gonna do something like just at least a little bit embarrassing, like bring flowers or something.

[26:51] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[26:51] Bonita Hamilton: And that was sort of the follow-up is what do you do to make up for it?

[26:54] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[26:54] Bonita Hamilton: That's what I think. Those are, uh, there's like things I try to find to be creative about it.

[26:59] Lindsay Northen: Right.

[26:59] Bonita Hamilton: Well, I'm sure. I mean, my kids, and they're so much older, it's like they've had so many things.

[27:00] Lindsay Northen: So many things.

[27:06] Bonita Hamilton: My daughter has her, uh, chorus concert tomorrow, and I think that she knows that I have this tremendous mother's guilt. And she said to me, uh, she said, Mommy, we are having the Trouble choir chorus concert tomorrow. She said, But don't worry about it. We're terrible. You don't have to be trying to make you feel better.

[27:28] Lindsay Northen: She's trying to make me feel better.

[27:30] Bonita Hamilton: You know, and so I miss everything. Like I miss, I miss game night at the school, I miss the PTA.

[27:39] Lindsay Northen: I miss, I wish I missed the PTA.

[27:41] Bonita Hamilton: Those meetings are killing me so right.

[27:44] Lindsay Northen: I miss every, but you know, my son is a little different. He wants me there.

[27:49] Bonita Hamilton: Um, and so it bothers me a little bit because that's my baby, but both of them are my babies. But the important things I try to get there, I try to take a personal day.

[28:05] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[28:06] Bonita Hamilton: Um, my daughter starred in, uh, this Christmas play at the Apollo, uh, a couple of years back called The First Noel.

[28:14] Lindsay Northen: All right, cool.

[28:15] Bonita Hamilton: With the classical theater of Harlem.

[28:17] Lindsay Northen: Wow.

[28:18] Bonita Hamilton: And you know, I made it, I made it my business to get her to her half hour every, get her to her rehearsals every day, drop her off, come down to the show.

[28:18] Lindsay Northen: I made it my business, and then I had my cast come and support.

[28:38] Bonita Hamilton: Oh wow.

[28:38] Lindsay Northen: And so I felt okay about that.

[28:41] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. Are your companies, do they generously give you time off personal days to do these sort of things or no?

[28:48] Lindsay Northen: I think, uh, uh, yeah. My Wicked, because I've been working there for so long and because I feel like I do an excellent job, um, and I do favors for them and I do all the Broadway cares and the things and the things.

[29:01] Bonita Hamilton: You're a team player.

[29:02] Lindsay Northen: I think so. Um, they have been as flexible as they can be about letting me go shoot things, uh, letting me go. Um, I had a personal day for Georgia's last winter concert and then I booked a public commercial and I had to go to Tampa.

[29:16] Bonita Hamilton: And I was like, well dang.

[29:18] Lindsay Northen: Um, but, uh, I tried. I waited at the airport an entire day to try to get back in time for the course concert and I didn't make it, but I definitely bought like a $40 stuffed unicorn. You know, like tried to make up for it or whatever I could do.

[29:32] Bonita Hamilton: But they are, and that is another pro to being in a long, long running show. Like if I was in Tina, you know, oh yeah, it depends on the show. My husband, you know, was in the show with you guys and that was a little trickier. Um, but, uh, like if you were in Tina and it was tech and you were like, But can I have a personal day for the day before opening night to see the chorus concert, they would be like, You're joking.

[29:56] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, um, but Wicked, if nobody else was out would let me do it.

[30:01] Bonita Hamilton: Yes, that's amazing.

[30:02] Lindsay Northen: I mean, King, and that's wonderful. I've heard that about the Disney shows too. I mean, it's just, I, and it only benefits your producers.

[30:09] Bonita Hamilton: Oh, yeah.

[30:09] Lindsay Northen: It only benefits the company because when you have people who have been there for so long, you clearly appreciate the work they're doing. And if you allow them to have the life moments that we tend to miss out on, they will only stay longer and keep working for you.

[30:24] Bonita Hamilton: They're happy.

[30:28] Lindsay Northen: Yesterday I told Jared, my husband, Jared Bratcha, when I got home, he was like, How was the show? And I was like, you know what? It was really great. Um, because I started just started coaching kids for commercials because Georgia's friends, parents asked me to because they are starting to get like agents and stuff.

[30:46] Bonita Hamilton: And I almost all the commercials I do are with children.

[30:49] Lindsay Northen: So I went to her little friend's apartment and coached her and her brother, who both have agents and blah blah blah. And I was like, that was so fulfilling and fun. And like I was like, I was good at that. And then I went to the show, and I was doing things differently in the ensemble and making different choices just because I felt like a little bit alive.

[31:08] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yes.

[31:09] Lindsay Northen: And when they allow us to do other things like that, go shoot a commercial, a TV show, or be in a play for a couple months, um, you come back and you bring like this spark with you.

[31:20] Bonita Hamilton: And so it is in their best interest. If you go to the chorus concert and everyone's like, How was it? And everyone, that's another great thing about long running shows, everybody knows your kids, and they all want to know how like my friend Tanice's daughter Jordan's ballet concert was, and we all want to watch it on our phone, and we all want to, um, you know, see all that stuff.

[31:38] Lindsay Northen: Um, so it does make the show better.

[31:39] Bonita Hamilton: That's, and that kind of leads to the next thing, and being in a long-running show is difficult in its own right, obviously, keeping it fresh and new and trying to make it alive from disintegrating on a rank stage like you both are. Um, and that, and being a mother gives it a whole different set of challenges. So, what is it you just said you fill your cup up with different things?

[32:00] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, um, it be it family activities or being able to do other things. What are your like tricks to be able to keep the show fresh at night or for the millionth time you've done it?

[32:12] Bonita Hamilton: Well, for my character, I just use life. Do you know what I mean? Shinzy's not the ingenue, she's not pretty, she's, she's, can I say bitchy?

[32:23] Lindsay Northen: Sure.

[32:24] Bonita Hamilton: She's a little bitchy, she's, um, uh, you know, and she can be, she's funny, she's mean, she's just, her name in Swahili means mischievous. So fun fact. Yeah, I go in and whichever way I'm feeling, any way the wind blows, and I become Shinzi when I hit that backstage door, and they know I'm loud, I'm obnoxious when I walk in.

[32:48] Lindsay Northen: But when I step outside of the door, I become Mrs. Caesar.

[32:50] Bonita Hamilton: And that's who I am, and that's what keeps it fresh. So if I had, if I saw somebody, uh, being stupid on NJ Transit, then I'm gonna walk in with this attitude. If I see something funny on Instagram, I'm gonna, it's gonna be funny for me, and I'm gonna have a great time.

[33:08] Lindsay Northen: I also have, uh, the hyenas are one character. It's three of us, but we are one character. I'm a unit, and we are a unit, and so we play off of each other and we keep each other on our feet.

[33:20] Bonita Hamilton: Uh, you know, Enrique Segura, he taunts me to no end. J Bo, James Brown Orleans plays Bonsai, and he is my work husband, and he takes care of me.

[33:35] Lindsay Northen: And I'm just bossy. And so I just enjoy it. I love my job. And so that's how we keep it fresh. Whatever he comes in with, I'm coming right back at you with it.

[33:45] Bonita Hamilton: Even the way you're like lighting up right now, just talking about it. It's clear that you bring that life. I can just picture it.

[33:51] Lindsay Northen: We have two characters at Wicked, uh, Fanny and Shen Chen. You never hear their names, but my husband always calls them Shenzi and Bonsai.

[34:00] Bonita Hamilton: Are they the, they're the two friends of Glinda?

[34:03] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[34:03] Bonita Hamilton: She's, he's like, who's Shenzi and Bonsai right now?

[34:08] Lindsay Northen: Oh.

[34:08] Bonita Hamilton: But what I do, I mean, um, at Wicked, it's kind of a revolving door of new people all the time. There's definitely a bunch of people that have been there for years.

[34:17] Lindsay Northen: And then I would say like a solid half the company are coming in and out and in and out. Like you'll start on the stage and we start over this set of grates in the middle with fog coming up, and you look up and you're like, I don't know who that is.

[34:30] Bonita Hamilton: And I've definitely, the curtain is down and you're already frozen. I've definitely held out my hand and shook somebody else's right before it comes up, like, hey, I'm Lindsay. And they're like, my name's Alex, you know, and like, um, there's new people that come in all the time because people get hurt all the time if I kid.

[34:46] Lindsay Northen: Um, unfortunately. But, uh, so that keeps it fresh for me. There's definitely gonna be a new person next to me at some point, but I also just have fun making new choices in the ensemble, you know, within the perimeters of what I'm supposed to be doing.

[35:03] Bonita Hamilton: Um, but also you have to be in the exact same spot.

[35:07] Lindsay Northen: But what I'm thinking about can change. And I do, I think my favorite thing to choose is to be a horrible, horrible person.

[35:13] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, it's fun.

[35:14] Lindsay Northen: So I like to just like hate Nesseros and be disgusted by the fact that she's in a wheelchair. Like how horrible is that?

[35:19] Bonita Hamilton: It's the most horrible.

[35:21] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. It's so much fun. Or, um, you can, we all get to hate on Elphaba the whole time. That's pretty easy. So you can do that, or, you know, be afraid of someone, or little choices that you can make in the ensemble.

[35:35] Bonita Hamilton: Uh, with an ensemble track, you have a little room to do.

[35:38] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, of course.

[35:39] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. I mean, and I think that, you know, something about you were speaking to both of you said that you feel like you sort of have disappeared in ways or that you're not thought of. But I also know, I mean, I know Miss Thing, you got a voiceover you're about to go do. So like you, yes, like, and you do your commercials and, and just the life is full with being a mother.

[36:01] Lindsay Northen: For sure.

[36:01] Bonita Hamilton: I mean, the balance and the juggle and the things. I mean, and that's the best part of it. I mean, I, that's the best part of my life. You know, and, and I'm, I'm very fortunate that I get to go home from Wicked and have this wonderful little person waiting for me, you know.

[36:19] Lindsay Northen: It's totally worth it.

[36:20] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, I have a snarky teenager. I was the worst when I was 14.

[36:24] Lindsay Northen: But it was a horrible person.

[36:25] Bonita Hamilton: She's, she's pretty amazing, and my son is just my sweetheart. Boys are very special.

[36:31] Lindsay Northen: And, um, that, that is, I look at them, I walk in and everybody's asleep when I get home. But I go in and—

[36:38] Bonita Hamilton: Me too, every day.

[36:41] Lindsay Northen: It makes me realize this is what I'm doing it for. This is why I'm, you know, grinding the way I am.

[36:49] Bonita Hamilton: Which, and I have my best friend told me, she said, you're not, and my husband says this often, you're not satisfied and you're not happy unless you're doing a million things at one time.

[37:00] Lindsay Northen: That's true, in the words of Hamilton.

[37:02] Bonita Hamilton: We will never be satisfied, we will never be satisfied.

[37:05] Lindsay Northen: Sons, Bonita Hamilton.

[37:09] Bonita Hamilton: We had it here.

[37:11] Lindsay Northen: Oh my gosh.

[37:12] Bonita Hamilton: Man. So Kara and I, uh, knew each other during our long running show.

[37:18] Lindsay Northen: The Jersey Boys.

[37:19] Bonita Hamilton: Yes. You know, with Jared Bradshaw.

[37:22] Lindsay Northen: And, um, that was very fun because there were three people in our company who were all pregnant with girls in a way, you know, two dads and Kara.

[37:30] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[37:30] Lindsay Northen: Um, but Kara was the first mom.

[37:32] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[37:33] Lindsay Northen: Blazing that trail.

[37:34] Bonita Hamilton: Yes. I was very glad to not be first.

[37:37] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[37:43] Bonita Hamilton: Like, uh, the first.

[37:45] Lindsay Northen: So it was, I mean, it was definitely interesting and un-forged territory at that company. I think in other, maybe touring companies there had been pregnancies, but in Broadway there hadn't been.

[37:56] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. Well, and that was something, you know, you were saying how fun it is that everyone knows each other's families. That was the best part of doing our show for so long.

[38:03] Lindsay Northen: With the people that we were with. I mean, there we didn't have a huge turnover at Jersey Boys. So we really, as soon as she said that, who are you? I was like, that would never happen.

[38:11] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah. We saw the same face.

[38:13] Lindsay Northen: Oh my god.

[38:14] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, you, yeah, they re-signed a lot of people on principal contracts too, like it.

[38:18] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, yeah.

[38:18] Bonita Hamilton: I mean, we had to have much turnover at all. We just had a great exodus, that's what we call it.

[38:25] Lindsay Northen: Um, ever so often, you know, they just do a sweep.

[38:25] Bonita Hamilton: Do a sweep of the ensemble.

[38:35] Lindsay Northen: And, um, and it just happened maybe a week ago.

[38:36] Bonita Hamilton: Really?

[38:36] Lindsay Northen: Uh, like circa six month riders or like buy people out.

[38:36] Bonita Hamilton: Like buy people out.

[38:41] Lindsay Northen: Interesting.

[38:41] Bonita Hamilton: And, um, and it, uh, and I just lost my thought just again.

[38:48] Lindsay Northen: Oh, that's all right.

[38:48] Bonita Hamilton: It's mom time.

[38:49] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, no, for sure.

[38:59] Bonita Hamilton: Right. I mean, because everyone had aged on the barricade for like 15 or 20 years, stage manager now.

[39:06] Lindsay Northen: Right. Yeah, so that explains they did that, they did that at Phantom too.

[39:11] Bonita Hamilton: They didn't close it, but there was like a big exodus there.

[39:14] Lindsay Northen: Well, they did that on the tour, they just did that on Lion King Tour.

[39:17] Bonita Hamilton: Oh, really?

[39:17] Lindsay Northen: They took a six-month break.

[39:19] Bonita Hamilton: That was uh six weeks.

[39:20] Lindsay Northen: Six weeks is all.

[39:21] Bonita Hamilton: Oh, that's all you need.

[39:22] Lindsay Northen: Yes. Yes. Right. And then they renamed the tour from Gazelle Tour to Rafiki Tour.

[39:27] Bonita Hamilton: And it was all new people.

[39:29] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, except for I don't think we can say a few tried and true. So that's when we really count our blessings.

[39:35] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so I'm glad that I well, I haven't been part of the uh, you know, big sweep exodus yet. You know, because I have gotten to meet other people's kids.

[39:45] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, when I got pregnant, um, I think two people had had babies before me, and then there was this huge gap of me being the only mom there for a while where I was like, you know. Um, but now there's lots of kids, and so a kids in the cast and the crew.

[40:00] Bonita Hamilton: Yes. And so every year, um, because we used to miss Halloween and it bummed me out. Now we have Halloween off, but we used to miss Halloween every year. So every year I do like trick or treating at Wicked with the company's kids, and we go around and it's so heartwarming to see A, all the other parents bring all their kids, and we all line them up and sit them on the couch and take pictures of them in their Halloween costumes from like a six-month old baby to like an 11-year old are all sitting there, and you're like, wow, these are these people that I've known for over 10 years. I've known this woman who's 11-year-old, it's like sitting in front of me, you know, and they're all together, and then the cast members in the show who don't have kids all get really excited about passing out the candy and dressed up and decorate their rooms.

[40:43] Lindsay Northen: Well, no one does Halloween better than theater people, so yeah.

[40:48] Bonita Hamilton: We have a haunted Halloween haunted Halloween at Lion King.

[40:53] Lindsay Northen: You've been there.

[40:54] Bonita Hamilton: So you've seen me. I was the mean mommy walking around with the bottle and the cigarette hanging off of her lip.

[40:59] Lindsay Northen: Oh wow.

[41:00] Bonita Hamilton: And I would ask the children, you want some gadni? And they say, Yeah, yeah. You know, and I would just scream all over. But we, and it's really frightening now. It's just turned into this huge thing because we were never able to take our children trick-or-treating.

[41:16] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[41:16] Bonita Hamilton: And so we decided we were gonna bring them to the theater. And it's grown into this thing where about 250 people, kids come and they go through the different dressing rooms and they're different themes. I think this year's theme was the shining. Um, on one part of the theater. I know it's we put the scare room, which is the hair room, and they like to make it scary, and the children do cry.

[41:42] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, and every year I'm like, No, the Lion's haunted houses it's it's intense.

[41:47] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah. It's for big kids.

[41:48] Lindsay Northen: It's for it's for everyone.

[41:50] Bonita Hamilton: Everyone for everyone.

[41:51] Lindsay Northen: Yes. My son will not participate.

[41:53] Bonita Hamilton: Okay.

[41:54] Lindsay Northen: And I said, Honey, we're gonna go trick-or-treating. He's saying, No, I'm not going. I said, No, you're gonna go. No, I'm going down the street. I'm like, okay.

[42:03] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. And I or he'll come and sit in stage management.

[42:07] Lindsay Northen: Did what you could, do exactly.

[42:08] Bonita Hamilton: I did what I could.

[42:09] Lindsay Northen: Exactly. So this I don't know how this will affect you or how you'll answer this, Benita, because you got pregnant shortly after you joined King. But what do you think? Because you've were in the show before you had a child, and then you've been in the show after you've had a child or children. So what do you think's the biggest difference in A U, your performance, how you view it. Um, because it's so I think it's so interesting to be in a long-running show. I certainly experienced this. Um I did the sh did Jersey Boys when I wasn't a mother, and then I came back and I did Jersey Boys when I was a mother. And I think that it's an interesting journey to take. It's so surreal, at least to be wearing the same costumes that you wore before you were mother.

I remember having that thought. Like we went out for Voulez Vu at the top of Jersey Boys, and I was thinking, the last time I wore these clothes, I wasn't pregnant. And now I have a child. Yeah, it was just crazy to have that life experience.

[43:08] Bonita Hamilton: Well, my costume pretty much stayed the same. Um, I just got rid of the pregnancy belt. Um I the difference for me uh I just looked at things differently.

[43:23] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, me too. You know, Shenzi is uh the matriarch, and it's a matriarchal society, the hyenas. The woman is always the boss, you know. And um yeah, like those huntress lions.

[43:37] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah, lioness.

[43:38] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. And I just I I just looked at it differently. I it I feel like it grounded me more being a mother. I wasn't flying by the seat of my pants like I was before I was a mother. Um I think that it it allowed me, it gave me staying power.

[43:59] Bonita Hamilton: Did you know?

[44:00] Lindsay Northen: Yeah, absolutely. No, you've got to do this because you've got to pay tuition.

[44:03] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, absolutely. That's real. You can't just go out there and you know try to be in a show or go and do regional theater and be away from your kid.

[44:15] Lindsay Northen: Not right now. You have to be more responsible.

[44:17] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah. And you can't call out because you don't feel like it, or you drank too much last night.

[44:21] Lindsay Northen: Right. Because you need that sick day when your kid has strep.

[44:24] Bonita Hamilton: You want your kid to have strep throat.

[44:26] Lindsay Northen: Or when you have strep throat.

[44:27] Bonita Hamilton: Well, because you're going to kid days your kids, yeah.

[44:30] Lindsay Northen: So I use half my sick days for Georgia, I feel like, you know. Um I yeah. Do you find that you can be honest about those moments?

[44:38] Bonita Hamilton: Uh yes. Our entire stage management team is moms.

[44:41] Lindsay Northen: See, yeah. Which is incredible. I in our school. I can be like, like y'all, full disclosure. Last a year ago, this time, I was like, uh, heads up, uh, we got lice.

[44:52] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[44:53] Lindsay Northen: And wicked freak is like, ow. Right. Yes. Wicked freaked out. They just like went on, excuse me. They um went on a rampage, just threw away everything anywhere near my station.

[45:05] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[45:06] Lindsay Northen: Which I later pulled out of the trash and was like, you guys, it's a ceramic mug, it doesn't have lights. Right. They like steamed all the costumes and the wigs, and they had a meeting and they sat everyone. This is because it happened before a matinee classic. Uh, that we figured it out. Uh they had a meeting where they brought everyone in the green room and they were like, you guys. And it was very somber. And everyone was like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Lindsay in Georgia. And then they paused. Like we got in a car actually. Oh my gosh. And everyone went, have lace. You know. And then everybody was like, oh, okay.

[45:42] Bonita Hamilton: Oh yeah.

[45:42] Lindsay Northen: But um, that, you know, that required a sick day. Yeah. Um but yeah. Uh, but also speaking of things that seem like emergencies, this is a big difference between how I felt about things at Wicked and how before Georgia and after. There's a lot of Broadway emergencies that happen. And where everyone is like, it's like super high stakes, and what are we gonna do? And no matter what, we have to keep going. We have to do the show. And when you have a real human that you are in charge of keeping alive at one point with your body, yes. When you have when you've done that, and someone's like, the lights on stage left aren't working, and people are freaking out, right? And you're like, this is not an emergency.

[46:29] Bonita Hamilton: Yes.

[46:30] Lindsay Northen: Yes. This is a Broadway emergency. Or like recently, and this is something that I use to tell other, usually women in the show who are crying in the bathroom, there's a lot of crying that has happened in that bathroom. I don't know about the bathroom at Lying, but many a tear has fallen. So somebody forgot to put on a costume piece to underdress something, and the show had to sort of pause for that person to not enter, and there was like an apology email that went out to the entire company from this person. There was crying, and I was like, let me talk to you about something. This is not an emergency.

[47:06] Bonita Hamilton: Right.

[47:06] Lindsay Northen: It's not. This is a tiny mistake in a Broadway show that's about a princess and a witch. It feels so deep to everybody, but once you like are a mom and like have a responsibility that's real, I'm like, I take this seriously. I know that this show is important. I know that it's making millions of bajillions of dollars, and I know the bajillions of dollars are important, but it's not an emergency.

[47:29] Bonita Hamilton: Right.

[47:29] Lindsay Northen: It's not my son. I walked into the theater. I'd just gotten off the train, and he was with the neighbors, and he had just learned to ride his bike four days prior to, and the last thing that I said to him was, do not ride on the hill.

[47:48] Bonita Hamilton: Okay.

[47:50] Lindsay Northen: Yeah. My son rode on the hill. I get a call when I'm walking right, stage management is right in front of me. And I said, What's going on? And he said, Mommy, I think I need to go to the hospital. And I said, For what? And he said, Well, and the neighbor took the phone. She said, I'm taking him to the hospital right now. Oh. I said, What happened? And she said, Don't yell. I said, Okay. What happened? And my son rode on the hill. He lost control of the bike. He hit a curb and he tore his scrotum. And so he had to go into emergency surgery. Let's see. I wish that is amazing. And he actually surprised. I did not think she was gonna say that. And he had to have reconstructive surgery. Oh my god.

The day before they were supposed to go down south for the summer. Oh and I had checked them in for their flights and everything. And I was I'm gonna have a moment. So yeah, the the scrotum tear. And I looked at them and I said, So apparently, I looked at stage management. I'm gonna eat. I said, Noah, and it I always have a story about my kids. They when I walk in, they want to know what's going on with the kids. I said, So apparently he just kind of um tourists screwed him. Oh and they were like, what? Emergency. Yeah, and she sent a picture and I showed it. Okay and they said, see you later. Right. Yeah. And I said, they'll figure out that's an emergency. That is an emergency. It is an emergency. Yes, yes. Yeah, but yeah, these are Broadway emergencies. You know, Broadway emergency. And they're not real.

[49:33] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[49:34] Lindsay Northen: I one time they couldn't reach me uh to go on for Glenda as an understudy because we have like 45 minutes between shows on Wednesdays, like an hour, and I was solo parenting and I had Georgia and I didn't have my phone with me. It was in the back of the stroller. They couldn't get reached me, they couldn't reach me. They are I've been on like all week, so I was just on again. But they sent a stage manager to my home to bang on the door.

[49:58] Bonita Hamilton: What?

[49:58] Lindsay Northen: Because I hadn't answered the phone. I had 14 missed calls.

[50:01] Bonita Hamilton: Oh my god.

[50:02] Lindsay Northen: So 14 voice messages, like many more missed calls. And I was in trouble and they wouldn't speak to me for like weeks.

[50:07] Bonita Hamilton: What?

[50:08] Lindsay Northen: And because I didn't call them back and they had to put the stuffers in the playbills. Yeah. And I was like, y'all, when have I never just not come to work? Right, right. And not told me. I've been here for a minute. Yeah, also I just did Glinda like an hour and a half ago. Like, it's fine. But it wasn't, and I was like, this is not a real emergency. I and we uh the stage manager walked me back to the theater after I I said, Well, do you want a quesadilla? Because I'm making one. So I made a quesadilla for Georgia, and I was like, You good? Okay. The babysitter was there. Handed her over to the babysitter. We walked back to the theater together and we passed a bunch of ambulances. And I said, This is an emergency.

[50:45] Bonita Hamilton: Exactly.

[50:46] Lindsay Northen: I was in trouble for a long time.

[50:48] Bonita Hamilton: Oh my gosh. You guys, I think we could sit here and like talk all day.

[50:53] Lindsay Northen: Yeah.

[50:54] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah.

[50:54] Lindsay Northen: Well, unfortunately, we don't have all day.

[50:56] Bonita Hamilton: No, we don't have to know.

[50:57] Lindsay Northen: Uh, because we have to go to Matinee's.

[50:58] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, yeah.

[50:59] Lindsay Northen: Because it's Wednesday. Um, but thank you, ladies, so much for joining us.

[51:03] Bonita Hamilton: Thank you for having me.

[51:05] Lindsay Northen: And it was such a treat to get to talk to you, too. Our lives are so similar.

[51:09] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah right?

[51:10] Lindsay Northen: Just being in long ways. It's so cool to get to meet you.

[51:13] Bonita Hamilton: Yeah, nice to meet you.

[51:14] Lindsay Northen: Awesome. Thank you so much so much.

[51:16] Bonita Hamilton: Thank you.

[51:17] Jessica Rush: Mama's talking about.

[51:24] Jessica Rush: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Mama's Talking Loud. Special shout outs to Rachel Spencer Hewitt for our fabulous graphic. Kristen Anderson Lopez, Bobby Lopez, and Justin Ward Weber for our super theme song. Our producer, Dori Berinstein, and of course the Broadway Podcast Network for bringing us to you. Have a good one.