This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Nella Vera: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the fabulous 54 Below.

[0:03] Nella Vera: Before we get started this evening, just a polite reminder, please take this moment to silence your cell phones and also there's no flash photography, please.

[0:15] Nella Vera: Welcome to the 54 Below podcast.

[0:17] Nella Vera: I'm Nella Vera, the club's director of marketing.

[0:21] Nella Vera: Our guest today is one of Broadway's favorite leading ladies.

[0:24] Nella Vera: She is known for her performances in shows such as It Should Have Been You, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Escape to Margaritaville.

[0:33] Nella Vera: Lisa Howard, welcome to our podcast.

[0:36] Lisa Howard: We're so excited to have you on today.

[0:38] Lisa Howard: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

[0:40] Nella Vera: So I wanted to ask you right off the bat, you have a show upcoming in December called Lisa Howard's Holiday Special. What inspired you to create this holiday-themed show?

[0:51] Lisa Howard: A couple years ago, my good friend and I, Michael Scheibe, decided to record a Christmas album during the pandemic. Because, you know, what else were we gonna do? We've been longtime friends and collaborators, and it just felt like the right time. And in our planning of that album, I knew that I wanted to put a show together and mix in there my love of Hallmark Christmas movies. Um, it's how we chose the songs, how we came up for the concept of the show. And um, this is actually going to be the second time we're doing this particular show. We had done it um two years ago at 54 Below, but only one performance. And we were like, we can't just do this for one show. This is ridiculous. But last year the timing didn't work out. I was out of town doing other shows. So we thought we have to do this again this year because it was so much fun.

[1:42] Nella Vera: Now we have you for two performances on December 19 and 20, both at 7 p.m. And well, we're excited to have you back, first of all. And now tell us how did you develop your love for performing, for singing?

[1:56] Lisa Howard: Oh wow. Um, it dates back all the way to elementary school and uh my love of Broadway albums. I would sit in front of our record player and act, you know, actual record player and listen to um Grease and Annie and The Sound of Music. And I just loved listening to musicals. And my parents would try to take us to the touring shows that would come through. I remember seeing Annie on stage at EJ Thomas Hall. We saw Cats, we, you know, saw local community theater productions and I just fell in love with it. So as young as eight, nine, 10 years old, I remember really just really loving musicals and singing along with them. And I think it was probably around fifth or sixth grade when, you know, I had a solo in the Christmas pageant at school and someone said, hey, you know, your daughter really has a nice voice. You should get her singing lessons and my parents said, well okay sure and the rest is history.

[3:09] Nella Vera: Wow amazing and then how did you end up, you know, knowing that this could be a career or you know, what made you pursue it as a career in addition to just being something that you loved and did you know to develop your voice?

[3:09] Lisa Howard: Sure yeah, you know, I I think I did show choir as a, you know, in middle school and high school. And I had I was doing my shows in my high school, which is was just a regular high school, not a performing arts high school. Um I knew that a career in theater was something possible out there, you know. Um, or and I also didn't know, oh, do I want to just study voice and do opera? Um, but really my junior year, my voice teacher uh kind of took me aside and said, Listen, if you really want to do this, you've got to take it more seriously and um then actually practice and study it and do it, you know. So, you know, do you want to? Because if so, then you better, you know, step it up kind of thing.

And you should in a nice way. But I think that kind of lit the fire under me and made me think, huh, maybe I could do this, maybe I want to do this. And it was her inspiration that made me think, you know what? Um, because I played sports too. So I kind of put the sports to the side and um, yeah, and focused more on singing and taking acting classes and dance classes and things like that. Um, but yeah, so sometime mid high school I thought, you know, this is this could be a possibility.

[4:51] Nella Vera: That's incredible. I you know, I love that you mentioned that because so many people who are not in the business don't understand the amount of work that it does take to be a performer. They just think, oh, well, you just get on stage and sing, well, well, what's that? You know, and it's just it's hilarious to me because you know, there's so much preparation to do. Uh. And also even just gearing up and you know, like you said, getting training and you know, all of that um that comes with performing.

[5:25] Lisa Howard: So I love that you mentioned that. Uh yeah because it's hours, the years of training and study and then to prepare for a particular show. It's months to, you know, especially if it's a solo show like this, of you know, memorizing and you know, writing the script and preparing and all of that, you know. It takes a lot, a lot of time and a lot of mental energy.

[5:49] Nella Vera: Yeah, yeah. Do you have an artist that was a role model for you? Or or you know, were you inspired by anyone in particular as you were coming into the business?

[5:58] Lisa Howard: Not necessarily one person. Um, but you know, like as far as listening to people's voices and being inspired by how they sang, you know, my mom growing up, we listened to a lot of Barbara Streisand. We listened to um The Carpenters, you know, some good 70s music. Um but I I don't think that there was necessarily one, say, Broadway performer that I was like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, emulate their career or whatever. I just knew I loved the art form and I knew I loved singing. And um, and so, you know, you try to take advice from all these different people or like, you know, read what they've written and how their careers began. But like I'll I tell a lot of people, you know, there's no one's career, no two careers that look the same, that started the same, that you know, have the same end results, you know, so you really have to forge your own path.

[6:59] Nella Vera: Yeah, yeah, no, that's so true. Um, let me ask you about well, the one of my very favorite shows that you've been in, It Should Have Been You, um, which was so delightful and fun. Uh, you originated the role of Jenny in It Should Have Been You. So tell tell me what that experience was like. You were working with Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris, who are like two legends, you know, of the stage.

[7:24] Lisa Howard: And also the show had an amazing cast also, in addition to those two incredible ladies. What was that experience like for you?

[7:33] Lisa Howard: I mean, it it was a dream come true. You know, especially obviously working with Tyne Daly, Harriet Harris, but there was also Sierra Boggess and Montego Glover and Jib Zion and I mean the list goes on and on. And um I feel very lucky that Barbara Anselmi had asked me to do that first reading however many years prior. Um, and that as new people came into the show and it was, you know, helmed by David Hyde Pierce, and that I I felt blessed that I got to keep going on with the show, you know, because sometimes people get replaced after this reading or that workshop or whatever. And um it was, you know, a story where, you know, focused around my character, I, you know, had the eleven o'clock number and it, you know, it's what you dream of when you say, you know what, I really want to be on Broadway and have a career and do that.

And that's what that show was. It was it was incredible. And um, it was fun to see it develop from the very very beginning stages when we just did a handful of songs for the um NAMT presentation, you know, the National Alliance of Musical Theater, and we just did a handful of songs for that. So from years prior, and then to see the show develop. And and Brian is such an amazing writer. I I thought it was so funny.

[8:57] Lisa Howard: Yeah. And touching and timely, all the things you want to show to be.

[9:05] Nella Vera: Yeah.

[9:06] Lisa Howard: And I love you know, and it just also great direction. I mean, when they say it needs to be fast and furious, you know, to be funny, it really was like, you know, it was like in and out, zoom, zoom. It was so fantastic, the energy uh with that. You know, you were constantly being surprised, and everything about it was so delightful.

[9:29] Nella Vera: And but yours, you know, there were an incredible cast who you've mentioned, and including like Edward Hibbert, I remember.

[9:36] Lisa Howard: Oh my god, one of my favorites of all time.

[9:40] Nella Vera: Uh, but yours was definitely the breakout performance. Um, like you mentioned, you had the 11 o'clock numbers and and you got to sing Jenny's Blues at the Tony Awards. So, what was that like?

[9:50] Lisa Howard: It's since become one of those moments that is iconic in Tony Award history, but like tell us how it was for you to experience that.

[10:01] Lisa Howard: Somebody pinch me, right? You know, when the when the producer and David Hyde Pierce walk into your dressing room and say, Do you want to sing on the Tonies? You go, Um, excuse me, I'm sorry, could could you repeat that? You know, and um, of course, I was like, Oh, yes, yes, please, you know.

[10:19] Lisa Howard: Um, I remember being more nervous during the rehearsal that morning, you know, how you rehearsed first. I definitely felt more nervous that morning. Um, but then come the time of the actual uh broadcast to, you know, and that final performance that night. I remember just feeling so ready and like in the zone. Oh wow, you know, and confident and like, yeah, let's do this, you know, like gr really great.

[10:48] Lisa Howard: And um and afterwards, I, you know, I came off thinking, well, I think that went well, you know.

[10:55] Nella Vera: Yeah.

[10:55] Lisa Howard: It was just one of those moments and being on that stage. I have to say it w I'm glad that it hadn't been my first time at the Tony's because I'd also performed on that stage with um Spelling Bee and with South Pacific and with nine to five prior. So I'm glad I am glad that it was not my first time because I really think I would have been a lot more nervous. But this was the first time that it was just me on the stage, you know, and looking out into that enormous auditorium.

[11:27] Lisa Howard: Um yeah, it it it doesn't get better than that.

[11:32] Nella Vera: Yeah, amazing, amazing.

[11:33] Lisa Howard: I love it.

[11:34] Nella Vera: I love that you were more nervous at the rehearsal when it's just like a bunch of industry people sitting around and a few lucky fans who manage to snag a ticket and sneak in.

[11:44] Lisa Howard: Uh, but yeah, that's uh but you know, that's kind of um I guess the performer in you kicks in, you know, when you're ready to perform.

[11:53] Lisa Howard: That's it. That's what you train for. It's like you go to the rehearsal and then you're on. So yeah. You've had the opportunity to work, you know, at regional theaters also across the country. Um, you know, is there one moment or a couple of moments uh that you feel uh, you know, from those uh shows that you've done that have had, you know, a lasting impact or are super memorable, you know, for you in your career.

[12:23] Lisa Howard: Um most definitely. I mean, I actually just got done doing The Witch in Into the Woods at the Guthrie in amazing oh which was a pretty spectacular um production and and um place to work you know if you're gonna have an a regional gig that's you know that's a pretty good one to have yeah yeah and um that was that was pretty great because you know the scale of production is wonderful it's a huge you know institution and um and it was a kind of a bucket list role so I'm really glad um that I had the opportunity to do it and to work with uh again with um Sarna Lepine who was our director yeah yeah because I had worked I had worked with her on um uh South Pacific she was assistant to Bartlett Sheriff oh how wonderful I love that when you you know our business is so much about relationships and you uh you know people see you in shows earlier and then they you know want to put you in shows later and it it's just I love that hearing that and we are we're also pretty loyal you know we do remember people that we work with and want to work with them again if they were positive experiences.

[13:41] Nella Vera: In fact I remember reading this about how you were cast in Spelling Bee. Some something about Bill Finn saw you at NYU can you tell me a little bit more about that oh sure it's a great story.

[13:55] Lisa Howard: Um NYU has a graduate musical theater musical theater writing program. And every spring they hire actors to come and do, I think it's a three or four-day workshop where you learn the students' um graduate pieces. It's like a one act that they write as a part of you know, as a part of their schooling. And um for quite a few years, I had done that every spring. And so I was there for I don't know, quite a few weeks because I would do multiple of them. So uh Bill Finn is an adjunct professor there. And he got to see me many years do all these different kinds of roles. And, you know, so he got to know me. And when it came time um for the auditions for Spelling Bee, uh, funny enough, I didn't get an initial audition.

And I he had even called Vadim Feichner, who at the time had been a student at NYU, which I knew him. I did one of his readings, you know, um, but he was gonna be Bill's musical director. And I called, and because I think my boyfriend at the time had an audition. And I was like, oh, I don't have an audition. And I called Vadim, I was like, what's this project up in the Berkshires? Uh something about a spelling bee. And he was like, Ugh, don't bother, you know, not not great money, and I don't know what it is. And I was like, okay. So he said, I forgot about it. And then I just happened to be visiting a friend in town. I was out of town doing a show somewhere, and I just happened to be in town.

I was at a friend's house, and I get a call from Vadim. He's like, um, we're having those auditions now, and Bill wants you to come in. Do you can you come in right now? It's like six o'clock on a I don't know, Friday or Saturday night. I'm at a friend's house having a glass of wine. I didn't have my book or anything. So I was like, sure. And I hop on the train and head down to NYU. And Carmel Dean, who was the associ uh associate music director, happened to have a binder of music that she was going to be playing for somebody's cabaret that night. And she said, Well, here, take a look through this, see if you know anything. You know, and I sang something I had sung once in college. And then I think I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

You know, just random songs. And um, so that's kind of how I got that initial uh uh audition because you know, he called me the day of as they were in the auditions because I'm sure Bill was like, Why isn't Lisa here? You know, and uh so that's how that happened. And it was really Bill Finn who uh wanted me in the cast, um, you know, because he had seen me do all those different kinds of parts um down at NYU. Because I don't come from that improv world, and that's what a lot of the other people on the team were looking for. Um, but Bill said, No, I want someone who can sing and I could she I know she can do it. I've seen her do lots of things, you know, I know she can do it. So yeah, I really owe all that to Bill.

[16:54] Nella Vera: Yeah, it's amazing. And also like what a great payoff to that kind of, you know, hard work of kind of paying your dues and you know, coming in and doing student projects and you don't know who those students are and what they're gonna write. And uh, you know, this idea that a friend of mine once said, you know, the advice that he gives to young people is just just work. Doesn't matter, like student project, off off Broadway, just like keep working. Eventually somebody will see you or the thing will move.

[17:31] Lisa Howard: Yeah. And similar to your story, I remember I worked at Manhattan Theater Club for so many years, and there was a reader who read every reading that we ever did. I mean, it was just crazy. It's like every single time there was a reading, she read the stage directions. And you know, her name was uh Heather Goldenhirsch. And then eventually she went on and you know now has a thriving career and played the little nun in Doubt eventually. But you know, it was it was incredible because we would be like, she's such an interesting character actress, kind of, you know, had a vibe about her. And but she just like for years just read all of the stage directions, and then one day that you know, she got put in a show, which was great.

Um, casting directors, you know, get to see your range when you do that kind of work. And um they also, you know, we like I said, we're a loyal kind of uh industry that likes to you know eventually reward people for their talent and their work. So that's so great. What an awesome story.

[18:36] Nella Vera: What um do you when you talk to young people? Do you have any advice that you give to them um, you know, about how to break into the business or how to work?

[18:46] Lisa Howard: It's very similar to what you were just saying. Uh avail yourself to all of those opportunities, whether it's a paid gig, whether it's oh, reading a script in someone's living room, whether it's just putting yourself out there for auditions, just keep at it, be consistently putting yourself out there, reflecting back on the feedback that you're getting, and just keep doing it. So it's sometimes, you know, it's a numbers game because there are a lot of talented people coming is coming in to the city and into this business, and um even more so now. There's so many wonderful training programs out there, way more than even when I was first, you know, going to school and doing all that. Um so that you know, I feel like the competition is even more fierce um and uh I think it's just a matter of literally keeping at it keep taking the classes keep working on your craft going to the auditions doing anything you can to maintain a presence and um you know so that casting directors and uh people in the business begin to know who you are because that then they'll say oh yeah I remember that girl yeah bring her in or you know what I mean like you you they you know they want to uh have their make their presence known in a way and and the only way to do that is consistency and just keep keep doing it.

[20:16] Nella Vera: Yeah. And now with technology too I see a lot of young people putting themselves out there on their YouTube channels or you know or even like when we have a lot of younger performers come and they it's kind of a a bit of a meme or a joke. You make your 54 Below debut you know you get to sing a song in a group show but even that is so valuable because that sits on our YouTube channel and somebody's seen it and you know it's really it's so delightful for us here to see so many young people be so excited to sing on our tiny little stage.

[20:49] Lisa Howard: Most definitely but you see you know they capture real and so now you have video of that so it's so nice yeah.

[20:57] Nella Vera: Yeah and and and you had mentioned briefly about the the social media aspect. I mean, what a tool is that when you're trying to make your presence known, like a lot, a lot easier now than it, you know, than it was however many years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago.

[21:17] Lisa Howard: Um, so you really can make a name for yourself. Um, and again, and I struggle with this, I have to admit, because it's not second nature, and it's not but it's consistency.

[21:30] Nella Vera: Yeah.

[21:30] Lisa Howard: Keeping, you know, keeping the posts and you know, all going and all that. So it's about a consistent effort and you know, creating that brand that is you and um and just keep putting yourself out there.

[21:46] Nella Vera: Yeah, it's so interesting. I remember, you know, a friend of mine who had gone to Juilliard and came out and was getting jobs, but he kind of made an investment in himself. And this was, you know, I'm gonna say 20 years ago, he hired a publicist, and somehow, you know, his visibility went way up. He was all of a sudden attending opening nights and walking red carpets, and people would be like, Who is that? You know, and they would take his picture and he'd end up on Playbill. And and it's I think today that has been replaced by you have to have good social. And if you don't do it yourself, you kind of have to get help and learn, or or have somebody do it for you, because that is now how people are so you know, it's the age of content and everybody's consuming so much content, and we want to hear you sing a random song on your Instagram, and you know, it's all of that, which is it's a lot.

[22:43] Lisa Howard: It's like a full-time job to keep that.

[22:45] Nella Vera: It is a lot.

[22:46] Lisa Howard: It really is. And I'm like, you know, I'm a mom. Um, you know, I teach voice, I do coachings, I talk to kids at all different colleges and universities. I'm also performing, and you know, the social if anybody wants to help me with my social yeah, it's it's so interesting to me that you know that is such a thing, you know.

[23:07] Nella Vera: But it's great.

[23:07] Lisa Howard: I know it provides more opportunity, you know, for people to be seen.

[23:11] Nella Vera: Um most definitely.

[23:13] Lisa Howard: But you you gotta have some skills and you gotta get the help because otherwise it's hard. Um, you you recently starred in Escape to Margaritaville on Broadway. Um I feel like that was the show, you know, really captured Jimmy Buffett's spirit. So delightful and just like what he was about. Was he around for the production? Did you have a chance to meet him? Just love to hear any tales you have to tell about him.

[23:40] Lisa Howard: He was around a lot. We totally got to meet him. He would come and surprise us and come on stage for the finale. Or, you know, like, um, he would be in the rehearsal room sometimes. He wasn't there every day, but we most definitely got to know him, and he would be at the parties, and you know, we did an out-of-town tour. He was definitely he was in New Orleans with us, and um, he was great, he was a real presence and a really nice guy and was very gracious with us. He even invited us out, the whole cast to uh when he does his big concert in Joan's Beach. So we got to go on stage with him and sing. I mean, that was really cool. I have video of that. Amazing, yeah, yeah. So um, he was he was pretty great, and it's you know, pretty cool to get to work with a legend like that.

That's kind of how I felt went with Dolly Parton too, when I did that to five because she was around quite a bit in the rehearsal room and she would come backstage uh and you'd come off, you know, after the show, you'd change in out of your clothes in the gondolas backstage and then put on your show robe and then head up to the dressing rooms and she'd be there high-fiving everybody, hey y'all, great show, and give everybody high fives as we like came up the stairs and you know, during tech, she would make us homemade fudge and she she was amazing.

[25:08] Nella Vera: So did you join the show in New York or were you with it in Los Angeles too?

[25:14] Lisa Howard: Uh for nine to five, yeah. Yes, I was in the Los Angeles.

[25:18] Nella Vera: You were okay.

[25:19] Lisa Howard: So I was I did marketing for it at the Almundson. I was out in LA. And I that was one of the best experiences I ever had. I thought the show was great. And thank you. Getting to meet Dolly Parton just beyond anything, you know, dream come true. Talk about that. And she's awesome. And the fact that she is exactly who you think she's gonna be. You know, I remember we did a the first the photo shoot and we were shooting the commercial, and it was the three ladies, it was Stephanie and Allison and Megan and Dolly was there, and she walked into the room and all of us just we froze because like what do you say to somebody like that? You know, and then she made us all feel that it was she went around and introduced herself and she's like, What's your name, honey?

And just to everybody in the room. And then she knew that we were like trying to be respectful and not be like, oh my god, you're Dolly Parton. So she asked every single person. She said, Would you like a photo, honey? Like just because she knew we couldn't ask because we were at work and we didn't want to overwhelm her. And so everybody that wanted a photo, she took a photo with. I mean, just like who does that? You know, she's so delightful and amazing and generous and just, you know, they say don't meet your heroes, but that's like one that she totally lives up to what you want it to be, right?

[26:51] Nella Vera: Most definitely.

[26:52] Lisa Howard: And I just don't know where she gets the energy and the positivity all the time. You know, but that was so it was such a you know great experience for me working on that show in Los Angeles. And then I love, you know, I love the show. I thought it was uh such a great adaptation. Um, you know, and it was fun to see it here. I didn't wasn't involved with it here in New York, but it was fun to see it on Broadway. But I still think in LA it was so special and had you know such specialness because it was the first production of it. But yeah, you know, working with these icons, right? That's a whole other level of. I mean, we have our musical theater goddesses and you know, sort of uh leading men that we love, but then there's a level of just I don't think people can agree with Kimmy Buffett and Dolly Parton, right?

What is it? Yeah, a level of kind of stardom and fame and you know, like longevity in the business that you know I I will never understand that, and I think it's okay because I feel like that takes a lot. You there has to be it's a certain kind of personality or person that can handle that, yeah.

[28:05] Nella Vera: Yeah, you know, um, and I'm just glad to have been able to um spend some time with both of them.

[28:11] Lisa Howard: Yeah, and two good ones to meet because they are kind of what you think they're gonna be, you know, which is great because sometimes you know they don't uh they have a different public persona than the way they are in person, and yeah, incredible, incredible. Um, among your many impressive credits is appearing in Breaking Dawn, which was the second installment of the Twilight saga. Again, talk about cultural phenomena. What was that like? And tell me like how your family and friends reacted to that.

[28:48] Lisa Howard: Um, it was a surprise to me as well. I loved the books, honestly. I it was during nine to five when I was reading them. Yeah, guilty pleasure. Yeah, and I had just signed on my new manager who was Jen Name off, and um she got me this audition for the character of Siobhan in in Twilight, and I knew exactly who it was, and I uh I got the and I just laughed. I was like, this is great, you know. I thought, yeah, you know, no way I'm getting it, but how cool is this that I even got an audition? And sure. I think she had arranged this is before everybody was really doing self-tapes at their homes. So, you know, I think she arranged for me to go to her friend's casting office, you know, and somebody put me on tape there and uh had someone read with me.

We did it a couple times and uh sent the tape off, and like a week later I got a call back that I had booked the part what just from the tape, yeah. Yeah, I about flipped my lid. What? That's incredible, yeah. How fun. And then how was it when you told your family and your friends that you were going to be in Twilight?

[30:02] Lisa Howard: Honestly. I don't even I don't even remember. I think it was all it's all a blur because I was like, I I I can't believe this is happening. You know.

[30:11] Nella Vera: That's so hilarious and amazing. Um so to talk again about your show at 54 Below. Um, one of the things that I read in the description about the show uh is that it celebrates uh the holiday movie genre. So can you talk a little bit about that a little bit more and maybe name some of the movies that have influenced putting together your cabaret show?

[30:38] Lisa Howard: Well, it's it wouldn't have been specific movies because it really is about the multitude of holiday movies that there are and the sometimes similarities in a lot of these movies. So that's what I'm really playing up in my show. And so in the show, I create my own holiday Christmas TV movie, but I make it a musical. Oh so I've we create our own um our own TV movie. And it's a Christmas movie, and um, so it just plays up to the whole genre in itself, and um kind of you know, all the things that one loves about Christmas wrapped up in a perfectly packaged.

[31:25] Nella Vera: Amazing.

[31:26] Lisa Howard: Well, they're already starting. I I somehow got some email, not an email, I got served an ad for something that was a holiday movie, and I'm like, it's not Halloween yet.

[31:37] Nella Vera: Oh, blue, mark my words. The countdown to Christmas, hashtag countdown to Christmas has begun on Friday.

[31:45] Lisa Howard: It's already started full force. Countdown to Christmas. The movies have started. Believe me, you can tune in to the set your DVR for the Hallmark Holiday Channel. And but also there are, you know, on Netflix and Lifetime and a whole bunch of, you know, they'll all they'll all be coming. I think Hallmark might start a little sooner.

[32:05] Nella Vera: Yeah.

[32:05] Lisa Howard: Um, but all those, you know, TV outlets, they they all produce um holiday movies. Yeah, but what would the holiday season be without a lazy chair holiday movie? Come on now.

[32:18] Nella Vera: That's right.

[32:19] Lisa Howard: That's right. You gotta love it. Everybody does. Everybody does, even though they're kind of predictable, and that's okay. Because but there's something comforting in that, and something that uh, you know, it is comforting. My one quibble is like it's always like the city is always the bad guy in every one of these movies. It's like you find love and happiness and Christmas in a small town, and I would like the reverse to happen. I would like somebody to be sad and miserable in their hometown and then come to Fifth Avenue and find love and happiness. Um I get why, I get why. Uh my partner and I have a cabin now as of last year, and I kind of understand the charm of small town, you know, living.

Um, but just for once, I'd like to see a holiday movie do the opposite, and you know, okay. Well, maybe that's my maybe that's my sequel. Maybe that's the next one. So you'll have to uh yeah, it's not like a farmer or a guy who chops food, but it's an advertising executive walking down the street with his okay. I'm gonna write these ideas down for my next one.

[33:35] Lisa Howard: Uh these holiday shows they are kind of predictable and cheesy, but they bring, you know, a sense of nostalgia and togetherness as the holidays do for so many of us. Uh so what do you what do you hope that audiences take away from from your cabaret?

[33:54] Lisa Howard: Well, all these movies and things are stories of hope and love. And uh, you know, we watch them over and over again. So there is, you know, some kind of lesson that we're all learning over and over again from these um from these movies. And I, you know, I just hope that people come in and uh enjoy themselves. I hope they laugh and I hope they go home and watch a Hallmark movie and uh and you know, reflect on uh what Christmas means to them, because that's really you know what the show is about, and you know, to believing that a happy ending is possible, you know, because really that's what all these movies are about. It's about hope.

[34:41] Nella Vera: Yeah.

[34:41] Lisa Howard: And you know, what better message for the holidays is that?

[34:45] Nella Vera: Fantastic. We love it, love it. It has been such a pleasure to have you on this podcast. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today.

[34:55] Lisa Howard: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

[34:56] Nella Vera: Yeah, we can't wait for your show. Just a reminder to everybody who's listening. Lisa's show is December 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. You can get tickets and more information at 54below.org.

[35:13] Nella Vera: You've been listening to the 54 Below Podcast, part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. To find out more about our upcoming shows, visit us at 54below.org.