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[0:00] Alan Seales: Hey, everyone. Welcome to a special bonus episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and this is the recording of the live panel that happened at BroadwayCon 2023 just a few weeks ago. It's with The Women of The Cottage, Dana Steingold, Laura Bell Bundy, Lilli Cooper, and playwright Sandy Rustin. Just a heads up, there was a little snafu with the beginning of the recording, so the actual intro that I read live was cut off. I'm going to redo it now, and then we're going to dive straight into the answer from Sandy, which is her response to my question, why even write this thing in the first place? So here's the intro. Here you go. One, two, three. Today, we're all here to talk with these amazing women about the new, soon-to-be Broadway smash hit, The Cottage.

Set in the English countryside in 1923, this tale of sex, betrayal, and love unfolds when Sylvia, played by Laura Bell Bundy, decides to expose her affair to both her husband and her lover's wife. The true meaning of fate, identity, and marriage are called into question as a surprising and hilarious web of secrets unravels in this ridiculous, potentially murderous, romantic comedy. So Sandy, why even write this thing?

[1:24] Sandy Rustin: While there are great female characters in those plays, often those female characters are there in service to the male characters, and that the plot lines in those plays are often very male story-centric. And so I wondered what would happen if I tried to flip that on its head and create a show in that same world where the female characters had something to say. And so that's how The Cottage was born. And I'm from Chicago. I just really like it. Sandy is an actress and award-winning playwright, recently named by the magazine as one of the most produced playwrights of the 22-23 season. Congratulations.

[2:04] Alan Seales: Thank you very much. And her stage adaptation of the film Clue is one of the most produced plays in the U.S. now, with 3,000 productions. 3,000, really? Worldwide? That's incredible. So why take on this particular type of story? And I want you to also get into the 10 years in the making aspect of this as well.

[2:25] Sandy Rustin: Yeah. I mean, I wrote it because I wanted a challenge. I loved this genre.

[2:31] Alan Seales: Clue was too easy?

[2:35] Sandy Rustin: No, no. I wrote Cottage way before I wrote Clue.

[2:38] Alan Seales: Really?

[2:39] Sandy Rustin: Yeah. I wrote The Cottage in 2013, and I've been developing it over the last 10 years. The Clue first premiered in 2020, January of 2020, right before the pandemic. So yeah, I had written The Cottage almost seven full years before Clue.

[2:54] Alan Seales: And okay, so there's obviously things with Broadway or off-Broadway. Where did this first start, like in the basement of a church in Queens?

[3:00] Sandy Rustin: That's right. It was the Astoria Performing Arts Center, and their performance space was in the basement of a church in Queens. And the budget for the set for that production was $1,000. And I thought it was the most gorgeous set I had ever seen. The set designer was this man named Stephen Dobay, and he cut out cardboard boxes into pieces to create a thatched roof that he like, I don't know, papier-mâché-ed or something, and painted it, and it was stunning gorgeous. And I thought it could never get better than this. And now we have resources to... Paul Tate DePue has done the set for our show.

[3:40] Alan Seales: Broadway debut for him, yep.

[3:41] Sandy Rustin: Broadway debut. He's incredible. And the set itself gets applause.

[3:45] Alan Seales: I was about to say, literally, it gets its own entrance applause. The curtain goes up, the set gets its own entrance applause, because it's become this whole character in the thing.

[3:55] Alan Seales: So Laura Bell, I actually want to start with you. Tony nominee, Laura Bell, made her stage debut.

[4:02] Laura Bell Bundy: Laura Bell Bundy, you have a last name, I'm sorry.

[4:04] Alan Seales: Yes, that's okay. Made her stage debut at age nine in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Originated the roles of Tina in Ruthless, Amber in Hairspray, and of course Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, the musical. And she's been Glinda on Broadway, and we have an Elphaba down there too. Laura Bell, I've known you for a couple of years, and what you focus in on is strong female empowerment, and really representing, I think, who you are real deep down at the core. I guess, how did you get attached to this, and what about this role really speaks to you as somebody who's trying to rewrite her story?

[4:47] Laura Bell Bundy: Well, I was approached, it'll be what, 11 months ago-ish, 10, 11 months ago. I was sent this play, and I laughed on page one, out loud, which I thought was a pretty good sign that normally doesn't happen, and I laughed continuously throughout. And the icing on the cake was that this character of Sylvia had such a beautiful arc in terms of where she starts, you know, full of this sort of lost in the bliss of love, in this unawareness of herself in a way, and then sort of goes through these different stages of jiltedness, and bitterness, and anger, and then the hope and possibility of love again, and to finding that actually what she's looking for is inside of herself. And so, I loved that message in general for a woman, that as an actor is such a fun and juicy thing to play.

And of course, since it's important to me to play strong female characters, or that plays do have those things, the focus is really about the women in this play, not only in Sylvia's transformation, but in also her relationship with the other women throughout that she could have conflict with, but she finds common ground and bond with, which I thought was so beautiful, and you've done such a great job of that. But the overall message of this is that, you know, and I don't want to give too much away, but often as women, we identify ourselves as belonging to something else when we explain who we are. I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a this, I'm a that. And I think we see sort of Sylvia transformed to being her own.

And I think that's a message that resonated in 1923, and I think it resonates in 2023. So yes, it mostly this is a fun, outrageous comedy. But there is a nice little message at the end that we can be autonomous as women and you know, we can also be sexy beasts as well. So that's so it appealed to me on the cherry on top was the feminist message, the icing on the cake was the character, the play is the cake. And I'm having a blast doing this play. I feel so grateful to have this juicy ass role, and to be working with these brilliant women and this cast. We have a great time. We do. Maybe too much fun.

[8:03] Alan Seales: Dangerous. You lost me with the cake metaphor, but I think I'm fine.

[8:07] Laura Bell Bundy: You can go back and listen to it later.

[8:12] Alan Seales: Yeah, I'll rewrite it. Lil Koops.

[8:19] Laura Bell Bundy: Yeah, Lily Koops. Tony nominee for her role in POTUS.

[8:23] Alan Seales: Oh, sorry. No, no, no. Julian Tootsie. Sorry, my notes are Julian Tootsie. That was and then she was Chris and POTUS. Out of order. Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob original cast of Spring Awakening. And of course, Elphaba in Wicked. Oh, my God, your role. The way you approached your character, you come in and I also love that your character, I'm not giving too much away, your character is pregnant and it becomes this running gag of the whole thing along with the set, which is I want to bring him back to the set because I love the set and I love everything about it. But for you, Lily, like when you're choosing your roles, kind of the same sort of thing when you're trying to put yourself into making history and originating a role like this, what attracts you about it? And are you looking for that comedy? Are you looking for something else?

[9:04] Lilli Cooper: I mean, I love doing comedies and I feel so lucky that in the past two years, I've been able to do a summer farce. And if I could make that the rest of my career, I would do a farce every July. And I, since having a child, since becoming a mother, I truly believe that I have been drawn to these maternal roles. The last show I did, I was a nursing mom. This show, I'm a pregnant mom. And who knows what will be next? But I am fully drawn to it. And funny little story is I actually got an appointment to audition for a different role for Deirdre in the show, the role that Dana plays. And I read it and thought it was hilarious. And I just knew I wasn't quite right for it. But reading the role of Marjorie, I was like, that's me. And definitely the maternal aspect of her, the kind of, you know, sassy judgmental aspect of her. I was like, yep, spot on. That's me. So that's really what drew me to her.

[10:14] Alan Seales: I love that. And certainly not least, last to be introduced, Dana Steingold. All right. Last seen on Broadway, originating the role of Girl Scout in Beetlejuice, who we also have Girl Scout right here in the front row. And Chelsea Carter, Lydia Dietz. Has anybody seen The Cottage yet? Yes. OK, so round of applause for fricking Dana Steingold. Yes. I mean, all three of you. OK, I'm stopping. Dana, you have impressed me so much in this show because like you're breaking the mold of what we I think all of us can or have expected of you and your personality and what you're presenting on stage. And you come to this with a freshness and an intelligent naivete that I don't think anybody else could pull off.

[11:04] Dana Steingold: Oh, that's very kind. Thank you.

[11:05] Alan Seales: So I think there's probably like twenty five at least.

[11:11] Dana Steingold: No, no, no. And so, by the way, a one on one episode with Dana is soon to be released on the podcast feed. But so we talked about this a little bit, but for the room here, for you, how did you get attached and what is it about you that sort of allowed you just because this is slapstick at some points, like for you, you are literally if you could tell your audition story doing the self tape.

[11:28] Dana Steingold: Yes. So, you know, since twenty twenty, many of us have been putting auditions on tape and I think that sort of stuck around a bit. And so a lot of first round auditions before like a final callback will simply be on tape. And so everybody, these amazing women were already sort of in place. And I think Sandy can probably speak to this a bit more than I can, truthfully, but I think they're having a bit of trouble finding the right fit for this particular production. And I was sort of my agents said, can you read this script? We want to sort of push you for this, but we want to make sure you feel comfortable with it before you know that you feel good about it before we submit you and all that.

And they sent me the script. I was out of town working and I read it and I said, I love it. I think it's really exactly what I'd want to follow up Beetlejuice with. But I cannot make this tape by tomorrow. I need like one extra day because I'm in Florida doing a concert and I said I just need one more day. So I came home and Alan and I spoke about this, but I had to make a tape. And when you see the show, there are many things that happen. There are like guns and you get one of the requirements of the audition was like, could you get progressively drunk and like show yourself doing so on a tape while simultaneously falling to the floor and or like down a chair? So I, and I ended up doing that. I want to see this audition.

[13:07] Dana Steingold: I'll show it to you. The tape is wild. My husband was my camera person and my reader. So I had like a Swiffer as a gun in the first scene. And I realized it was too big in the second part of the scene because it was starting to hit the camera. So I switched it to like the Dustbuster. Like, I literally sent the tape to my agents. And I was like, they're either going to be like, this girl's so crazy, she should definitely be in our play or this girl's absolutely crazy. We cannot bring her into the play. And yeah, the tapes of me getting drunk are like, I'm rolling over my couch, like frontward, I hit my head on the coffee table at one point, like it was really something. At one point, I think I spit all the water out of my mouth.

And like, the last take is like I'm soaking wet. So they're beautiful and flattering. But yeah, and then they called me and they said, you're going to come in the room, here's some notes from your tape. And there was sort of a final callback. And it was, it all happened very quickly from there. We sort of had like a 20-ish minute work session. And then like 24 hours later, it was kind of done. And then the cast was announced like the next. Yeah, it was very fast.

[14:16] Sandy Rustin: After seeing the production and the cast is still all the women here and there's three men in it as well. And Eric McCormick from Will and Grace is in it as well and Hal Joshi and Alex Moffat from Saturday Night Live. So my God, Sandy, his physical slapstick. And his Broadway debut as well. Anyway, so you've got these three amazing people. And then it just happens to be directed by Jason Alexander from Seinfeld, his Broadway debut for directing. And I guess let's back up a second. So I want to see, I want to number one, what did you think when you saw Dana's audition tape? But then the other thing was, when did you start working with Jason in this 10-year process? And how did you put that together?

[15:02] Laura Bell Bundy: Yeah, sure. So well, we had seen many, many, many audition tapes for the role of Deirdre. And when Dana's came in, I was actually working on a new play of mine called The Suffragettes Murder at the Denver Center for Performing Arts in their new play summit. And I had been like, up round the clock and exhausted. And it was like, really, we were like pushing it, we really needed to find a Deirdre. And Dana's tape came in. And I replied all to however many people were on that thing and said, winner, winner, chicken. And to be honest, the same thing happened with Lily. Lily came into an in-person session when we were seeing Deirdre's. And she came in as Marjorie, dressed as Marjorie, ready as Marjorie.

She walked in, she was Marjorie. She walked out of the room and Jason and I turned to each other and we said to each other simultaneously, she's hired. And that was it. I think she was hired within like, I think she got a call like an hour later. Yeah, it was an hour. It was so wonderful. So I cannot say enough. I cannot shower these women enough or the men in this play with praise. It has been a total dream come true to work with this group of actors. So Jason and I met probably five or six years ago now. He was ready to make his Broadway debut as a director. And we had the same agency at the time, him as a director, me as a writer. And he went to them and said, what new comedies do you have?

And the cottage had been kicking around regionally for quite some time and had had some nice reviews. And so my play was amongst the comedic plays that they shared with him. And he gravitated to this one. And I went out to LA and we met and he and I connected with each other. And so we've been waiting for the moment when this play was going to, you know, come to Broadway together for several years. We've done a couple readings of it together over the years. It was supposed to happen right before the pandemic. And then of course it didn't. And so now here we are. So that was the journey.

[17:08] Lilli Cooper: So it's, it's essentially, and Dana actually said this to me when we were talking, it was, it's a sitcom. It's, it's a sitcom on stage. That's a great, that's great. Right. And because there's, there's the center that the audience is looking at, and then there's action that happens off in the wings and you do such a great job of establishing this is the kitchen and this is the upstairs and that is the study. And then there's the secret prison. I'm going to spoil a joke.

[17:36] Sandy Rustin: A little something, something that you got to see. We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[17:48] Dana Steingold: The original thousand dollar version of the set versus what it is now.

[17:52] Lilli Cooper: Which I'd love to see pictures of that.

[17:53] Dana Steingold: Right.

[17:55] Lilli Cooper: To be honest, the, it's, it's very similar.

[17:59] Dana Steingold: Is it really?

[18:00] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. I mean, this version is stunning and resources and beyond gorgeous, gorgeous, but the layout and how the play moves within the space really, you know, has maintained its integrity for the last decade.

[18:14] Sandy Rustin: And did Jason come in and bring, or I guess what changes did Jason bring in with his sitcom experience, right? Because literally as soon as Dana said that it clicked, I was like, yes, this is, this is Jason bringing his TV experience.

[18:26] Laura Bell Bundy: Jason's influence is all over this, through the script, through the staging, through the production. I mean, he really had a clear vision of the kind of comedy that he wanted to be in this production and he has executed it beautifully.

[18:39] Sandy Rustin: So, and so for the rest, so Ellie B, Lily, Dana, for you, the three of you have so much TV and film and everything experience combined with all of you and working with Eric McCormick and Alex Moffat and Nihal Joshi and Jason Alexander, is this the comedy that you three are now finding? What is, what is coming out of like this amorphous amoeba that is your cast?

[19:09] Laura Bell Bundy: Yeah.

[19:10] Dana Steingold: Versus what are you bringing individually? So start with you, I guess, cause you have, you, you are very physical comedic wise anyway.

[19:19] Lilli Cooper: I, we all are. Um, uh, I think we all kind of came to this like working our butts off individually before we came into the room. Um, and then offering, uh, in, in the rehearsal space as much as we felt that we could. And, uh, and, and everybody had ideas. Everybody has added to, you know, group moments. I mean, our head turns, their, their Lily, all the, you know, she was really like very specific and on it with this gasping in the head turns and nailing it and different ideas. And, um, so I feel like right now we, you know, that was in the rehearsal process of people, of all of us going, well, could we try this? Or is this moment this? And then many lengthy discussions about whether or not it was or not.

Um, but now that we're in this show that is set, we're all finding new things and new moments with each other or new ways to deliver or new beats. And, and it's fun to watch everybody doing that and we have to be prepared for it. So we are one organism that is making space for discovery, um, and being aware of what everybody else's timing is.

[20:45] Dana Steingold: I mean, now I actually saw yesterday, this was the first time I saw both Eric and Nahal kind of mouthing. I think it was your line. And, and, and I, and I had never seen it before, but I was like, oh yeah, now we know everyone else's line.

[21:06] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, exactly.

[21:07] Dana Steingold: Came into it. It was like, we knew ours and this is a wordy play.

[21:10] Lilli Cooper: Yeah. This was one of the harder things to memorize, I think.

[21:15] Dana Steingold: But it is the style, it is the style of this like Noel Coward-esque style. It is wordy and fast. And that was, that has been, you know, the British part of it too. Like what lines have the, oh, or like the, yes. Well, you know, like remembering which order there's a melody in English accent, there's a melody to it. And so there's this added element. I will add to, um, you know, this, the amoeba style of the, of the comedy that we're doing and the, and the cast that has come together in this show. It's so fun to watch the new things that people have discovered. And it truly is a kind of like machine organism where when one tentacle moves, you know, the opposite tentacle has to react. And that's, and it feels so organic in that way.

We were talking just last night about how, oh, it's interesting how some nights this joke gets a laugh and this joke doesn't get a laugh. And we realized, okay, I can't really even move while this person is saying this line so that the audience is really focused on that. Because if I move, then I distract from it. So it's, it's being, there's a, there has to be a selflessness in comedy where you allow yourself to blend into the background when you know who needs to be the focus. And then that person will allow you to be the focus when you are. It's, it's a really interesting, um, collaboration. And that's what I love so much about comedy because it, it can't ever be selfish. It can't ever be just about you. It has to be about every other person on stage. And I think the harder thing is actually realizing when it's your turn to just serve.

[23:03] Lilli Cooper: Exactly. That to the other actors on stage. Um, and I think this is a group that like we're all, we all try to be really cognizant of that also because we all, we laugh a lot at each other. I mean, we maybe professionally break a lot because we make each other laugh and everyone's finding new things. But I also think, I don't know, what was fun for me about it is I think Deirdre, the stakes are what makes her funny. Cause her stakes are very high. Um, and then she's just shiny penny distracted by whatever else is happening. Like squirrel. Literally squirrel. But I think the biggest discovery I've made, and I think we're all slowly making is what you said, even through like 12 previews is just initially we were all like, Oh, we'll each have business while all these other people are talking.

And then you realize what the cleanest thing is. And the best thing you can do is just like, look to that person, look to that person, give that person focus, give that one focus. And, you know, even in like a week and a half time, I think we learned, I learned that very quickly for myself. I was like, okay, I just have to like sit in this chair and like have big eyes and look at this person.

[24:03] Sandy Rustin: It's interesting that you say that. Cause I've, I even noticed in another part went right after, um, well, I don't want to be when I come back after here you are, wouldn't want you to starve that yes, there's a jilted, but my business has to go on internally. Right. It just messes with everything. Right. Right. If I'm making any movements at all.

[24:28] Laura Bell Bundy: I wanted to say too, you know, I, I tend to write ensemble comedies. That's why would I gravitate to, I think in part because I have an improv comedy, sketch comedy background, and that's just what I love. But, um, the other day somebody offered me what I think is probably the greatest compliment, which was, I felt to them in watching the cottage, like they were watching in a, like a great episode of the Carol Burnett show, which was like my, you know, that's what I grew up with. And I felt like that's what this ensemble has been able to do in such a short amount of time. These six actors came together and they seem like they're six actors who have worked together for seasons and seasons, um, on the stage.

And that's so thrilling for an audience to watch. Like there's something very unique about an ensemble comedy where when you walk out, one person says like, didn't you love that person? And the person they're with is like, yes, but also this person. And also, you know, everybody has favorite moments and that's thrilling. So I, you know, I give full, full, whatever, however much gratitude you can give to a cast of six actors. That's what I have to do.

[25:30] Sandy Rustin: I was going to, I was going to point that out that, that when you were talking about, um, Laura Bell, what you were saying, like sometimes you'd have to sit and watch, uh, to give the other person the attention. It's like, there's no straight person in, there's no straight man in this. We're straight. We have straight moments. Yeah. Moments. But there's no, like, there's not the funny, it's not like Abbott and Costello, like there's not the funny one and there's always the straight one.

[25:51] Laura Bell Bundy: Well, they're all, they're all funny and they're all straight. It just depends on what the moment is. And I think that's what Dana was talking about is figuring out when you're the straight man and when you are the funny man or woman. And, um, that has been the task of these actors to discover. And, and I think they're discovering it still in front of the audience when that ebb and flow happens. And it's really exciting to watch.

[26:14] Dana Steingold: And it can happen.

[26:15] Sandy Rustin: Sometimes we have audiences that laugh at the setup. And so the punchline doesn't hit as hard, but we just kind of go, okay, well, they laughed at the setup. So we just now we move on. And, you know, so you just don't know sometimes the audience is the seventh cast member of this show or Siri. And also to Sandy's credit, I know nobody here or anyone listening has seen the script, but what she has written is also highly specific for us also, which gave, I think, is sort of like the launchpad for so many ideas that everyone brought into the room, because your stage directions are so specific as well. So that brings a certain clarity that can be both stressful and exciting, because you want to honor everything. But it's like, to your credit, because so much is on the page for you.

[27:07] Laura Bell Bundy: Yes, it was nice. It was good to be able to study it before the first day of rehearsal to know where, well, at least the goalposts, the yellow brick road, right? There were stage directions in the actual script before you even get to start doing your blocking.

[27:25] Sandy Rustin: Oh, yeah. Well, some moments don't work unless we're in specific places or we're in groups. I think too, when you're writing a show like, at least for me, I tend to write physical comedy. And so for me, the physicality is married to the dialogue. So you can't really write it unless you also say like, while you're saying this, you also are falling down. Those two things have to happen at the same time. If they don't, nothing's funny. And so I tried to make space in the script for lots of other choices to be made and just highlight where the physicality must be married to the dialogue. And then they paid great attention. So that was good.

[28:05] Sandy Rustin: So for those keeping track, the show opens tomorrow, as we are reporting. Today is the 23rd of Sunday, the June, July, and it opens tomorrow, the 24th. So when did the show? I saw it two Thursdays ago. So I guess we're in the middle of previews. And I think that was the first night where the Michelangelo statue was used.

[28:40] Laura Bell Bundy: First night. Wow. That was our great day. A day that will go down in history.

[28:42] Sandy Rustin: So, oh my god. The gags of the staff are incredible. Yay for Michelangelo statue, everyone. That should get the last bow.

[29:05] Dana Steingold: Yeah, you need the Michelangelo in the bow.

[29:12] Sandy Rustin: If Alex still makes a meal out of it like he did when I saw it, then he's got a perfect.

[29:16] Laura Bell Bundy: You got to come back. You got to come back.

[29:20] Sandy Rustin: I will come back. So the point of bringing it up is that during previews, you're still changing, you're still rewriting, you're still adding and cutting and doing and finding your moments, right? So I guess for something that's been, we'll call it a tenure workshop, more or less, right? You've been doing productions, you've been changing it. And still, even today, you could be changing things because it doesn't lock until tomorrow. So for all of you, I guess, is it still hard? Or by this point, the day before opening, you found your rhythm, you found your moments. Are you still, like you're saying, you're still discovering some things every now and then. But like, even after it's locked, you're not changing lines.

[29:50] Lilli Cooper: We're going to discover things through October 29th. Definitely. Yeah. You know, listen, it's technically frozen. Yeah. I believe if there's any wild discovery we have that we wanted to bring to Sandy or Jason, and it worked, I'm sure there's room to make adjustments. But at some point, we got to freeze. At some point, we have to also be able to live in the new changes, right? Like, sometimes when you make a new change, it's not going to nail the first night because you just don't have it in your bones yet. But it keeps getting, I mean, it just keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter.

[30:30] Lilli Cooper: And by discoveries, I mean, I don't necessarily mean like, you know, a drastic cross across stage or a completely new line. It's like, we have these specific relationships between each character. And there might be a moment where we clock eyes and we've never clocked eyes before. And all of a sudden, we realize, oh, that's a good moment. We're going to keep that, you know? And it's so those kinds of things that may not even read to the audience, but for us, just truly grounds us in the reality of who these people are and makes it that much more truthful to us. And that's what I mean by like, throughout October 29th, when we close this show, there will be new discoveries made. I'm certain of that. I mean, it's going to get extended. I'm calling it.

[31:13] Sandy Rustin: Oh, yeah. Well, from your lips. I'm having fun. You know, there were things like in this last week that I discovered about this scene with Nahal that I was like, oh, that's what this, been doing this for eight weeks and having like more of like where my character is with it, more just of an internal discovery, which changed the way that I said some of my lines, which impacted the way that Nahal responded, which got bigger reactions. And it's just these kinds of little teeny tiny, like mini awakenings that we all have, like while we're doing it, you know, that it's so fun.

[32:00] Dana Steingold: And also, I mean, I have to try not to laugh. When this cast comes up with some new delivery or head turn or, you know, just the slightest thing. Now we're so, now we know each other, we know each other's stuff so well that we notice the slightest differences. There's one, I never will tell you, but there's one line that Dana has that makes me laugh every time. I never will tell you. I will never tell you. Only what you'll be thinking about it when you say it, I'll mess it up. But we, but we shoot, we giggle at each other, we mess up. I mean, there's so much, as we've spoken about, like physical and slapstick stuff that like, of course things are going to go wrong.

[32:48] Laura Bell Bundy: Like, I mean, we can speak together a few times, but the other night too, like Laura has a time where she splashes water in, like, it's sort of like kind of on my face, but sometimes Alex puts a little too much water in there and I get like waterboarded and I feel so awful.

[33:01] Dana Steingold: No, but it's your face right after, cause like she has to, then we get up and she pulls me up and we have a slap moment and like one thing builds upon the next and like her face is always like, I know because last time it happened, she basically, she got like swimmer's ear, you know, I mean, it was like in her ear and then, and then it actually happened yesterday and then I'm supposed to slap her and, but not like really slap her, but I really slapped her because I was so, I was so like surprised at the moment. It was just a mess.

[33:41] Sandy Rustin: And then Brant was, as I was leaving, he was like, can we get fight call at 720? And I'm like, I just made a mistake. It won't happen again. I promise. I'm not going to slap him. But yeah, so we're trying, those are the things that we're still sort of massaging because I do spill water on her at one point from the orchestra view. I don't have to be near her face it for it to look like from the balcony view, I have to be close and almost spilling it on her. So I don't know what it looks like because I can't watch our play. So I'm just going with whatever I think. And I also have terrible aim. I have horrible hand-eye coordination, which is why I ran track in high school. Nothing with balls. Pun intended.

[34:27] Laura Bell Bundy: Yeah. Come see the cottage. Pun intended.

[34:41] Sandy Rustin: But it is, that's also what makes it fun. Yeah. And think, listen, I, Lilli saved me the other day. I went up on a line and you came right in and the pace kept going. You look into each other's eyes and you're like, oh, she's in the white room. She's gone. Don't worry. I'm here to save the day.

[35:01] Lilli Cooper: The thing is crazy is that I think I said it. Because a lot of times we're thinking five lines ahead, especially in previews when sometimes little words are changing and lines are changing. We're thinking far ahead.

[35:17] Sandy Rustin: Oh, I thought I said it. I thought it. I was looking off in the direction.

[35:23] Laura Bell Bundy: We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[35:33] Sandy Rustin: We made all of these like internal cuts to like a, maybe like a 17. Yeah. Right. And they're all fantastic internal cuts, but they made the mistake of having us read it out loud and not put it in the show that evening. And we all got on stage that night and we all were like, what do I say? Who am I? Is this line in the play?

[36:00] Dana Steingold: Yeah. That was the first 22nd gap of us going like, you know, I didn't say the line I thought I had said.

[36:07] Lilli Cooper: Dana has a line right after it. And I was like, she's waiting for me to say my line. I'm looking at her going, why are you saying your line? I said my line. And then, yeah. And then I was sweating. And then I just said, good Lord, this conversation has gone southward. Thank God. Thank God I had that line coming up.

[36:26] Sandy Rustin: Yes. Anybody who is, you know, we don't want to give anything away, but it is really a play that is full of surprises. It is genuinely funny.

[36:32] Laura Bell Bundy: Yeah. It's like the sexy noise is off.

[36:46] Sandy Rustin: Yeah. Do you know, and I don't know the answer. I don't. Maybe only the set crew does. How many cigarettes are used in the play? We should find that out. Do you know?

[36:57] Laura Bell Bundy: I don't know, but that would be a great trivia question.

[37:00] Sandy Rustin: Yeah. Right. I'm going to get the answer. It should be like a carnival guess the number of marbles in the jar sort of thing.

[37:05] Laura Bell Bundy: It's many. Because it's like three million.

[37:11] Sandy Rustin: Yeah. I smoke five, I think, and I'm nine months pregnant. You drink a lot.

[37:20] Laura Bell Bundy: Hey, it was 1923.

[37:27] Sandy Rustin: Uh-oh. She's counting. She's counting. She's counting.

[37:34] Laura Bell Bundy: But yeah. I do more than five. And like I was saying, the set is another character in the show, and they are interacting with this person, this metaphorical person that is the set, because it is moving. It has gags. It has hidden things all over. And it is a freaking sitcom. And it's one of the most well-staged things I've seen in such a long time.

[38:00] Sandy Rustin: That's amazing. Well, that is a testament to all of the people who are involved. I mean, really, first about the set, I will say one of the most thrilling things about writing a play is that you have your own imagination, especially when you're writing a physical comedy, of what it needs to look like, where things need to be, and how people are going to move through your space. It's part of the writing of it. Then to have a set designer come on board who can visualize it and imagine it beyond your own wildest dreams is so thrilling. It is unbelievably gratifying and exciting to walk in to an imagination of your imagination that's better than your imagination. It's amazing.

[38:32] Sandy Rustin: So that has been incredible. And what's so fun is the idea on the page is there are cigarettes throughout the house in unexpected places in things that have been fashioned to be cigarette holders. And the script outlines a few ways that we might do that. But it doesn't really offer, sometimes it does, but not everywhere, the specifics of where that might happen or when that might happen. And that's really where a director steps in or where actors come in and say, oh, how about here? How about this? And then it becomes a job of curating. You were asking about changes and tweaks over these 10 years. I feel like what this rehearsal process for this Broadway production has been for me more than anything is curating ideas. If you put six brilliant comedians and a brilliant comedic director at the helm, there's bound to be more ideas than.

[40:23] Laura Bell Bundy: For any of the four of you, all the four of you, the conversations that this may have sparked with your own life partners about just how you all identify in your own marriages or relationships? Well mine's just, honey, I... When are you coming to see the show? You know, I mean, from the get-go, I'm carrying on with Eric McCormick and, you know, the first 15 minutes of the show in a negligee, in a sexy way, and some kissing and things, so you just have to go, I hope we're secure in our relationship, and my husband handled it well. I mean, he told me right before he came to see the show for the first time, he was going to boo when Eric and I kissed, and I'm waiting for it because my husband is like that.

He has that sense of humor, boo, and like all the people we've been with would be like, you know. But he knew enough, he actually felt the pace and the rhythm, and he was like, oh, that would have messed you up. I never would have, you know. Yeah, so I was pleased on that. Good, your husband didn't boo you. That's very nice. Yeah, my husband didn't boo. But I think, well, you make a lot of very interesting points about marriage and relationships and fidelity and that, you know, there are different ways and arrangements to be together. And there are relationships that, where we stay in them because we feel the loyalty, and that is the love. And then there are relationships that are sexy and fiery and exciting, but do those last?

And, you know, are the strongest marriages? At one point, there was a line about, I would venture to say that most successful marriages may not have, the partners may not have been faithful. So it's interesting, because we're all living and trying to figure out what is love? What is monogamy? What is, are we built as beings to find one partner and be with them forever? Are we meant to learn as much as we think that we can learn within a relationship and grow and evolve? And then the next natural part of that growth is to be apart and go grow and learn with other people? Who knows? None of us have figured it out. And everyone's different. A lot of the conversation in the play about these issues is coming from the male perspective.

And it reflects, to me, it reflects a male perspective that was true, I think, in 1923, and is sometimes still true today. And it's, you know, for me, it's how are these women navigating their way around this very male-dominated perspective of fidelity? I am, my husband's here, and we've been married 22 years in what I think has been a monogamous relationship. And so, he's here to confer. I have something to tell you. That is a, the cottage is a part of the picture. Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course. Thank you, honey. It is. I mean, I was really, really, really and truly, and I often have to say this, I was really and truly exploring a genre and a specific moment in time. And what that conversation was between men and women.

And it is not a reflection of my own really lovely marriage with this lovely man. I was not implying that at all. I know, but people, you know, that's a question to ask if you're going to write a show that addresses these issues. Yeah, so I'm very fortunate to have a very supportive partner who does not share the views of the men. But what is also great is that as the women are rubbing up against these sort of patriarchal constructs around love and marriage and arrangements is that the women have their own ideas and, and, and, and evolve from that. And find them, find the value in both love and the value in independence and the value in sex.

[45:03] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that these women can be outwardly sexual beings and not be ashamed of it. Is one of my favorite attributes of these characters. They personally drop the stigma, which is refreshing.

[45:18] Alan Seales: Yes, I agree. We have just a few minutes left. So one of my final questions is I just would love to know what is the favorite moment in the show that you get to watch somebody else?

[45:27] Dana Steingold: Changes.

[45:39] Lilli Cooper: Okay, you guys go for it.

[45:42] Laura Bell Bundy: I don't know. I have so many. Okay, I'll say my current favorite thing is I like watching Lily and Alex and all of their canoodles. But in particular, when I'm waiting to come on stage for the first act, we all have these like little door entrances and we have a monitor so that we can see because sometimes we can't hear to cue us, unfortunately. And there's a joke about a place where they have had sexual relations. And it's strange and it's turned into like kind of...

[46:17] Sandy Rustin: It's turned into a three-act play.

[46:21] Laura Bell Bundy: It's literally a three-act play. Like it's still going.

[46:24] Dana Steingold: Yeah, it gets longer and longer every night.

[46:26] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, which is a through line for Alex, too, because the statue is also becoming like we've started to move on to the next moment and then we've realized he's doing a second bit in the corner and we're like, oh, we can't move on because this is actually pertinent information. But yeah, that's been my current favorite thing to watch.

[46:43] Dana Steingold: Yeah, I think my favorite moments are off stage when I'm like about to walk on stage and I'm watching the monitor. Like there's this one moment where Eric and Alex have this face off because they're brothers, you know, so they have that brotherly kind of camaraderie and bickery fighting relationship and they do this kind of like face off. And it's gotten ridiculous and probably will get more and more ridiculous. And I'm laughing out loud backstage watching them do it. It's great.

[47:11] Lilli Cooper: I love being on the steps and I can hear Lily off stage laughing.

[47:20] Dana Steingold: It's so many things like that the first moment that Dana was talking about really is. And the statue also, I'm off stage. Thank God because I'm the worst. I break very easily and I get to watch these ad libs that are happening because sometimes the prop doesn't always work and they're really, they're brilliant. And then I also really, really enjoy watching Dana get drunk.

[47:50] Laura Bell Bundy: Yes, yes. So or recover from being. But there's so many and there's so new things like these. There's these new moments that Lily and Alex are finding that I'm noticing and.

[48:07] Sandy Rustin: I like seeing Eric get mad.

[48:10] Laura Bell Bundy: It's great for me. You know, I get to watch the show from the house every night, which is, you know, obviously a total thrill for me. And there's a moment in the second act, which I won't give away where Lily takes center stage. And it is the most it's the most brilliant ensemble comedic acting I could ever imagine. It's like it is this all six of them are operating on all cylinders at one moment. And it is it's thrilling to watch. And it is a moment that could be not thrilling. And in the hands of these.

[48:43] Sandy Rustin: And in rehearsal, there were moments where it was not thrilling.

[48:49] Laura Bell Bundy: That is correct. But in the hands of these six actors, in the way it's currently been imagined, it's just so wonderful. So that remains my favorite moment every night.

[49:01] Alan Seales: All right. Well, I'm happy to hear that, Andy. OK, so like I said, this is a live podcast recording. So I had a one on one episode with Laura Bell a while ago. Episode 144. Lily was 154. Dana was with some of the Beetlejuice cast of 58. And she's about to have her solo episode come out in a week or two here. And one of the final closing questions I ask everyone to wrap up the episodes. And I wrote down your answers previously. I'm just asking real quick is if you can only see one show for the rest of your life, what would you see? You can see this many times as you want.

[49:34] Laura Bell Bundy: I said Gypsy, didn't I?

[49:43] Dana Steingold: No.

[49:46] Lilli Cooper: Dana said Gypsy.

[49:47] Laura Bell Bundy: Wow. What did I say?

[49:49] Sandy Rustin: Well, what would you say now?

[49:52] Laura Bell Bundy: The cottage.

[49:54] Alan Seales: Good answer.

[49:56] Laura Bell Bundy: Well, I guess I don't. What did I say?

[50:00] Dana Steingold: This is exactly what you did last time.

[50:01] Laura Bell Bundy: You're like, yeah.

[50:03] Dana Steingold: Was it The Sound of Music?

[50:04] Laura Bell Bundy: No.

[50:06] Dana Steingold: What did I say?

[50:07] Laura Bell Bundy: You said Hamilton, The Carol Burnett Show and SNL because you couldn't pick one.

[50:11] Dana Steingold: Oh, wait, TV show?

[50:13] Laura Bell Bundy: No, well, we're literally having the identical conversation.

[50:18] Lilli Cooper: Oh, my God.

[50:22] Laura Bell Bundy: And then I said.

[50:22] Sandy Rustin: Well, the reason I said Hamilton is because it's so damn dense.

[50:26] Laura Bell Bundy: You're like, I can't get all the lyrics the first time.

[50:28] Dana Steingold: Exactly. She literally used the word damn dense.

[50:31] Laura Bell Bundy: Did I say damn dense?

[50:32] Dana Steingold: You said, well, I didn't write down damn dense, but I listened to it last night.

[50:36] Lilli Cooper: Do you remember what I said?

[50:37] Alan Seales: Oh, do I remember what I said?

[50:39] Lilli Cooper: I don't remember what I said.

[50:40] Laura Bell Bundy: I think maybe I said Carolina Change, but what I would say now is Into the Woods.

[50:46] Dana Steingold: You said Ragtime, but I love Into the Woods.

[50:47] Lilli Cooper: Oh, Ragtime.

[50:48] Laura Bell Bundy: Oh, yeah.

[50:48] Sandy Rustin: You said, we'll see Ragtime.

[50:50] Lilli Cooper: Yeah, Ragtime.

[50:51] Alan Seales: Sandy, what would you say?

[50:53] Sandy Rustin: Well, I've never said anything before. So.

[50:56] Alan Seales: And this is new.

[50:56] Sandy Rustin: And we're going to do a one on one.

[50:57] Alan Seales: We've got to.

[50:58] Sandy Rustin: Oh, OK. Anytime. If I had to see a Broadway show, I think it would be The Secret Garden.

[51:06] Laura Bell Bundy: I love that show.

[51:09] Sandy Rustin: Gypsy.

[51:14] Laura Bell Bundy: Final answer.

[51:15] Sandy Rustin: Yeah, I did choose Gypsy.

[51:17] Laura Bell Bundy: And then I think we debated over which version.

[51:19] Sandy Rustin: Yes, yes.

[51:20] Laura Bell Bundy: But yeah, it would be Gypsy or Sunday in the Park with George.

[51:23] Sandy Rustin: Yeah, you said that.

[51:24] Alan Seales: All right. Where can we find you on the socials other than on the Cottage Broadway? Where can we find you on socials?

[51:29] Laura Bell Bundy: At Laura Bell Bundy and at Women of Tomorrow.

[51:36] Sandy Rustin: I'm at Sandy Reston with a little underscore after the N.

[51:40] Dana Steingold: I'm at Dee Steinface.

[51:42] Lilli Cooper: My college roommate made that.

[51:45] Lilli Cooper: And I'm at Lil Koops with a Z.

[51:50] Alan Seales: And I am theater underscore podcast with an underscore theater with an R. E. Yes, literally. The show is a block away on 44th Street. The Cottage on Broadway dot com. This is going to go into the live feed for the theater podcast or the feed for the theater podcast is a live bonus episode. And then to wrap this up, the last thing you do, we need to take a big selfie with all of you. So let's do that.

[52:14] Alan Seales: OK. And round of applause.

[52:23] Alan Seales: All right. Take a deep breath. Make the world a little colorful.