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- [00:00]
A
Well, everybody, welcome back to Bloodline Banter. I'm Landon.
- [00:03]
B
And I'm Riley.
- [00:04]
A
And today we have the one and only reality television star, icon, queen of tv, Abby Lee Miller with us. Hello, Abby. How are you doing? Take us through a day in the life of Abby Lee Miller. Right now, I mean.
- [00:17]
C
Oh, well, I have. That's funny you should mention that. I have a whole new series on YouTube coming out called A Day in the Life. And it's everything from me going to the dentist with a broken tooth, which is probably five hours of agonizing, horrific pain. Like, I don't know, they're going to make a YouTube video of it because it was so bad. And then I'm swimming with the dolphins and I'm holding a sloth and I'm doing all these crazy feeding giraffes and, like, crazy nonsense, Then going to the dentist, then going to the. You know, I'm hosting a TMZ tour bus through la. Like, crazy nonsense.
- [01:06]
A
It sounds like you need another reality television show.
- [01:10]
C
My whole life is a reality television show. People just need to follow me around day to day, and you'll see. It's crazy.
- [01:16]
B
I think I would pay to see that. I think it'd be worth it.
- [01:20]
C
When we were shooting the show, you know, in Pittsburgh, as soon as they would wrap and the cameras would fall out, something would happen. I'd lock the dog in the car or, like, just craziness would happen. And they're like, oh, if we had a camera, I'm like, you did. You had seven cameras.
- [01:36]
A
You got off too early.
- [01:37]
C
Yes.
- [01:38]
A
Abby, I'm gonna start off with asking you a question. I have to know this. Whenever there was a certain episode on Dance Moms and you, the mom came up behind you and told you to put your phone away, and you back to that wheelchair straight up out of that theater, and you turned that wheelchair into a Bugatti and booked it down the side of the street. How fast do you think that wheelchair goes?
- [02:03]
C
It goes about eight miles an hour. Okay.
- [02:07]
A
I mean, those producers, she was like. She is zooming. You were zooming.
- [02:11]
C
Yeah, it's. It seems not that fast when you say the number, but when you're going and someone's trying to walk beside you or run beside you, it's fast. It's really fast.
- [02:21]
A
It was fast. What do you think the most petty thing that the producers ever did? Because I know you say, like, you know, what we see is. Is heavily produced on tv. What do you think the most petty, petty situation was that they ever they
- [02:36]
C
ever did petty
- [02:40]
A
or antagonizing or just, you know.
- [02:42]
B
So I have to know, Abby, was it. Is the TV show, was it 100% authentic drama or did they antagonize it for viewers and things like that?
- [02:52]
C
Oh, of course. They set the wheels in motion. You know what I mean? And for every 20 things they tried, maybe five hit and exploded, right? You know, they tried everything from soup to nuts all day long with every different person. And some stuff would just land and work and people would go at it and other stuff, people would just like roll their eyes at them and say, what? I'm not doing that. I'm not saying that. You know, and other people were more gullible than. Than others. And then I. My whole life, for all those years, was just trying to make some ridiculous, untheatrical, non theatrical, non theatrical, boring, weird, strange, in a bad way idea, get on stage for two and a half minutes and look like a dance routine.
- [03:58]
A
Well, you know, phenomenal job at it. Because I'm telling you, I mean, you're good at what you do despite the popular opinion. That's why another question I was gonna ask you, like, you know, the producers and the TV show, I think sometimes made you out to be some big evil monster, you know, and. And that's just like. It's tv. It's literally tv. And I was gonna ask.
- [04:17]
C
Well, I mean, I had to be this big evil monster because it was my name and I had to get a dance routine out on that stage. You know, you are dealing with children. I know the kids get upset when I say things like this, but they know deep down in their hearts, those kids know damn well they weren't the best dancers in my studio, and they certainly weren't the best dancers in the United States. They were kids that got really lucky and, you know, their moms. That's what the biggest misconception. The kids did not audition for the show. The original cast, they sat in a chair like, and sat pretty and smiled.
- [04:58]
A
And it wasn't like, gonna be like a housewife show.
- [05:01]
C
Yes. And so it was, you know, the 80%, the kids were 10% and the dance studio was 10%. And I was not on the show. I really had nothing to do with it. They were just using my studio. And then you got that key into that word, using.
- [05:21]
A
Yeah. And then you got that phone call from Mr. Broadway.
- [05:24]
D
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- [06:07]
A
And y', all, it really is good. Y' all see me put it in my tiktoks all the time. I make my coffee with it every morning and it actually tastes so good that I walk by sometimes and stick my finger in it and eat it like a fun dip.
- [06:17]
D
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- [06:20]
A
You weren't originally like gonna be on the show and then you got that phone call from Mr. Broadway. Is that his name?
- [06:25]
C
Wasn't that his name, the police officer? No, I didn't get a phone call from him. I called him.
- [06:30]
A
You called him? Yeah. You called him?
- [06:31]
C
I called the police and the dispatcher answered and said, officer Broadway, what's your emergency? And I was like, what is happening? And every camera was on me and Satan was in the corner. And it was like the heavens parted and the angels were singing. And he said, what's your emergency? And I said, there's this psycho witch. She's running around the studio, she's scaring the children. She's chasing me. I want her out. It's my building. It's my property. Come get her. Take her away. And he said, does she have any weapons? And I said, just her mouth. So when that back to the network, you know, they were like, people, nobody can write this in Hollywood.
- [07:10]
A
Oh, they couldn't. And they still can't. There is nobody that can hold a candlestick to what you did on that show.
- [07:15]
C
0oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Did you have sisters that danced or.
- [07:19]
A
I did not. I was just a fan of the show. My sister watched the show.
- [07:23]
C
Okay.
- [07:24]
A
I was always acting like I didn't like it. And then, you know, watching you on there. And we grew up in the south, you know, in the middle of nowhere. So some of the stuff you said, we've heard, oh, 10 times worse. I'm like, some of these tik tok comments and some of these comments you get, I'm like, oh, you, you've not heard anything?
- [07:42]
B
Well, so I know, I've found that, you know, a lot of these moms would get their feelings hurt whenever you would have a spit spat with the kid. And I feel like growing up in the south, not only have we heard so much worse, but I mean, a good, a harsh coach makes a good athlete. And if you just have a coach that goes along to get along, I mean, you're, you're not going to have a successful kid, in my opinion.
- [08:07]
C
Well, I think had I been a man and we'd been out on a field, no one would have blinked an eye.
- [08:12]
B
Yeah, I agree with that.
- [08:14]
A
You're exactly right. They're going back to like the, the producing of the TV show and stuff. Do you think that the show. No, I don't want to say hurts your reputation, but like industry peers, other dance coaches, and like other people in the entertainment industry, do you think you're respected? Like, are you respected behind the scenes?
- [08:34]
C
Well, that goes several different ways. So people in the area, in the Pittsburgh area, people that were members of organizations that I belong to, because in the United States, dance teachers don't need a license to teach dance. Nothing. You don't need anything to touch child's body from age 2 to 18. Nothing. It's scary. And so I was involved in all these organizations and certified by Test Teach and you know, demonstrative and everything. Anyway, those people were up in arms because I was representing dance teachers in this horrible, awful way. And it's not like this. In the meantime, I could rattle off you 20 names of teachers that were much tougher than I was. However, I think people on the flip side in the industry, we're looking at it like she's taking this bunch of kids who aren't really proteges and she's putting a product out there week after week after week of numbers that professionals in Los Angeles or New York aren't even doing, coming up with that fast. These were little kids, they went to school all day. That was the biggest issue with me. If I could do things over again, so many, so many things I would change. But one would be that the kids were homeschooled and they were, you know, we shot the show from like 10 in the morning until 4, and then all the cameras were wrapped, they were out of my studio. I guarantee you had that happened, I would still have 400 kids in my studio in Pittsburgh right now. It would still be open.
- [10:15]
A
Yeah, it's. I mean, what she did was insane. And know, I look back and I watch like all the interviews of the kids and the moms currently. And hell, I've seen 4,000 TikToks telling Abby Lee Miller just to let dance moms go. Let it go, let it go. And meanwhile, you've got every mom over here still capitalizing on. On the show. And I'm like, well, why aren't we. Why aren't we, you know, talking about that?
- [10:35]
C
Yeah, they're going through the years of their costumes, for Christ's sake. I'm like, what? You know, like, that's your videos. Like, come on.
- [10:42]
B
I feel like a big part of the show was. I mean, of course, the kids may have wanted to be there, but I feel like it. The moms use their kids as a prop so the mom can be on television. How exhausting was it to put up with the moms every day? I mean, I mean, it wasn't so
- [10:56]
C
much about being on tv. I think that was fascinating and interesting. My world was Broadway. I was getting kids, you know, they were dancing at Disney, Tokyo Disney, on every cruise ship in, you know, in New York City, on Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall. That was my goal. That's what I did for years and years and years. I was pumping out more professional dancers than some of the universities and colleges in Pittsburgh. So that well known ones. So that, that aside, I think that the television thing, that was fun and fascinating, but the moms using the money that the kids made to build their new homes, you know, pimping them out. Some of the kids traveled with me. So as soon as we had a break, bam, we were off for three weeks. I was going to Australia. Who's coming with me? Maddie was with me, Mackenzie with me. Kendall was with me. Later on, Kalani was with me. Nia was with me in the beginning, you know, until, you know, Melissa didn't want her to come anymore. And then so those kids were coming with me. And I was splitting everything 50, 50 with the moms. So whatever we took In, I got 50%, they got 50%, and they split it up amongst the kids, whatever they wanted to do. But there were other mothers that were just literally pimping that kid out weekend after weekend after weekend after weekend. And, you know, lying about it, teaching the child to lie to me about where they were, why weren't they in class last night, you know, things like that. That's where it got to be really ugly. And I thought, this is, this is rough.
- [12:44]
A
Yeah. If they're. Obviously, you've got so many famous one liners. Like, I thought I had some funny one liners. Like, I would rather shit my hands and play patty cake. But Abby Lee Miller, you say some of the outlandish, funniest shit I've ever heard in my entire life. And I want to ask you what your favorite. If you can remember, what's one of your favorite lines that you said on the TV show?
- [13:06]
C
Well, I think that the line is just everyone's replaceable. Not that it's funny. It's just. I mean, sometimes it's funny when it comes up in random conversations. You're out at a bar, a nightclub or whatever. You know, it's funny, but it's just a reality that I think every child should learn. There's always somebody out there better. There's somebody working harder, there's somebody with more connections, you know, and, you know, your best friend, you.
- [13:33]
A
You get, you get a lot of heat. But like on the show, even, even the heavily produced show, I don't think you ever told one lie. I mean, when you said something, you. The. The truth is just the truth. You know, sometimes it's a hard pill to swallow, but you told the truth, so.
- [13:48]
C
Well, I was trying to teach kids to dance and to perform and to act into this, into that. And, you know, I see articles now and they're doing this and they're performing and da, da, da. And I think you'd be sitting in Pittsburgh on the couch, like, do you not really realize a lot of the,
- [14:05]
A
A lot of the kids and their moms, I feel like they say they're thankful or they say that like, you know, they're glad that the show.
- [14:13]
C
They do. They. They do.
- [14:15]
A
I've never heard that disgusting way. But, like, I don't think, I don't think not one of them are. Maybe JoJo is like, the only one I would say that is, like, actually thankful for what you've done for them and the show.
- [14:28]
B
So I also feel like, you know, they can say a lot of things about you. They can say you were too harsh. They can, you know, whatever their opinion may be, but one reality that they will never be able to escape is that you made them who they were.
- [14:41]
C
Well, thank you. I'm glad you see that.
- [14:44]
A
It's. Everybody does. They just.
- [14:46]
B
They just don't want to admit.
- [14:47]
A
No, they don't take us through you. Are you still talk to any of the the kids other than like Jojo and maybe a couple other ones or did I know.
- [14:55]
C
Well, you don't watch my podcast. Okay, so Jojo has been on Eliana and her mom, Gosh, Bryn and her mom Kelani Kira, trying to think who else. There's been so many of the kids on. Yeah, it's crazy.
- [15:16]
A
That's good. Speaking of Kalani, she's opening a dance studio. I had just seen that. What do you think? What do you think about that?
- [15:25]
C
Well, I think there's a lot of really good studios in Arizona in the area that she's in. Phoenix, Scottsdale. There's a lot of really good schools, a lot of good businesses. They produce some great dancers. So she's going to have her work cut out for her. I think as far as her owning a studio, fabulous. But I just saw something about auditions to be on her competition team and that reminded me of the show of the TV show, right?
- [15:57]
D
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- [16:41]
A
And if you need any advice on which flavor to get, the peach one is my favorite.
- [16:45]
D
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- [17:38]
A
hand to mouth in that thing all day long. I wanted you to walk us through what it was like a day in the life of filming. Like, I know you said it lasted like 12 hours, I think.
- [17:51]
C
Right. Okay, so when I got to the studio probably around noon, this was on. This was like pyramid day Wednesday. So Monday we were dark. Tuesday we did the interviews with the ugly costumes in the background. You know, I'm talking about. Okay, then Wednesday, this is the first day of the thing, right? Okay. So I got to the studio probably around noon and there was some crappy lunch or something there. And then I got into hair and makeup. So the whole time I'm getting here in hair, makeup, they're usually filming me. They usually have a camera on me and the producer's going over things with me. Right? This is what's going to happen. This is who's on top of the pyramid. No, I don't want them on top of the pyramid. Well, it can't be so and so, you know, on and on and on. Not a moment to look at your phone. Not a moment to do any personal business unless you want it on camera. Not a moment. Okay, so then now we go into the studio. Someone's going to be late. Not saying who. Someone's. Someone's late all the time. They, they would say it was me that was late, but it wasn't. Plus I do. It's my studio. I could be late. Okay, so then we start the pyramid. Four hours.
- [19:16]
A
I was going to ask you about that because we only seen like what, 10, 15 minutes of it.
- [19:21]
C
Four hours. We stood there in one space. Well, I was standing. The kids. The poor kids. Yeah, I shouldn't say poor kids. They're all millionaires. Okay, so it's the kids standing there, right? So we were standing there until somebody would fight about something. There had to be a fight. It had to be kicked off with, why is my kid on the bottom? And originally the pyramid, I thought it was supposed to tell how the kids did the week before. Not so much what the judges had as the winning number, but what I thought the kids did the week before. How they did in the group dance. How different kids maybe made a mistake how somebody that had a solo I didn't think placed as well as they should have, or maybe screw the judges. I thought the kid was great. So I'm still putting them on top, you know, that type of thing. But as time went on, it became about who was going to do what the next week, who was going to get the solo and who was going to do this and who was going to do that. And I shouldn't be one in the same. However they did is what they're going to do. I don't know. And then by the end, it was just random chaos. So, okay, that happened about four hours. And then all we were left with time wise to teach the kids the routines was however long they were allowed on camera. So if it was MacKenzie and she was still younger, she wasn't allowed on camera that long. So if she had a solo, I had to hurry up. We got. We did the group dance first. We started the group dance, and then the group kids could go into another room and keep working. And I pulled the kid who had the solo, who was the youngest, so I started their solo. Then the next kid that had a duo or trio or whatever we had, we pull them in. I'd start them. You're doing this type of dance. This is the style, this is the music, blah, blah, blah. Okay. And then we hopefully get as much done as we could. And then that was it. Then we wrapped, and my. My real dance studio started. But it was. It always makes it seem like there were these seven little kids in this huge building and nobody else. In the meantime, there were 27 kids in one other room. There were 12 kids in another room. And I should have been with them. Yes.
- [21:46]
A
Obviously, one of the biggest, you know, feuds on reality television was you and Kathy. I've heard you say in a couple episodes that, like, y' all are good now, I guess. Right.
- [22:00]
C
We'll see. We have a new show.
- [22:04]
A
Okay.
- [22:04]
C
I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. Oh, too bad. I'm saying it. Yeah. We have a new show.
- [22:10]
A
Well, we'll be excited to tune in. And if we can keep this in
- [22:14]
C
and, you know, we start filming this summer. Where are you guys?
- [22:19]
A
We're in Georgia or Nashville. Yeah.
- [22:22]
C
Wait, one of you said Georgia, one of you said Nashville.
- [22:24]
A
Misunderstood. We're from Georgia. We live in Nashville.
- [22:27]
C
Okay. All right, so we'll be in Orlando and Vegas this summer because all the dance competitions are going on. That's where all the big nationals are. There's nationals everywhere. There's 8, 000 dance competitions in the United States.
- [22:43]
D
Right.
- [22:44]
C
So. But we'll be kind of piggybacking on some stuff that's happening in Orlando. And Vegas.
- [22:53]
A
And Vegas. Never been to Vegas. Might have to.
- [22:56]
C
You've never been to Vegas? No.
- [22:58]
A
I'd lose all my money, Abby. I would piss it away.
- [23:02]
C
Are you 21?
- [23:03]
A
Yes, I'm 22.
- [23:04]
C
I go to Vegas. I don't put one quarter in a machine. I love the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I like the action, but I go to see the shows. I go to go to dinner. I go to see the beautiful hotels. And I don't. You don't have to gamble. And the only thing I do play is blackjack because I feel like I have some sense of math in losing my money. You know what I mean? It's just not machines just taking it from me. It's. It's. But people hit on those machines. It's crazy.
- [23:38]
A
Well, Riley here is a big cruiser.
- [23:41]
B
I love to go on a cruise. And I was gambling one time in the casino, and I put a quarter in, hit a button, and lost everything in one swoop. So I ended when I started, it was your quarter.
- [23:54]
C
You lost a quarter?
- [23:56]
B
Well, no, I lost.
- [23:57]
D
I think it was like a hundred.
- [23:58]
B
But I was playing. I don't remember how it exactly went. I knew that I wasn't good at gambling.
- [24:04]
C
The biggest I hit was. My dad was a big gambler, racetrack guy. But the biggest I hit I was in some bar in Vegas. And down in the bar, like on the top of the bar was machines, right? And so the guy. I gave the guy the money for the drink, drinks, whatever I was buying, and he gave me the change back and it was a quarter. So I gave him a couple bucks and I took the quarter and I put it down in the thing. I hit for like 28,000 or something.
- [24:38]
A
Holy shit.
- [24:39]
C
No, no, maybe that's wrong. Maybe it was 2,800, which I still thought was a lot for a corner. The bar was screaming at me, why didn't you play the whole thing? Why did. I said, hey, if he wanted to give me a quarterback, I wouldn't have played it at all. I wasn't going to put a dollar bill in it. Like, I. I just had the quarter in my hand and I stuck it in. It was no big deal. And it was like a poker, like. Like a full. Whatever it's called, Full hand, whatever, full house. And. Yeah, so that was it. That's my big game.
- [25:11]
A
Like, let Me ask you on the show or whatever, you know, it only showed the drama and the filming and all that stuff. Were there ever times, like, whenever y' all stopped filming that y' all would ever hang out, like, have a good time?
- [25:24]
C
You know, not the moms and I, but the kids. Definitely. The kids are with me all the time. That's what's so weird about the kids, their memories. They. We went to the movies and we went. We did things and we traveled. I took them to Paris, to the Eiffel Tower. Not to do an event, not to dance, not to go to a convention or competition, just because I wanted to do that with them, you know. Crazy. Yeah, yeah.
- [25:56]
D
I'll ask you this.
- [25:57]
B
I know that a lot of the girls have started studios of themselves. If they ever reached out to you for advice, would you consider helping them?
- [26:06]
C
Oh, yeah. Like, if Kalani wanted advice. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
- [26:11]
B
I was just.
- [26:13]
C
I can tell them everything to do wrong. Like, not everything I did wrong. Things I did wrong. Not one of those mothers that owed me money at my studio, at that front desk would have been allowed to walk into that interview.
- [26:27]
A
Abby, you would probably never have to work another day in your life if you got all the money you were owed.
- [26:32]
C
Yeah. There was a producer. You stood at my front desk. And I had a contract with all the kids. I'm talking the two and a half year olds, every single kid, I had a contract with them that if I got them a job, I got 10% of it. Now, when I say a job, I mean modeling for a costume catalog, right? And the kid's gonna get a hundred bucks maybe, and I'm gonna get 10 of it. That. That was it. Maybe a local commercial in Pittsburgh. So something like that. Because I was trying to teach them that that's how it works when you move to la, when you move to New York, you have an agent and they're going to take a cut, and then a publicist is going to take a cut. You know, all this. And we're working on that from the time we're little. Right. Where this show happens. And this guy stood at my front desk, he's a big guy, like six, three. And he took the contracts and just ripped them up for the kids on the show and said, you're going to make so much money, you're never going to need these. You're never going to need their 10%. Oh, well, he didn't know I was going to be in a wheelchair.
- [27:45]
A
Yeah. Speaking of that, how are you doing with. With your. Your health Journey and stuff.
- [27:49]
C
I'm having a hard time this weekend. I have a lot of problems just recently with my like. Like between my waist and my thighs, if. If you can picture. Yeah, it's. It's. You know, when you're paraplegic, you don't feel there, so all your. I don't want to bore your listeners with it, but it's more like, oh, you're like urinary tract, like that. That kind of stuff is. Is very difficult and lots of UTIs, which can be dangerous and, you know, lots of things like that. It's just. If I could get that straightened out, I would be.
- [28:31]
A
You're going to. You're going to. Don't shatter no more legs and you're going to be on the right track.
- [28:36]
C
Yeah, I was walking 280 steps with the.
- [28:39]
A
What are you up to now?
- [28:41]
C
Four.
- [28:43]
A
Oh, you're gonna. You're gonna get.
- [28:44]
C
I shattered my leg twice. Twice.
- [28:47]
A
You need an Abby Lee Miller in your life to get you going.
- [28:51]
C
And you know what? It's funny. My oncologist, a very, very wise man. He is the top of his field. He is amazing. Dr. Lawrence Pirro. You can Google him. He's brilliant. Brilliant man. And he pitched me a show, actually. He thought it would be great, like a kind of a redemption show where I go into physical therapy and the physical therapist walks in. But it's not the physical therapist. It's one of my kids, one of my former students.
- [29:19]
A
That's a million dollar idea right there.
- [29:21]
C
I know, I know. I thought it was great. I've pitched it. I know. I thought it was. It would be good even on some, like, health channel or something, you know,
- [29:30]
A
JoJo in there and say, abby, have you learned nothing?
- [29:33]
C
Yeah. And she could get me up and make me walk and make me reach over and touch my toes and all those things. Yeah, I thought it was great. I thought it was a very clever idea and it was something that would be interesting to people and something different. And maybe at the end they're screaming and yelling and there's more hate and maybe at the end we're hugging and crying and it's all good. Or maybe. Maybe it flips and maybe I'm still the boss. Who knows?
- [30:01]
A
It's a good idea. Let me ask you, whenever you went to prison, you. You obviously have a sharp tongue sometimes. Did you take that with you to prison? Or was it like people always.
- [30:16]
C
I don't know why the public in general thinks, oh, she's going to be nice now. Oh, well, she had Cancer. So she's going to be nice now. She went to prison. She's going to be nice now. What about those things? Makes.
- [30:30]
B
Doesn't make any sense.
- [30:32]
C
No. So, okay, so I was there, ridiculously, for eight months for maybe walking away from a vacation home in 2009, after the crash in 2008. That's why I went. That, that in a nutshell is 21 indictments. That's the only one that stuck. Maybe walking away from vacation home. And I didn't walk away. I still own the house. I still pay the mortgage.
- [30:58]
A
Say, I've seen where you said you still own the damn thing.
- [31:01]
C
Yes. Okay, so. So for the first two months, I was sweet and I was nice and I made friends and it was all good. Then the next two months, when I thought I'd be out already, I was probably sad and just fed up and just exhausted with it all. And then the third two months, I was getting a little peeved. Yeah. Yeah. And I. I turned back into me. You know, you're laying in your. In your bed and you hear these girls coming from the ladies room, and I'm like, thank you. Like, breathing at them. And then one of the guards would come in, or like the director of the unit, she'd march in and she'd say, hey, does anybody see where Susie's at? And I'm like, you need the preposition at the end of the question. It's just there's anywhere. But see, Susie.
- [32:08]
A
So you were correct in grammar. You were correct in grammar the time you got over there.
- [32:12]
C
Insane. Yeah, it was. It was bad.
- [32:15]
A
Well, you're on the open up now and you're doing great, aren't you? Like doing tour and stuff. You're going around teaching.
- [32:23]
C
I am. I go. I was in Europe for. Well, yeah, no, it's called Europe. UK and Europe for 34 days straight. Working. Crazy. Shout out to Jenny, my tour director. She did an amazing job. I did get a few days off, and then I was home for a week teaching. And then I had to fly back and I spoke at Oxford University. Yes. Congratulations, Union. Can you believe it?
- [32:55]
A
I can believe it.
- [32:56]
B
I can't believe it.
- [32:57]
C
I remember my mother. Oh, something happened. I remember my mother with their rosary beads. You know, this is my phone, but that's not. And at graduation, praying that she would hear my name called because I. Not because of my grades, but I missed so many days. And in Pennsylvania, if you miss 30 days, you failed. That's it. Right. And so first period, I missed more than 30 days. Second period. I was like, you know, so you have to have enough credits for the rest. The rest of the time. Oh, I got it. It was a nightmare. Anyway, I think the principal, I think everybody was just like, get her out.
- [33:30]
A
Just get her out of here. That's definitely what they've done with Riley and I. They were like, get their asses out of here. Do whatever you have to do.
- [33:36]
C
Yeah, just. Just let them be somebody else's problem.
- [33:39]
A
And I know that you. You didn't really dance, or you did dance probably when you were younger, but you.
- [33:46]
C
I didn't. But dance wasn't what it was. Sorry. Dance then is not what it was now. I mean, did I say that right? Let me edit that out. Dance back then is not what it is now. So children did not dance four or five days a week. You went to dancing school. Everybody went to dancing school. My mom had a hugely successful studio and kids went once a week, and the babies took 15 minutes of tap and 15 minutes of gymnastics and 15 minutes of ballet. 45 minutes once a week. And you learned something and you retained it. You came back the next year and you were in an hour class. Then the next year you were in an hour and a half. But it was all in one day. It's not like, I mean, there were kids, I guess, back then that were going to ballet school in New York City three, four times a week. And we're going to be classical ballerinas. But. But in the world, in the United States, in the suburbs and still in Europe, they still have these after school programs where the kids do 30 minutes of dance, 30 minutes of acting and 30 minutes of singing once a week. And it's great. Every child should dance like that. I feel like it gives you an appreciation of live theater. You learn how to behave backstage, on stage, in the audience. You know, you learn some poise and some grace and your spatial awareness. Like every boy should dance. You know, anybody that's going to just stop on the sidewalk, bend down and tie their shoe. Dad took me once a week. I did everything. Ice skating, roller skating, karate. I took horseback riding lessons. I. I did everything. Nothing. Well, obviously. But my friend who also danced with me, she was really good at swimming, and that was kind of her thing. And then by high school, she was going in the morning to the University of Pittsburgh, swimming with their collegiate team, and then coming back to the suburbs, going to school, and then going back again after school and swimming again. That's the only person involved with me as a child that I knew that really did something like that, but people weren't dancing like that. And now today, kids are seven, eight years old, and they go five times a week to dance studio. I'm like, I have kids on Broadway right now that didn't dance that much. That's nuts.
- [36:09]
A
Yeah, that's crazy. But you're. I mean, you're a good teacher, I guess, just being around it, you know, your whole life and just, you know, my mom.
- [36:17]
C
So my mom had her studios in Miami, Florida, and she had seven studios when she left to marry my dad and moved from Miami to Pittsburgh. We'll let that hang there. Okay. We'll let that marinate. Okay? And then. But her students that were graduated seniors that were off to college or wherever now have migrated, and they're in New York City by the time I'm born and I'm a little kid. So my mom's taking me at 8 years old to Broadway shows, and I'm in the six row center house seats watching Liza Minnelli in the act. I'm going backstage to meet Liza. Debbie Reynolds babysat me. I mean, there's so many stories that I can tell because my mom's students were now in these Broadway shows, you know, And I was this little kid who was going to see everything. And my mother was always into continuing her education. So way before there was competition, there were dance conventions where you went and you learned the latest techniques and the newest jazz shoes and, you know, trade shows and lots of classes and things. So I was always continuing in my education. And I took from some of the pioneers of jazz dance, Matt Maddox and Frank Hatchett and Betsy Hogg, like all these amazing teachers.
- [37:42]
B
I'm gonna be in New York at the end of the year for business, and I've never been to a Broadway show, so I think I'm gonna try to fit that into my schedule.
- [37:50]
C
You better go.
- [37:52]
B
I'm gonna try.
- [37:53]
C
You better go. Go.
- [37:54]
A
See, I have.
- [37:56]
C
I don't know what's still going to be there. My student, my. My most successful student, his name is Mark Myers, and he is the resident director and choreographer of Death Becomes Her. Right now. They just got their closing notice, but I don't. They're probably there through the summer and then. So it's a great show, you know, the movie or see the movie before you go. And then I have another student who was in Hamilton. He left. He's doing Chicago right now because he has a role. He's Fred in Chicago, and he's also workshopping Sergio Trujillo's new Damn Yankees production that is headed to. So interviewed for the show. The TV show.
- [38:42]
A
He must have not had a crazy enough mama.
- [38:44]
C
He didn't. Yeah.
- [38:46]
A
Which mother do you think they struck gold with the most?
- [38:52]
C
Well, I would have liked them to have struck gold with Melissa so that I could recoup some of the money she took.
- [39:03]
A
Jill, I feel like, was pretty good.
- [39:06]
C
I mean, I brought Joan.
- [39:08]
A
Okay. So you.
- [39:09]
C
I don't know if Jill will ever give me credit for that, but I. Jill came into the studio. Jill's older daughter, Riley, beautiful girl, took dancing for me. She was in my senior company while the show was going on. So Jill came walking in, and I grabbed her by the arm and I took her into my retail store, which they used as the interview room at the very beginning. Nobody could buy anything. Nobody could shop because they were filming.
- [39:37]
A
Shocker.
- [39:39]
C
Yeah. So I put Joe in the chair and I said, interview her. Put her on camera. I think she's great. I think she would add some class to the moms.
- [39:47]
B
Lord knows she needed it.
- [39:50]
C
What he said.
- [39:52]
A
Lord knows I needed some class.
- [39:54]
C
Yeah.
- [39:55]
A
Anyways, I have one last question.
- [39:57]
C
Like putting silk stockings on a mule.
- [40:01]
A
Well, Abby, thank you so much for taking this interview. We love you. You're still producing stars, it looks like, so keep it up.
- [40:08]
C
Thank you. Try. And I have a kid up the new Mouseketeers. Oh, my God. Like, five auditions back and forth. Crazy. So you're busy, we hope.
- [40:19]
B
Yeah, busy but successful.
- [40:21]
C
Busy but successful. You two young men get to New York, see a Broadway show.
- [40:27]
A
We'll keep you updated.
- [40:27]
B
We will do that.
- [40:29]
C
All right. Please. Thank you for having me on. And, hey, if I'm back in Nashville, you're taking me to dinner.
- [40:35]
B
Hey, I'd be happy to.
- [40:37]
C
Take care.
- [40:39]
B
Take care, Abby. Thanks.