COME FROM AWAY w/ Lauren Nicole Chapman

Summary

Broadway Breakdown: COME FROM AWAY with Lauren Nicole Chapman

Release Date: February 6, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Broadway Breakdown, host Matt Koplik engages in a deep and passionate conversation with Lauren Nicole Chapman about the acclaimed musical Come From Away. Known for his fiery opinions and extensive theater knowledge, Matt dives into the intricacies of the show, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of its history, production, and enduring impact.

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Technical Challenges and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Matt Koplik begins by addressing a technical hiccup with his microphone, explaining how it affected the audio balance between him and Lauren during recordings. Despite these issues, Matt ensures listeners of the episode's quality while hinting at future improvements with new equipment.

Notable Quote:

Matt Koplik [02:56]: "It's more that Lauren sounds very crisp and clear and at the forefront and for some reason I sound like I'm just not miked."

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Fun Facts and Easter Eggs in Design

Lauren shares fascinating details about the show's set design by Beowulf Borret, highlighting Borret's signature inclusion of elephant ornaments as Easter eggs. These subtle touches add layers of meaning and visual interest to the production, enhancing the audience's experience.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [04:42]: "Beowulf has a tendency in his designs to include these little Easter eggs with elephants."

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Structure and Timing of the Musical

The conversation delves into the show's meticulously timed 100-minute runtime. Unlike productions that rely on click tracks, Come From Away is paced naturally with music-integrated dialogue, ensuring a seamless narrative flow without unnecessary delays.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [02:58]: "One of the reasons why the show tends to clock in at exactly that time every time is because it's not on a click track."

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Direction and Production Choices

Lauren and Matt discuss Director Christopher Ashley's vision, emphasizing his insistence on minimal applause breaks to maintain the show's pacing. This choice prevents the runtime from being affected by varying audience responses, ensuring consistency across performances.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [06:50]: "The show only has three official applause breaks, at the insistence of director Christopher Ashley."

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Character Development and Casting Dynamics

The episode explores the depth of character portrayal in Come From Away. Lauren praises the cast's ability to maintain their natural personas across multiple roles, highlighting the show's focus on delivering authentic and heartfelt performances without overplaying emotions.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [07:43]: "The actors were instructed to mostly keep to their natural selves with slight tweaks here and there."

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Musical Complexity and Vocal Arrangements

Lauren explains the intricate musical compositions and vocal arrangements that challenge the cast. The absence of vibrato in certain numbers and the requirement for precise timing with props and costumes demonstrate the show's demanding yet rewarding nature.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [07:42]: "There was a very specific sound that the team was going for. If your voice didn't naturally sit or sound a certain way, it could be tricky."

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Staging and Prop Integration

The integration of props into costumes adds another layer of complexity to the production. Lauren shares anecdotes about how mistakes in prop handling can disrupt the flow, underscoring the importance of meticulous attention to detail in staging.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [14:05]: "A character might have a coat that has a pocket on the inside, and inside that pocket is a prop that they have to take out and give to another character."

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Critical Reception and Legacy

Despite initial skepticism due to its sensitive subject matter, Come From Away received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Lauren and Matt discuss how the show's balance of humor and sentimentality effectively conveys its message of hope and community support, resonating deeply with audiences.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [35:35]: "Everyone kept talking about 'Oh my God, it's sold out here, it's sold out there,' but the reviews were incredibly positive."

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Emotional Impact and Audience Connection

The hosts reflect on their personal emotional responses to the musical, particularly the moments that highlight human kindness and resilience. Lauren shares how the show's portrayal of collective goodwill during a crisis offers a poignant and uplifting experience.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [75:03]: "When people show up for people... we watch them screech in, and we watch them kiss a fish while wearing boat hats."

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Addressing Social Issues

The discussion addresses the show's subtle handling of Islamophobia and discrimination post-9/11. Lauren defends the musical's approach, arguing that while it doesn't delve deeply into these issues, it acknowledges them sufficiently without overshadowing the overarching themes of positivity and support.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [84:19]: "Come From Away is a message about hope and its themes are about showing up for people and being there for each other."

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Lauren and Matt conclude the episode by affirming Come From Away as a standout musical that masterfully combines tight storytelling, exceptional performances, and meaningful messages. They commend Director Christopher Ashley for his cohesive vision and the show's ability to blend humor with profound emotional themes, making it both entertaining and heartwarming.

Notable Quote:

Matt Koplik [87:03]: "Come From Away for me was ultimately the more exciting and fulfilling theatrical experience."

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Closing Remarks

Lauren Nicole Chapman invites listeners to connect with her on Instagram and encourages feedback through reviews. The episode wraps up with lighthearted banter and appreciation for the show's impactful storytelling.

Notable Quote:

Lauren Nicole Chapman [113:42]: "If you like the podcast, give us a nice 5-star rating or review. It always helps with Apple podcasts."

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This detailed summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, providing both an overview and in-depth analysis of Come From Away through the engaging dialogue between Matt Koplik and Lauren Nicole Chapman.

Transcript

[Ariana Grande]

Hi, I'm Ariana Grande. Hi, I'm Cynthia Erivo and you're listening to the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit VPN FM to discover more.

[Alan]

Hey there, you passionate podcast listener. This is Alan from Broadway Podcast Network, dropping in real fast to make sure you know that the network has a full day of live podcast panels already scheduled for Saturday, February 8th, as part of this year's BroadwayCon. It's also the 10th anniversary of BroadwayCon itself. So in addition to BBC events, there are some additional amazing events planned. All you need is a one ticket, which gets you into all three days of BroadwayCon here in New York City. And if you haven't purchased a ticket already, head over to broadwaycon.com and use code BPN for 15% off your ticket. That's broadwaycon.com using code BPN for 15% off and you can even visit BPN FM broadwaycon to see our confirmed schedule of events. Hope to see you there.

[Ariana Grande]

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[Matt Koplik]

Hey everybody, it's Matt, your least famous and most opinionated Broadway podcast host. And before we get into the meat of our episode today, which is come from Away with Lauren, Nicole Chapman. I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of intel. First of all, the microphones that I have been using for in person episodes have started to fade very in and out and I didn't notice it until after I recorded with Lauren and then again recording with Alex Weisman for the first Angels in America episode. So I've done my best to alter the audio a bit. It's not too bad, it's not unlistenable. It's more that Lauren sounds very crisp and clear and at the forefront and for some reason I sound like I'm just not miked and I am so I don't know what's going on there. So I've tried to tweak the audio so that way she and I are as level as possible. Again, it's not too bad, but just letting you know, I'm in the process of getting new microphones so I don't have to deal with this anymore. So hold steady, it's coming. Second thing, I am lucky enough to have a Few friends who have been in Come From Away, either on Broadway or on the national tour, and I asked them for some intel about the show, some fun facts or Easter eggs or whatever, and they followed through. They came in with some fun facts on the show, some of which I did not know. But in true actor fashion, they didn't get back to me on it until after I had recorded the episode. So I couldn't include any of that information when Lauren and I recorded.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So I figured I would share some.

[Matt Koplik]

Of that information with you now and then we would get into the episode. First thing. Lauren and I debate for a minute about how long the show is. For a second. She thinks it's 90 minutes. I wasn't quite sure it is 100 minutes. It's 100 minutes exactly. And that was something that was very important to the team, to kind of make it as tight as possible, as concise as possible, and keep it always moving. One of the reasons why the show tends to clock in at exactly that time every time, it's not on a click track, meaning that it's not like the band is listening to a specific click track to keep the pacing going. But all of the dialogue in Come From Away is timed to the music. So there's nothing really any opportunities to indulge in scene work, to really milk lines or anything like that. So everything moves at a very specific pace the entire time. Also, the show only has three official applause breaks, at the insistence of director Christopher Ashley. One is after the opening number, welcome to the Rock. The other is after the screech in, and then the other is at the finale. So because there are aren't a lot of opportunities for applause, the show is not reliant on audience response to fluctuate the length of the show. Obviously, there are times when I'm sure very rambunctious audiences burst into applause after certain moments. But for the most part, the show has just those three locked in. Applause breaks some fun facts that I did not know. The design of the show is by Beowulf Borret, who has done 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He did act one.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Scots roar boys.

[Matt Koplik]

Apparently Beowulf has a tendency in his designs to include these little Easter eggs with elephants. And there's always some sort of trinket or a reference to an elephant in all of his designs. This is something that I had absolutely no idea about. But so for Come From Away, supposedly in one of the higher trees, in one of the higher branches, he had some sort of elephant ornament in there. The Trees as well. And a lot of you probably know this, the trees in the set design had come from away, which were, I think, birch trees, because the design was those birch trees and then this bare turntable with chairs on it. But the birch trees on Broadway were real trees. They were made of fiberglass for the tour, but so on Broadway they were real. And oftentimes they would sprout new branches that they would then have to cut down. Just sort of keep everything as is for the stage production. Something else that I did not know about the trees was that at the backstage left of the design, so towards the back of the stage to the left, there were two trees that were shorter than the rest of the trees in the set design. And they were sort of dead looking and haggard, sort of looked almost split open. And these trees were a tribute to the Twin Towers that fell on September 11th. And this is something that I did not know and is very moving to me, something about the intent of the production. And this is something that Lauren and I get to when we talk about direction, because a lot of people think about what wins. Director of a musical or director of a play is staging. And there's a lot of really intricate staging in comfort way. And I'll get to that in a second. But also it's about tone. It's about making sure your cast is on the same page. It's getting everyone involved in the production on the same page and making sure that everything flows smoothly and is successful and come from away. I mean, I think that a lot of the show is written quite humorously, which sort of keeps you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It doesn't.

[Matt Koplik]

It removes your guard by having humor to it. When you hear what sort of the premise of the musical is, you go, oh, God, this is going to be schmaltzy. And the show leans into a lot of dry humor to kind of take you off your guard that way. But there is some schmaltz in the writing. It can get a little sentimental. And so Ashley, as the director told the cast and would tell anyone who came into the cast or went on tour or whatever, that they were not to play sentiment. They were not to play deep, sad emotions. It wasn't about pain, it wasn't about loss. It was the majority of the characters in this show. There's so much to do and not a lot of time to do it. So it's all about getting a job done. So everyone was playing their roles. And on top of that, by the way, playing all these multiple roles, it wasn't about like Peter and the Starcatcher, where, oh, now I'm this person and I have a new voice and I.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Have a new attitude.

[Matt Koplik]

The actors were instructed to mostly keep to their natural selves with slight tweaks here and there, but letting the simple shift of a new coat or a new hat make them the new character that they are, less of doing this giant transformation of their voice and body. But on top of that, playing all of these characters in Gander and the visitors in Gander, it was just about getting to the finish line. It was just about getting it done, done. And by doing so, it cut against any sentiment that's in the material and allowed the audience to feel more emotion because the cast was not telling them how to feel. The cast was just playing it straight and playing it simple and not necessarily tough, but not indulgently emotional. And thus that allowed sort of the magic trick of the show to weave together that little, little drier exterior with the mushy heart of the show. The production also is very intricate, not just with staging, but with costumes. A character might have a coat that has a pocket on the inside, and inside that pocket is a prop that they have to take out and give to another character so they can become a new character or so they can start a new scene. And so everything was very intertwined. And if you messed up, it didn't just mess up your stuff, it messed up somebody else's stuff. So you really had to be on top of your shit. When you were in Come From Away, a couple of people who had been in the show informed me it actually is a surprisingly difficult sing, Come From Away. And, you know, it's not Heathers or Wicked. You're not screaming at the top of your lungs the entire time, but it is non stop for 100 minutes. You are always on the move. And when you are singing, like, there are times when it does get up there. But it's also that there was a very specific sound that the team was going for. And that's not unusual. A lot of musicals, the musical team will have a very specific sound they want all the time. I know that with the original Spring Awakening back in 06 07, the music team was insistent that there be as little vibrato as possible from the cast. That people do as much straight tone as they can. So for comfort way, there was very specific sound they wanted. There were times when they wanted no vibrato, vibrato could happen here, blah, blah, blah. So you often had to kind of work your voice into the pocket that the Team wanted. And that could be tricky if your voice didn't naturally sit or sound a certain kind of way. Last thing. Oh, this is just a fun one. The character of Bonnie, the woman who takes care of all of the animals. That track has the most stage movement of any track in the show, meaning chair movement and just getting furniture in different places. And the team didn't realize that this was the case until they opened the show in London. And the actress who was doing the Bonnie track was like, why am I moving chairs more than anybody else? And they realized because as they were developing the show and getting it on its feet in La jolla and then D.C. and in Canada, the actress who played Bonnie, Petriona Bromley, was such a team player and very eager to just sort of pick up the slack if there was a moment that needed pick me ups. And oftentimes whenever they're like, okay, so now these two chairs need to go from stage left to stage right. How are we going to do that? Petriona was like, oh, I can move it. And it just was that all the time. And they just didn't think about it while they were doing it, because you're in the. In the middle of the woods while you're making the thing. And so once it was set and then once they were putting it on new bodies, that was in London, that's when they were like, oh, I guess the Bonnie track is the one that moves the chairs the most because Petrina just always was willing to do it. So that's just a fun thing. If you ever watch the Apple movie of Come From Away, just keep track of all the times that Bonnie's the one moving chairs, because it's her more often than it's not.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And that's it.

[Matt Koplik]

Um, yeah, I'll stop talking now so you guys can hear the rest of the episode with Ms. Laura Nicole Chapman. Here we go. Let's get into Come From Away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Now. There's a solemn old tradition for admission for audition to transition from a come from away to be a Newfoundlander. The only other way, at any rate, is pass away and pray to fate and wait to reincarnate as a Newfoundlander. Pray. Hey, come on inside. Nothing ventured, nothing child needed.

[Ariana Grande]

Couple of people cried.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You'll be out of the land of. Hey. Hello, all you theater lovers both out and proud and on the DL. And welcome back to Broadway Breakdown, a podcast discussing the history und legacy of American theater's most exclusive address, Broadway. This series is called Grab Back and it is covering shows you submitted. And I picked out of a bowl. I'm your. It's true. I did it. I'm your host, Matt Koplik, the least famous and most opinionated of all the Broadway podcast hosts. And with me today is a princess. She's the Disney princess, everybody.

[Ariana Grande]

A former princess.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, well, yeah, by the time this comes out, your thing will have actually aired on tv, so you'll be old news by then.

[Ariana Grande]

But true.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She's in the lexicon. She's a friend of mine. She's an old friend of the pod. Please welcome back after 9,000 years, Ms. Lauren Nicole Chapman.

[Ariana Grande]

Yay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Hi, Lauren. Hi.

[Ariana Grande]

Thank you for using my full equity name.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, how else are people gonna know to look up this episode?

[Ariana Grande]

So many names, so many names.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So.

[Ariana Grande]

Such a short person.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Your name is indeed longer than your height.

[Ariana Grande]

Correct.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But that's fine. It's just so much bundled up in a petite little carry on package.

[Ariana Grande]

Perfect.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. I can carry you onto a plane. I don't need to put you in. I don't need to check you.

[Ariana Grande]

I love that. Except for, you know, we also love. We love status. We love Delta status. We love, you know, free bags.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We are very much status people.

[Ariana Grande]

We like status.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think if anyone would describe us, it is, oh, Matt and Lauren, like, they're all about status.

[Ariana Grande]

Like, she probably has the Delta credit card. What? Sorry, I digress.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, you. You also fly a lot, so that's important. I don't. I would have a Delta credit card and be like, well, one day I intend to take an airplane.

[Ariana Grande]

Go somewhere.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Go somewhere. And when I do, it's gonna be nice.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah. And I'm gonna have points.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Speaking of airplanes, Lauren.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What show are we talking about?

[Ariana Grande]

We are talking about Come From Away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. Wait, Come From Away, not Come Fly Away, the Frank Sinatra Twyla Tharp dance musical.

[Ariana Grande]

And it's very different from the other song. What's that song? Come fly, Come from away Come fly away with me oh, come sail away Come sail away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

If you want to know just how much of a noob Lauren is, she looked to me for pop music knowledge. Right. And. And I had the answer.

[Ariana Grande]

That means I actually have no business being on this podcast.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Lauren's question was such low hanging fruit, I was able to answer it.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, thank God.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, I. How do I know that? I think it's. Oh, it's because it's in the Virgin Suicides and I know that soundtrack like the back of my hand. But Come From Away is not that.

[Ariana Grande]

It's not that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No. What? So for the uncultured fucks. Yes. Which is what we call the listeners as well as anybody who just doesn't know nothing.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What is come from away. A boot.

[Ariana Grande]

Come from away is a boot. The terrorist attacks and what happened, like, in a small.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Newfoundland.

[Ariana Grande]

Newfoundland. And you know, this is not why you asked me to be on this podcast.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, no, I want. This is the question that makes or breaks a lot of guests. Because the truth is that this part doesn't matter. Most of the people listening know. It's just fun to see how people do it.

[Ariana Grande]

It's a 90 minute no. Which we love.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

A 90 minute no.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, 90 minute no. No intermission.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Wouldn't that be a 90 minute knee?

[Ariana Grande]

I don't know, Matt.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Or 100 minute knee?

[Ariana Grande]

I don't know, Matt. Anyways, and what happens to the town in order to accommodate all the people.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. On these airplanes.

[Ariana Grande]

On these airplanes that are getting off got misdirected. Correct. American Airlines.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yep. That's one of the airlines.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, that's. It's the true story. Lauren did an okay job of telling it.

[Ariana Grande]

Thank you. I'll take. Okay, Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, who are you, the book writer of Jagged Little Pillow? Because this storytelling, my love, is just. It's top notch, babe. Well, well. So, okay, what is your relationship with the show? How did it enter your chat? One might say.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, I got taken on a date to come see that show.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Really fully.

[Ariana Grande]

It was my second date with a person.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Not the man who has since tied you down?

[Ariana Grande]

No, not my. Not my husband.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Wow, Mike Star. What? Way to drop the ball, like three years early.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay, so it was your second date with a person.

[Ariana Grande]

It was my second date with a human. And they. He was like, we're gonna get dinner and we're gonna go see Come from Away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Had the Tony Awards happened yet? Do you remember any of that?

[Ariana Grande]

I don't think the Tony Awards had happened. And original company.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Great.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm a John Colella. Stan, honey, bad voice there for it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Have you seen Seuss?

[Ariana Grande]

I have not seen.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So, okay, you're probably gonna miss it, but then because you're very busy before it closes, it's there. I have thoughts about it, but there's one thing that Kalela does with her lesbian voice that I'm just like, how. How do you do it? She does this for Sando. It's sort of like, I want to say it's an E or an F maybe. And for those of you who don't know what sforzandos are, it's when you. It's sfc in the music and it's when you hit a note dead on with force, but then immediately pull back and then you crescendo louder.

[Ariana Grande]

She has, like, amazing control.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. And I put it in my. One of my nominees of last season of, like, Gay agenda moments of the year, and it was the sforz. I said the sforzanto y thing that Giancula did in sufes, which she liked and then commented on. But.

[Ariana Grande]

But if you're listening, we love you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We love you, chunklo.

[Ariana Grande]

We love you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But my point is that with her voice, it's insane. And you can always hear her. And all the top harmonies have come from away. That voice is just indestructible.

[Ariana Grande]

It sits in the perfect spot.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

The resonance is correct.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She did Sideshow at the Kennedy center many years ago, and she was Daisy, which for her attitude is correct, but vocally, she's a Violet. And I always wondered how they did that. And then someone sent me a boot and I went, oh. They just flipped the harmonies and had Dais Daisy do all the Alice Ripley notes. I was like, yeah. Because when you have Jen Colella, you don't give her the alto line.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's like asking Laura Nicole Chapman to be a Rockette instead of a featured soloist in the Christmas Spectacular. Radio.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, first of all, let's be honest. I'll never. I would never, ever be a Rockette, not for one second.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But science has made wonderful progress. We can get some stilts put into your legs, and before you know it, you are six. Three, too. But also, it's one of those things where know who you got know what they do.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And Laura Nicole Chapman has a voice like olive oil. So you have her be the featured soloist.

[Ariana Grande]

Is. Can I get. Well, I guess it's going to be in a recording. I was like, can I get that in writing? But thank you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

The transcript for this episode will be available for anyone who listens to podcasts, I think. And yeah, it'll be there in writing for you.

[Ariana Grande]

Perfect.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Lauren. Nicole Chapman has a voice like olive oil.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, thank you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You're welcome. Which brings us Back to Come From Away.

[Ariana Grande]

Back to Come From Away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I saw Come From Away right before it opened. This was around the time where my. I always feel weird saying this, but it's technically true. My step grandmother, she was a Tony nominator, and this was her second to last year as a Tony nominator. She had done the year before, which was Hamilton this year. And then the following year, which was. I know, right? The following year was the year I got to go with her to the Tonys to see Bands visit V Mean Girls. Vu in Frozen. The only time that Lauren Nicole Chowder and I both were at the Tony Awards, you got to perform and I was in the audience.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, that was a fun Tonys. I always. I always tell the listeners what was wild about that night was because it's Radio City, half of the audience, like in the upper balconies and stuff were like fans who bought tickets and stuff. And the lower half is industry. And anytime a Mean Girls nomination was announced, the balconies all went insane. But then Band's visit would win and you would hear nothing from the balconies. And it was wild because of the. The fans were there.

[Ariana Grande]

The fans.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

The fans were there and they were very vocal and they probably hadn't seen Ben's visit. And then when Katrina Lenk did Omar Sharif on the Tonys, everyone's like, what is this shit? Where are the high Bs? And I'm like, go to Mean Girls. But so I got to see it with her, with Fran in the final couple of previews. And we both kind of went in eye rolly. Because the whole thing about the show coming into town, I don't know if you remember, like, people kept calling it mislabeling it. Mislabeling it. The 911 musical.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And we'll talk more about that in a second.

[Ariana Grande]

But like, I did a little bit, kind of. But I didn't. I take it back. I didn't mean it like that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You didn't say 9 11. You said the. The. The terrorist attacks of 911 are the. Yes. Inciting incident that starts the show. Thank you. Exactly. And it's all off stiche. But yeah, that was sort of. Everyone kind of had heard good things from out of town, but it was like, we don't trust these out of town folks with their. With what they say. Because who wants to see a 911 musical?

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, and we had friends that workshopped it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Did we?

[Ariana Grande]

Yes. At Goodspeed.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Speak more on that, please.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm pretty sure I don't want to misspeak, but people that we know in our world. In our world, if you're listening and you know, text us. But I. I think, yeah, it was like while. While we were in college, it was being workshopped at Goodspace. Speed.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

On. I want to say I might be talking out of turn, but the heart. Kids, if you're listening, some of the Heart kids.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

At the time in our sort of like.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Because that was. They were workshopping it during my and your senior years.

[Ariana Grande]

And they were like floored. They were. They were like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe we got to work on this musical. It's gonna be huge.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, well, so that was sort of. The thing is. It was. I was in my research for this because it's written by David Hein and Irene Sankoff. I'm pretty sure that's how you say their names. Who are a husband and wife songwriting team. And they got brought on board by a producer who thought it would make a good musical because he had seen a show of theirs. It's. Yeah. David Hine and Irene Sankoff. I'm so good at what I do. It was the producer, Michael Rubinoff, and he had seen a musical of theirs in 2009 called My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. You know, Supes Commerce, Love, love. But he. I guess he had heard about the story of Gander and the come from awayers and all that.

[Ariana Grande]

And Gander. Thank you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes, Gander walking down a gander. But because there had been a documentary about it, there had been news segments about it, and in 2011, it was the 10 year anniversary of not only 9 11, but of the come from awayers. And so they had this whole big thing in Gander and the team of David and Irene, the married couple, they go to the sort of reunion and they're like, oh, this is absolutely a musical. Because in Gander they have all these, like, as we see in the show, screech ins or people gather together and they sing and they dance. It's very much giving the opening scene of Zorba. For those of you who know Zorba, it's the little semicircle. They do what? Oh, you're doing the exclamation point.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes, you can hear it. But I. I made the exclamation point with my.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Lauren made an exclamation point. She's very profound. She's Equity. Ask if it's Equity. But the opening scene of Zorba is Life is. And it's the semicircle they do where they all play instruments and they sing and dance and Gander has a lot of that. And so they saw that and like, oh, this is absolutely the energy of a musical. It's the tone of a musical. And they started interviewing a lot of locals. They interviewed people from the plains and. Yeah, the plains. And they started with like a 30, 40 minute workshop in Canada that then expanded to a much larger workshop. And then, yeah, pretty much from like 2012 to 2014, they just were workshopping it all over the place. They had Goodspeed, they had namt, there's some other place they did it. And I was watching an interview with them where they talked about, like, at first they tried to cover everyone, like everyone they spoke to, and they were having trouble figuring out their way into it. They're like, do we have everyone just sort of play the characters and we play it all out? Do we have narration? Because, like, there's so many things that these people said that are so poignant and also, like, insanely hilarious that if we were to just put it in the show, people would say that we were terrible writers for, like, being so obvious. Like, the only way we can get away with it is if they understand, like, this is direct from their mouths. Which led to the whole, what they call Laramie project idea of constant exposition, narration, people switching over parts and whatnot.

[Ariana Grande]

Which I love.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I do too. In a lot of ways. It goes against what I usually love.

[Ariana Grande]

See, as somebody who has like a tad a bit of the add of it all. You don't say, oh, shocking for somebody who's known me for over 12 years.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

But that's what I loved about it because I felt like I was getting these like perfect little vignettes of these little stories. And I got a total vibe of like, what that town was like at that time.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

There's. There's a double edged sword to it and we have to talk about it because it was a question brought up in the Broadway Breakdown Discord Channel, which if you haven't joined yet, please do. At over 200 members on the Discord Channel, where you get to submit questions and topics you want us to cover on the episodes. You also get to find out early on when episodes are being recorded. And you also get to get some fun goss. Sometimes people like to exchange gossip on that Discord Channel. It's fun. I only come in to shut down misinformation. If someone has a rumor that is not true, I'm like, guys, that one's not true. But also sometimes I'm wrong. Famously so. On this podcast, I declared three weeks before they announced it that Skylar Astin was gonna be the new Gatsby, and then that didn't end up happening. But I can say with confidence that it was supposed to be him. He was the first one approached.

[Ariana Grande]

Hmm, very interesting.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But this is why we don't leak information till things are assigned Things can.

[Ariana Grande]

Change and things can. You know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. No one knows that better than us. You know what I mean?

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. But, yeah, so this all goes back to what we were saying about people we know who did all the workshops. Like, this thing was sort of in development for a very long time, and they didn't start performing. Performing it, according to my notes, until 2015, summer of 2015, at La Jolla. Ever heard of her? And it goes from La Jolla to Seattle Rep, from Seattle rep to D.C. to Canada, then to Broadway. So it's like a year and a half touring situation. And that entire time, everyone's saying, like your friends were saying during the workshops, like, no, this is so good. It's not the 911 musical. I swear. It's so, like, it's so fantastic. And all of us in New York were like, okay, sure, Jim. Like, because at this point, Evan Hansen had opened and Great Comet had opened, and we're like, guys, these are our musical. These. These are the front runners of the year. And, like, and if anything's gonna happen to upset it all, it's gonna be Groundhog Day from, you know, the Matilda people. And then Come from White just comes in that march, and I'm like, well, fuck me sideways.

[Ariana Grande]

It was. I mean, yeah, it was. And like, I said, A 90 minute. No.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

A 90 minute. No. Or a 90 minute knee, depending on where you come from.

[Ariana Grande]

Where you. Yeah, where you come from. Away.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Exactly. I'm a big fan of the intermissionless. There are some shows where I'm like, you could probably have an intermission. I could use a pee break. And then some shows where I'm like, you could probably make this intermissionless.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

How many. How many musicals have you seen in the last three years? You don't have to name names, but have you seen a few where you're like, this could have been intermissionless. A 90 minute nowhere.

[Ariana Grande]

I think maybe. I think maybe not intermissionless, but perhaps a bit shorter. Everything in general.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You know, this podcast could be shorter, but. But everything could be shorter. But there were some musicals I saw in the last three years from, like, you. We could make you 100 minutes. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm not. Yeah, I won't name names. I've said. I. I discussed it on the POD in the past. I know I talked about this a lot last. That was like, one of my big things last season when there were a couple of musicals from, like, you could be a Hundred minute Knee.

[Ariana Grande]

Knee.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

A hundred Minute knee. But you see, come from a Wii. You and the boy do not last. But does the musical last for you?

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Is the one good thing in this boy's column is that he took you to come from away?

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

There are no other things in his good column?

[Ariana Grande]

Well, no, he.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That he's not going to listen, Lauren.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, I will say. I will say listen for a second date.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's a good one.

[Ariana Grande]

With, like, a gorgeous. We went to a gorgeous sushi sushi restaurant before. I was like, this is a really lovely. Like, he invested in this night.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

You know, and I knew in that moment, too, that I wasn't, you know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It wasn't going to happen.

[Ariana Grande]

But I would go on a third date because he invested so much on the second date.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's a. I mean, listen, that's a lot, you know, of good will. You want to know what I once did on the second date towards the end of 2019?

[Ariana Grande]

I don't know if I do, but maybe I do.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

First off, Lauren, it's me. You know, I'm not gonna say anything disgusting.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, go ahead.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I've said plenty of disgusting things, but not with this kind of setup. I went on a second date with a man named Chris, and it was he. He requested that we get poke bowls on 9th Avenue before we go see a show. Now, poke bowls were his idea. Now, to be fair, I did not intend to make this our second date. I told him I was going to see this show, and he was like, oh, I've always wanted to see it. I was like, do you want me to get you a ticket? He said, sure. So our second date was Slave Play.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Two very pretty white boys.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, okay. Okay. And there's nudity in Slave Play.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

There sure is.

[Ariana Grande]

There's quite a bit of nudity.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Afterwards, he was like, I hope you don't expect me to give you the Paul Alexander Nolan Real illness there. And I was like, no one can be a Paul Alexander Nolan. Honey. Don't. Don't worry. It's a high bar that I don't expect anyone to clear. I clear it. But that's because I'm me.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And. And. And I.

[Ariana Grande]

That's a heavy show. But you didn't really ask him out. You said, do you want me to get you a ticket? I'm also going.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I. Yes. Anded.

[Ariana Grande]

So it's different where, like, somebody's like, I'm going to take you to a gorgeous sushi dinner, and I bought you a ticket ahead of time to come from away a 90 minute?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, one of us is a.

[Ariana Grande]

Is it 90 minutes?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think it's a hundred.

[Ariana Grande]

I need a t. One of us.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Is a Disney princess and gets treated as such. And one of us is a Broadway podcast host and gets treated as such.

[Ariana Grande]

I'll tell you, I was not a princess at that point. Yet. Just yet. Just yet.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You had been involved. It had touched your skin.

[Ariana Grande]

Sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And the Lord Jesus. Lord baby Jesus was like, it's a comin. And the. And the boys will treat you accordingly. I hadn't started my podcast.

[Ariana Grande]

I wish that that was so true because that was not the last date I went on before I married my husband. But that's okay, you know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You know, Lauren, we didn't come here for your life story.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I'm trying to keep it interesting.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We came here for the anecdotes. That's right. Listen, Mike can do a lot of things for you, but can he take you to Red Poke and then slave play on a date?

[Ariana Grande]

Okay. Actually, I've been misspeaking this entire time.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

It was an hour and 40 minutes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So that's 100.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, that's 100.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's a nice round hundred.

[Ariana Grande]

So it's a hundred.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, it's a hundred. No. Or a hundred. Ne if letters are that important to you guys.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, what Lauren said is much more interesting for the sound of it all. It's a better sound.

[Ariana Grande]

90 minute?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No. 100 minute? No. 90 minute? No.

[Ariana Grande]

90 minute.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No. But, you know, if you're being a stickler about letters, then it's 100 minute knee.

[Ariana Grande]

Then it's usain back to Jen Colella.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What about her?

[Ariana Grande]

I'm just kidding.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But so no. All I say is that you see the show and it makes an impact on you. Like it made an impact on all of us. Yeah, there's a lot of talk in the Discord channel about the critical reception it had pre and post Broadway opening and whether it would have landed as well as it did had it not been March of 2017. This is where my research comes into play. And I'll tell you more about my research after this break.

[Ariana Grande]

Billy, I beg to differ with you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

How do you mean?

[Ariana Grande]

You're the top. Yeah, you're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the fear.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments.

[Ariana Grande]

But that's weird.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[Ariana Grande]

Payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms at MintMob.

[Alan]

Hey there you passionate podcast listener. This is Alan from Broadway Podcast Network. Dropping in real fast to make sure you know that the network has a full day of live podcast panels already scheduled for Saturday, February 8th as part of this year's BroadwayCon. It's also the 10th anniversary of BroadwayCon itself. So in addition to BBN's events, there are some additional amazing events planned. All you need is a one ticket which gets you into all three days of BroadwayCon here in New York City. And if you haven't purchased a ticket already, head over to broadwaycon.com and use code BPN for 15% off your ticket. That's broadwaycon.com using code BPN for 15% off. And you can even visit BPN FM broadwaycon to see our confirmed schedule of events. Hope to see you there.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And we're back. So I was looking into my research about the reviews of Come From Away because again like the audience response was so huge and everyone kept talking about oh my God, it's sold out here, it's sold out there everywhere. But there's a difference between selling out the 400 seat La Jolla that has a subscriber base and then a thousand seat Broadway theater every night where you don't get no subscribers. And that was, that's always sort of my thing when people talk about like oh it sold out this off Broadway rhyme. I'm like yeah. And a lot of shows can sell out 150 seat classic stage company. Honey, can you sell out the 800 seat circle in the Square? I doubt it. And Come from way was that thing where we all kind of were like side eyeing it. And the reviews though actually were incredibly positive. They all were like listen, I hear you a 911 musical. Woof. And like yes, there are going to be people who are going to find it saccharine. There are people going to find it very try hard. They're like but God damn is it effective. And like I like I challenge you to sit there the entire time and not feel anything.

[Ariana Grande]

Also we're talking, you know, several many years ago, right? And here we are in 2024 and the way I'm craving a come from away like, original moment. Like, it was not. I think it wasn't as appreciated as it should have been in its time.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Like, I think it was very appreciated.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, I think it was, but I think.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well. So this is. Well, this is an interesting question as. And we will. I was gonna, like, be like, let's talk about the material more before we get into the legacy of it all. But this is Broadway Breakdown, and we don't know what structure means. So we're gonna start in on the. The Tonys first, because why the fuck not? Lauren, I love it. Thank you. So it was ultimately down to Come From Away and Dear Evan Hansen for best Musical at the Tonys. And it was hard to tell who had the advantage because Come From Away came later in the season. Dear Evan Hansen was like, a slightly bigger hit. It was a bit more of a cultural moment because it had songs that were playing on the radio. Ben Platt was getting the Streisand and Funny Girl treatment of it all. And Evan Hansen was eligible the previous year for all the quote unquote, precursors, the drama desks, the outer critics circles, the things that aren't actually precursors. Lauren. Because the voting body does not overlap with the Tonys, but it helps with momentum. I talk about this all the time when we do Tony season when people are like, well, got nominated for 12 out of critics Circle awards. It's gonna get nominated for 12 tonys. I'm like, you're aware that there are two different groups of people, right? The number of shows that have done so well at the outer critics circles, and then Buffett at the Tonys. Young Frankenstein, nine to five. Lauren loves nine to five.

[Ariana Grande]

I love nine to five.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I know. Point is that Come From Away wins all those quote, unquote precursors, and everyone's like, well, what's the battle? Evan Hansen ends up winning the most that night. The thing that gets people weirded out is many people going, well, come From Away. Some people going Come From Away should have won musical. They should have won book and score. But I don't know if they should have won Director because that's the one Tony that they did win. And a lot of people felt Director should have gone to Great Comet because of the Rachel Chavkin of it all. This is the year of Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Great Comet and Groundhog Day, which, for my money, is the last Tony year, where for me, it's the best musical lineup where there are no skips. But. So I asked the Discord Channel, I'm like, how would you rank These four personally, and Great Comet definitely came out the highest of everyone on this discord, either number one or number two, with a couple of Come from ways at number one. This show is interesting to me because it does so many things that I dislike. It does the exposition, dialogue. It's so much narration. The difference is that in Come From Away, it is threaded into this story from everyone. Everyone is narrating and the narration goes into dialogue and out of dialogue, like it's a constant stream and it never stops. I love it very much. There are shows where just rather than have any subtext, it's, let me narrate to the audience what I'm feeling right now. Or how about we interpret maybe? Because Come From Away the narration is never really it. Not really never. There are times when they'll tell you how they were feeling in a moment, but often it's just like allowing us to know where we are in the story because it's 12 actors, something like that, a dozen different characters, dozens of different characters in all these different spots and travel. And we're on an airplane and we're on a bus, and then we're in a school, so we need to.

[Ariana Grande]

And the, like, minimalistic set and all this stuff. I actually loved the way that they used it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

But understanding, like, okay, we're now talking about the school. We're now talking, you know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, it's. It's important for that. And I think if you're going to do something like that, if you're gonna commit a cardinal sin, like so much narration and so much exposition, you have to go, okay, how. How are we gonna make up for this? And I think something that Come From Away does really well. And my experience with it is seeing it that March of 2017, then seeing it again when Broadway Reach opened. And I want to talk about that in a second, too. And then watching the Apple TV movie this morning to bone up for this episode, and I realized what Comfort Way does really well is that it very much just embraces what musical theater can be, what it's so good at, which is just sweeping you up in energy and emotion. You forgive a lot when you. When you combine an emotional moment with clever staging and a bop.

[Ariana Grande]

A bop.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We forgive so much.

[Ariana Grande]

Welcome to the rock. We come from away I want you to know I want you to know I want you to know that I hiked. Yes. Don't get nervous. I went on a hike with my husband, and when we got to the top of the rock, I played that on the loudspeaker as well you should for. I'm sure everyone loved that I did that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But whatever people play on this, I.

[Ariana Grande]

Was like, hey, have you ever heard of Come From Away? It's a great musical. You should look it up. They have some bops.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You know what I.

[Ariana Grande]

And I love a theme.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Whenever I listen to Come From Away, the thing that's always stuck into my head is this. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere with great arrangements, great vocal arrangements. And it is sort of like it always. It never fully turns in a way you don't expect, but it's more sort of like it leans a little to the left when you think it's gonna go straight, then it goes back straight and then leans a little to the right. It just always keeps you. Not on your toes, not on the edge of your seat, but it always just keeps you alert. It always keeps you. I was gonna say erect, because. Thinking like back, but I mean, depending on your kink. Erect too. And again, you're talking about someone who saw Slave Play on a technically speaking, second date.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, you. That was you. You nailed that. That was bold.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Is that why he won't go out with me again?

[Ariana Grande]

That's neither here nor there. We'll discuss at a later date.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Should we text him?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Should we text Chris right now? The listeners also know all about my relationship dramas without knowing anyone's name. So they're like, matt's been going through so much with boys, he might just want to not go near them anymore.

[Ariana Grande]

That's so funny.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. I think Matt's better off when he's holed up in his room doing research for this podcast and not trying to go out and find love. Because when he does, it creates weirdness and it creates plays.

[Ariana Grande]

No, but I thought I had a funny story with going on a second date to Come From Away, but you really topped that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, Lauren, we both have stories about married men. You married one? Sure. And I did it.

[Ariana Grande]

The story is that I am married. You created a married man that I am married. Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. I just got mixed up with one. But the thing with. Come from a way that I love and that I realized with when I went back to it, because I saw when Broadway was reopening in 2021, I got offered a ticket to the dress rehearsal of Hadestown before they reopened. Same thing with Phantom, by the way, with Friend of the Pot, Elena Ricardo, Both Phantom and Hadestown, I was like, I'm so glad to be back in a theater. It's so emotional to be back in A theater and Hadestown. I was like, oh, right, I have notes on this show. But, like, it's still so good to be back in the theater. And then my friend Eric was conducting Come From Away, and he was like, oh, come see the show. So I go again. And when I tell you that I bawled from start to finish, I was just like, I love musicals.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I love musicals. And when I'm telling you I'm sitting next to this man who I know I'm not going on a third date. Will I go on a third date? But, like, I know he's not it, right? But he's so sweet. He's brought me to this, like, beautiful musical. And I'm sat there and I'm like, I'm really gonna cry in front of this man right now for sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Who I have no intention of ever marrying.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, 100%. No.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think that's also how you can be comfortable in your own feelings during a show. You're like, I'm not going to deny myself this experience, because I know that.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I'm like, thank you for bringing me here. Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Thank you so much.

[Ariana Grande]

I needed this.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We come to this place for magic.

[Ariana Grande]

We come to this place for magic.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. But it truly is like it, because old host of the podcast John Miscavige does not like this musical very much. And I asked him why, and he, like, basically gave me a litany of reasons. I was like, those are all fair to me. It's similar to something like Les Miserables, where if you come at it with a fine tooth comb, you'll absolutely find the bumps. You can find bumps in most musicals in anything. Yeah. But for me, it's just how it all comes together. It's the surprising use of humor. It's way funnier than people realize.

[Ariana Grande]

I also love, like, in a musical in general, not just come from away, but in general, if there is an imperfection. Like, I love the way that they choose to, like, tell the story in order to, like, I don't know, be like, this was the best version. And, like, so we're gonna make this happen and make this work, and we're gonna invest in it, and it does. It works.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Well, they. They consolidated so many characters in this show because, as I said, like, they interviewed a million people. The original drafts were, like, 300 pages. And, like, okay, we gotta take some artistic license. And so they didn't want to make up any events, but they were like, we can't have 9,000 characters. So some stories are actually a combination of three or four different stories. It's very Chorus Line where they're like, okay, this one character is actually Donna McKechnie and Kelly Bishop. But, you know, we do what we do. We only have so much time. Another two hour. No, by the way, Chorus Line. I know. Oh, I get. I get now why you call it a no? Because it's no Dash intermission. So you're just saying the no. I thought we were doing the ni.

[Ariana Grande]

No, but that's. We look at the life. Look at the world differently, Matt. And that's okay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It. I'm also embarrassed it took me this long to realize that that's what that.

[Ariana Grande]

No, it's okay. But I also, like. It took me a very long time to be like, actually, it was a hundred minutes. But it sounds better to say 90 minute.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, sure, sure, 90 minute. No, it just rolls.

[Ariana Grande]

The title of this podcast is the 90 minute.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, 90 minute. No, it just rolls off the tongue better, you know?

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, but, you know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, now. Yeah, now, but no, it's. It's. It's. It's similar to me with lame is in that word sense. And just like taking. Using storytelling economically, which is ultimately what musical theater is supposed to be, right? Is it's taking a story that you have to condense in so many ways and then also kind of manipulate in so many ways, because not only are you using songs to properly express what a character is feeling, sometimes you're using music to guide an audience to a certain conclusion because you need them to feel a certain kind of way for a certain emotional payoff. And some shows use that wisely against you. Like Sweeney Todd does Pretty Women with this really beautiful melody right before Sweeney's about to kill a Bitch. Something like Les Mis or Come From Away. The music is absolutely meant to help you, not make you feel a certain way, but guide you towards a certain emotional catharsis and using motifs to kind of help you clock back to certain moments. And I just think that when it's done poorly, you absolutely feel manipulated and you get. You, like, cross your arms and I can see a world where some people would feel that way about, come from away. Me, myself. And I. I'm like, I don't know. I get pretty on board five minutes in, and I am happy to, like, just sort of let go and let God.

[Ariana Grande]

And truthfully, when this man brought me to this musical, I did not know much about it, and I thought, okay, well, let's see. And the way I was locked in. Yeah, like, minute five.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Minute five. Yeah. It's. I think what's smart about it is that they start on a high energy level. They start. What they do start is they start with a fucking drum beat. And that is a way to get.

[Ariana Grande]

And you know, it's always the drum beat.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's always the drum beat. Dream Girl starts with a cowbell. And I'm like, that's how you.

[Ariana Grande]

More cowbell, please.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I have a fever. And the only description is more cowbell. Like, that's how you get an audience's attention is.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I'm. There's a reason that when we were in dance class, like, they brought the drums.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yep.

[Ariana Grande]

I was like, okay, I feel it. I get it. Yeah, yeah. Get in the pocket.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Well, like, if you want. Again, every. So many musicals are so different. It's like you don't start lining the piazza. The drum beat or like, heavy brass. But I. I appreciate a musical that's like. That starts with like, no, no. At your attention. It's what, in a central square?

[Ariana Grande]

Like, nah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Right before Kelly comes on with her Oz. It's like cowbell, cowbell, cowbell, cowbell. No, but it's not quite Gunkle of the pod. Adam Ellsberry and I always talk about what we love about the Michael John the Cusa Wild Party is how it just starts with that blasted blues note of. And it's like it makes an entire audience go, oh, okay, yes, we've begun. And cover way is sort of the same. Not that it blasts you. They wanted to guide you in peacefully. They go one, two, then three fingers. But they start off with that drum beat of like, it's beginning and it's not. Not on a saccharine level of like five strings and. And. And a piano being like. And then 9, 11 happened. It's like, no, no. Add attention. Energy's happening. And it doesn't even. They never fully talk about the attacks themselves. They allude to it. And the moment it actually happens in the show, it's. So for all the talk about how, like, some people find the show manipulative, it's surprising how much restraint there is because we're talking about that opening number, right? And they go.

[Ariana Grande]

They're being extremely delicate, too.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm in my car, I'm at the station, and I turn on the radio, and they don't say what happens. They just play the. You are here. So good. Gives me chills every time.

[Ariana Grande]

So good.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Let's actually just start getting to some characters here. I wrote them. I wrote all the main ones down so I could Remember who they were and what's going on with them.

[Ariana Grande]

It's wise.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think so. Otherwise, we're just like, you know, Jen Colella.

[Ariana Grande]

You know it's Jen Colella, the dude.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Who replaced Chad Kimball, Things like that.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah. The lady with the pets that really got me.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Bonnie. That's Bonnie.

[Ariana Grande]

Bonnie.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So she's the one who gets you. Let's start with Bonnie.

[Ariana Grande]

Bonnie has. She's the rescue animals.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. She's big on rescue animals. And she's the one who thinks of when all of the planes are landed in Newfoundland. She's like, there are animals on those planes. And no one will confirm for me. No one's checking in on them. So she trespasses on the airline plane.

[Ariana Grande]

I literally would do that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Of course.

[Ariana Grande]

Like, the animals.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I know, I know. But that's her whole storyline, right? Is she's the one going in and she's checking on all them. She's feeding all them. One of my favorite lines in the show, because again, it's like. Like it's both a dad joke, but also just funny, is when she gets to the planes and she goes in and she's like, oh. She's like.

[Matt Koplik]

She.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She hears barking and she goes, oh, there's a cat here that, like, needs to take its medicine. I'm so glad I came. And her husband's like, bonnie, you gotta leave. Like, I'm sure you've covered it all. And she's like, doug, she's like, I just fed a cat. Do you think that's who was barking? And she goes back in.

[Ariana Grande]

Thank you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Like, it's just one of those dumb jokes. Just like, the cat's not the one who was barking, Doug.

[Ariana Grande]

No, obviously, Doug.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She's like. I'm like, I have to stick around. There's clearly more. And then it turns out there's a bonobo monkey that gives birth.

[Ariana Grande]

It gives birth.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Sadly, they lose their baby, but they do. She gives birth to a baby.

[Ariana Grande]

The animals, they really get me.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And you never see them, though.

[Ariana Grande]

I know. Well, yeah, you don't need to.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You don't need to.

[Ariana Grande]

But Bonnie is taking care of it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You know, we also don't see in. Come from away. That I love. What children? We don't see any goddamn children. And come from away. They are alluded to.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, they're. They're. They put. They're keeping them safe. I don't know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

They're doing something with them. I'm just saying. I'm so glad that they were like, we should have one child actor Represent all the kids.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm laughing because the chances of it being, like, one or several of, like, a young Anna or young Elsa is, like, would be kind of fierce to me a little bit.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We are on a. We. We are in a knife's edge universe where that could have happened. I.

[Ariana Grande]

And I sort of am like, I understand why you are not on board for that, but I'm sort of like, what if?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, yeah. Lauren's like, what if? And I'm like, but what if?

[Ariana Grande]

And that's why.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's why we're friends.

[Ariana Grande]

That's why we see the world differently. It's good.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I see that as. As Chris, Christopher, Ashley going a full lempick. I'd be like, okay, we're gonna put her in an overgrown Lacoste shirt, and she's gonna be 12 different ages. She's gonna be both 4, 9, and 14.

[Ariana Grande]

Wow.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And she's gonna play every child in the world. And I'm like, thank God you didn't do that, because I just have. The kids can come to come from away. I don't want them in come from away.

[Ariana Grande]

It's not about the kids.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's not about them. I. Fans don't really love children on my stage. They need to be used sparingly and effectively. And that is a surefire way to get me to kill this show with fire is like. And then because they even said the right. I was watching the interview with the writers, and they were like, listen, they had, like, 50 make a wish kids in Newfoundland who had to get redirected from Disney World. There's a. There's a line about it in the show, and they're like, we said to ourselves, selves, we cannot give those 50 kids a number about not going to Disney World. Like, that would be camp. That would be awful. We would have been dragged out of New York City.

[Ariana Grande]

No, you can't.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But I. I like to think that that became their guiding star of, like, I don't think we have kids in this show. I think we just focus on the adults and, like, the kids are referenced and taken care of, and we just know that they are.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Because also, like, those kids ain't going to the screeching.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm picturing them, like, moving the chairs. Aww, cute.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Sure. Imagine them kissing the fish. We'll talk about some more bops. Do anything you want to say about Bonnie and the rescue animals? Just besides the fact that in life, that's you, that's not your track, though.

[Ariana Grande]

None of them were my Track.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's not true. You're a total Janice.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, I didn't go in for it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So I'm not, you know, but it's. It's gonna get put up everywhere.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, yes. Well, I would love to do.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And I know what your. What your career is. I know what you're right for. I am casting you in all the right things. In my frame.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, great. In your brain.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes, my brain.

[Ariana Grande]

Perfect.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm slowly getting more influenced in this world.

[Ariana Grande]

Great. That works. Well, no. That's all I wanted to say. She was a standout for me.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

Love her.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Jenn Colella has two major roles. She has the first Annette.

[Ariana Grande]

Female.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, the first. Well, she has Beverly Bass, the first female pilot. Commercial airline pilot. And then Annette, who works at the school with Beulah. All you need to know about Annette is that she's horny.

[Ariana Grande]

You just love saying that, I think.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

When did. When did you watch the show for research for this? Or did you just listen to the opening number 10 times and come on the podcast?

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, my gosh. Drag me, will you?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You're so little. It's easy to do.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, fine. Annette, go along with your. Go along.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

If you would. If you decide to rewatch the video after this, just know that Annette's whole thing outside of making sandwiches, is that she's always horny for dong. There's a. There's a pilot that she keeps imagining is telling her, like, that she is so needed in these proceedings. And Beulah's like, he did not say that. And that's like, he said it with his eyes.

[Ariana Grande]

I love Beulah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Beulah. Beulah's awesome. And then Annette also is like, we. Beulah's like, we needed help cleaning the bathrooms in the school because we had 700 people and, like, 12 bathrooms. And she's like, no one would offer. And then Annette goes. And that's when the 12 highest, like, top cardiologists in the country came in and they. And they cleaned our bathrooms. They were big, strapping men. And Beulah's like, yeah, they were doctors who helped us clean bathrooms. And that. She's like, but the way that they did it. And like, here's the thing. I am an Annette in private with friends. I'm a Beulah. Like, I'm. I'm a Beulah sun with a Annette rising or whatever that. Whatever that means.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Where it's like, what am I?

[Ariana Grande]

I'm like a Bonnie.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What? Wait, what? Which is sun? Would you present in Moon what your inner self is. Is that what you think?

[Ariana Grande]

I think so.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay, don't correct me, everyone, because I don't know. But let's say sun is presenting. Moon is who you really are. I am definitely a be a sun and a net Moon. You are a Bonnie sun and a Bonnie Moon. You're just.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm a Bonnie sun and a Bonnie Moon.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Bonnie Moon's a great drag name, by the way.

[Ariana Grande]

Work.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. I mean, I feel like maybe you're. Okay, who are the other women?

[Ariana Grande]

Because there's maybe Janice, but.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, no, no. That's what you are because you are. You're. You're a Janice in the streets and a Bonnie in the sheets in that there's who you present as Janice of, like. Ah, I'm just. I'm doing my job and I'm Janice. But when the chips are down, you're like, those animals are gonna get their pills.

[Ariana Grande]

Correct.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And I will cross the picket line to do it.

[Ariana Grande]

100%.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. That's who you are. I keep forgetting about Janice because that's also how I would cast you as.

[Ariana Grande]

So why do you keep forgetting about her?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Because I keep forgetting.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, go back to the text, Lauren.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm so old. There's a reason I wrote all this down. We're doing on time. We'll do a little bit more talking, then we'll go on a break. We have a couple more women. We have. Oh, we have Diane. Diane is the one who falls in love with Nick. The British dude.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes. And we needed love. We needed a love story.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Listen, I am absolutely a Beulah Annette. If there's what I hope for, I don't know what rising means. Maybe rising is, like, what we aspire for. I aspire for Diane the way I'm.

[Ariana Grande]

Like, gonna Google it really quick.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Go for it. Because I want to fall in love with a British man. It's all I want in this world.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, we'll say it on the pod. Say it out loud.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm saying it out loud again.

[Ariana Grande]

Hi, everybody. Matt would love to fall in love with a British man.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

If you could look like Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, that would be great. And. And continue being British. I would. I would also accept Hugh Grant in Four Weddings in a funeral.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay. Just for the future.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

Because I love this. A sun sign represents a person's core identity. So Bonnie sun.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, your core identity. Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah. Moon sign represents a person's emotional needs, inner self.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Interesting. I could have sworn it was about, like, presenting and true.

[Ariana Grande]

And your rising is your Outward Persona.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay, so you are a rising Janus. And I would argue you are a sun and moon. Bonnie.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, both. Bonnie.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, your. Both of those are Bonnie. So you said sun is your emotional. Moon is no moon is emotional. Sun is core.

[Ariana Grande]

Sun is core.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

Rising is the one that's your outward person.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So yes, I would say that I am a rising Beulah with a, with a touch. With a touch of the more gay Kevin, the one who doesn't do the screeching and says that we are all freaking the fuck out. Love him. I would say I am a sun is core. Okay, so son, at my core, I am the child wrangler that didn't get hired because there are no children in this show and I'm grateful to not have the job.

[Ariana Grande]

You're really stretching this honey boo boo child. Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And then moon, my emotional moon. I'd say Diane, because I just want that. I want that love. I want that British want the love.

[Ariana Grande]

You want the British love.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I want the British love. And like Diane, I'm going to find it in my 40s.

[Ariana Grande]

I hope that for you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, I would hope for sooner, but I just know my. Myself, I'm going to.

[Ariana Grande]

It's fierce. Everyone says that in your 40s. It's like.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

When you're like, life is good.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Life is good. I'm going to. I'm going to be 45. Some 27 year old British dude who looks like Jacob Elordi is gonna be like, hey, I just met you and this is crazy.

[Ariana Grande]

Not a Carly Rae Jepsen song.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We love, we love Cinderella, another princess. But he will give me his number and we will date and they will write a musical about it and it's gonna be gorgeous.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay, well, so this is called manifestation. We just talked about all of our signs and all of our risings and our beep ups.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, you know what it's gonna be.

[Ariana Grande]

And now you're manifesting.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm gonna hit 40 and Kit Connor's gonna be 26. And that's when he's gonna be like, Matt, let's date. And I'll be like, I simply cannot. You are too young. It's gonna be very baby girl. But not problematic. That's what it's gonna be.

[Ariana Grande]

As long as it's not problematic.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I mean, I hope it's not problematic. Let's.

[Ariana Grande]

Let's keep on that.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Kit's gonna be like, listen, as a child actor, as a former child actor myself, I understand your dislike of them. And I'm like, yes, Kit Work, and then we're gonna walk off into the sunset. That's gonna be our lives. And on that note, let's take another break.

[Ariana Grande]

Billy, I beg to differ with you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

How do you mean?

[Ariana Grande]

You're the top. Yeah, you're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astag. This episode is brought to you by Meundies. Underwear drawers are like the wild west. You never know what you're gonna pull out or what shape it's in. So upgrade your collection with the buttery, soft comfort of Meundies. Meundies signature fabric is as soft as a warm hug from your favorite sweater. Plus, it's breathable and, oh, so comfy, making it ideal for all day wear. Get 20% off your first order, plus free shipping at MeUndies.com Spotify with code Spotify. That's MeUndies.com Spotify. Code Spotify. You found your person. Now let the knot help you with everything else. The knot connects you to the wedding inspo, vendors, venues, and planning tools you need to make your day. Totally. You Having helped plan 25 million weddings, we've got your back when it comes to every little detail like RSVPs, budgets, and more. Because your wedding comes to life with the connections that matter the most. Get [e-mail] audio the knot. Let's plan your wedding together.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And we're back. So believe it or not, everyone, there are also men in this show.

[Ariana Grande]

Who knew?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, there just aren't many men in this world, and I don't think they get their due, so I think we should acknowledge them a little bit.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay. They don't get their due. They get their due in every other show.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Lauren. That's what we call acting. I'm just that good. Well, Lauren's putting on sunglasses inside just.

[Ariana Grande]

Because it got a little shady in here.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It sure did. It got dark real quick. Okay, so I'm gonna. I'm gonna list off these men and tell you who they are in the show. You tell me how much you remember them. Okay, we have Claude, who's the mayor.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Fantastic.

[Ariana Grande]

We love.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

He's always. And he's fighting against Garth, who is the, like, I guess, union rep for the school buses.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yep, yep. They're always saying, like, see it from my perspective. You see it from my perspective. That's part of the reason why everyone's on the planes for so long because they're in the middle of a bus strike. So they and they want to use the buses. Right. I forgot about that storyline until I rewatched it. That's how research works. There is Kevin and Kevin, the two gay men.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Which there is nothing. What this show is so good about is they have two actors who look nothing alike, which isn't very gay, but they have the same name. So if you can't. If you can't be dating your physical twin, you'll dame your date your name twin.

[Ariana Grande]

And that's on maybe manifestation. I don't know. I'm bringing it back around.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, to say, Lauren, you. You famously know quite a few gay men. They seem to like you.

[Ariana Grande]

I enjoy the gays very much.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. And I think I speak for many of them when I say they enjoy you.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, thank God.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You're a fun time. You like to drink, you like to talk, and you like to be bubbly, but also shady at the same time. Never on mic, never on, never on. On the record. And just so everyone knows, I can be much shadier off the record. So just know that this is me being at my most well behaved.

[Ariana Grande]

But because I told him he had to.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. Lauren was like, remember Matt?

[Ariana Grande]

Remember Matt.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Words have consequences. They do, but. So the gays like you. Therefore you have seen plenty of them. You had quite a few at your wedding, which. Thank you for that Ally shift.

[Ariana Grande]

Thank God.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes, they were a good time. But you've seen gay couples.

[Ariana Grande]

Sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Even if they aren't an exact similar type. There's always a little bit of a. Oh, you see a little bit of yourself in the other one.

[Ariana Grande]

I understand it enough to.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You married a blonde man. Like you're not immune.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, my God. Anyways, we got Kevin and Kevin.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We have Kevin and Kevin. They're the gays.

[Ariana Grande]

They're the gays.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yes. Who don't make it to the end. Which I find a little bit homophobic that we have one gay couple and they're the ones who don't make it at the end. But to be fair, effeminate Kevin is not built for this story. He does not enjoy the screeching. He does not enjoy the wandering about. Like straighter Kevin, played not by Chad Kimball in the movie. He's like, I want to go for a hike. And bottom Kevin's like, I don't want to. And I'm like, girl, why aren't you saying yes and to this right now? What are you gonna do? Stay in the elementary school and stare at the wall?

[Ariana Grande]

They had to create conflict, I suppose.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So.

[Ariana Grande]

Not that there was already conflict. Going on. But.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But. But you, of course, remember the two gays.

[Ariana Grande]

Of course I remember. Me, yes. Me, of course I remember the two gays.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Of course. And then more effeminate Kevin also plays Ali, the Egyptian Muslim chef.

[Ariana Grande]

Yep.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yep. We have to get back to him in a second because there's some pushback about the show and in regards his character and how the show used. Uses him, which I don't know if you are aware of any of that.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm not.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Fantastic. So we're gonna take Lauren Nicole Chapman by surprise.

[Ariana Grande]

Great.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

There's Oz, the Newfoundlander police chief, who has the first, like, real big laugh of the day in the show when they're all talking about what they were going on on about their days in welcome to the Rock. Because Beulah has that dumb dad joke where she's like, the students aren't happy to be staying inside on such a gorgeous day. So I told them we would have only half a day this morning. They love that. Till I told them we'd have the other half in the afternoon. I'm like, beulah, that joke is a gentleman's three out of 10, and you know it, which means it's actually a two. But Oz is like, when I see someone speeding down the street, I write them a ticket that says, stfd. Slow the fuck down. And I'm like, you know what, Oz? Not only is your name gay rights, but also. That's funny. I like him. I like him a great deal. Yeah. We have Bob, who is one of the. I believe he's one of the passengers in the planes who helps out with the people of gander of, like, sort of gathering things for the. For, like, cooking whatnot. Like, he goes. He talks about. Because he's also pointedly. He is the only black man in the show. It's specifically a black male track. He is nervous when he goes into someone's home to shower. He's nervous that they're gonna steal his wallet. And then the mayor's like, okay, we need, like, 50 grills to cook food for everyone. He's like, just go into people's backyards and take their grills. And he's like, I am a. I'm a. I'm a black man. I'm gonna get shot. And Claude's response is like, no, no, no. As you know, go into their backyards and steal their grills. And I'm not exaggerating. That's literally how it's played. He's like, no, no. And he's like, no, I'm gonna get shot. No, no, just go steal him. And so he does. And people are like, oh, yeah, you're taking my grill. Do you want some tea? And Bob's line is like, that's when I knew that my wallet was safe no matter where I went. And it's a fun moment. It's a fun time. It's using racism and the expectation of racism for levity, which is a hard line to walk.

[Ariana Grande]

Very hard, yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Lord knows I cannot do it myself. I famously will probably be canceled by the time this episode comes out. But I think that that is. The character of Bob is a character where I feel like they do a good job of, like, acknowledging your expectation as an audience. And because Bob has the same expectation. And then when it doesn't go that way, it's the. It's the one time that hospitality isn't played for warmness, is played for laughter. The character the actress plays, Janice, the newscaster, has a line where they talk about how, like, oh, everyone's in the town, is telling passengers to, like, take them in and do stuff. And she says to someone, she goes, welcome to Walmart. Would you like to use my home to shower? And it's just. For some reason, it's. It's fucking funny. But that's sort of the Bob of it all. Oh, we forgot Hannah. Hannah has the. Has probably the real sad one. Hannah is a grandmama. Yeah. Lauren knows where this is going. See, Lauren, you do remember the show.

[Ariana Grande]

I remember the show. And Hannah, she broke my heart.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, she. She has a son who's a firefighter and lives in New York, I think. And she's trying to get in contact with him while she's grounded. And she. The only reason she's on this plane is because he was like, you don't go on vacation ever. I'm buying you a ticket to go somewhere. And then she's like, this is why. And now she can't find him. And she keeps trying to contact people in the station. He wasn't working that day, but apparently, like, so many people came in anyway to work. And then she bonds with Beulah because she can't get in contact with anyone this entire time. So she. She and Beulah become friends to sort of take their minds off of it all. And then everybody departs Gander, because it's some. You gotta leave sometime. You come.

[Ariana Grande]

What's the saying? You can stay, but you can't stay here. What is it?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, yeah, it's.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, gosh.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, it's. It's when you're, when you, you don't.

[Ariana Grande]

Have to go home, but you can't stay here. I don't know that that applies to this.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's what they say at bars all the time. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. Well, but Hannah, when after everyone comes back, goes home, and we have the joyful of the Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and everyone's kind of getting back to their lives, Hannah calls Beulah to let her know, my son did die. He did go in, he did the heroic thing and he died. And she and Beulah bond over it and they remain friends and they visit with each other.

[Ariana Grande]

So sweet.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's so sweet. Because the show ends with its inception, which is the 10 year anniversary, and everyone showing up at Gander, right? And we find out that Diane and Nick got married and they honeymoon. Honeymooned in Gander. We find that a lot of people keep coming back to the town, that people start charities and acts of goodwill inspired by Gander. One of the moments that always makes me cry when I watch the show, because actually, let me ask you this, Lauren. Do you have like anything in particular when you watch a movie or a show that makes you cry? Like, if, if you know that it has this thing in it, it's gonna make you cry.

[Ariana Grande]

I, I gotta be honest. It's more about musicals. And I think, like, if I have, you know, say like from the downbeat. Right? No, I'm serious. I'm not even.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm laughing because it's.

[Ariana Grande]

But from the downbeat, if I know I'm really gonna enjoy a musical, I'm already starting to well up. And I think that's like, why I do musicals. Maybe. Anyways, I'm fine. I'm not gonna cry.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You're great.

[Ariana Grande]

But that's kind of like why I do musicals, I think, is because that is how I like, express, right? And so if I'm in a musical that I know, I'm really, I'm starting to really, really, like, come From Away was one of them for sure. It's. I'm already sort of there. And then their stories, like, were so sweet and like the full circle of it all is like, I don't know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, absolutely, I hear you. I see.

[Ariana Grande]

So I, I don't know, like TV show or movie maybe if it touches on, like, personal life stuff, I'll start to. Well, but when it comes to like a, A good musical, what is a.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

TV show that made you cry?

[Ariana Grande]

A TV show that made Me cry. Oh, parenthood.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay.

[Ariana Grande]

Constant.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay. Like, the emotional, personal stuff of that really, like, got to you.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah. And just, like, their connection and stuff. It was, like, really special to watch.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So that's the thing with me of what tends to make me cry. I used to think it was just, like, I used to joke, like, when a parent realizes that, like, their weird kid is actually creative. But it's more than that. It's. It's what it.

[Ariana Grande]

That too.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That too. But what it is.

[Ariana Grande]

But now I'm, like, getting in my. Like, as I'm aging, I'm like. I don't know. I guess I'm like, maybe I'm seeking it out more.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think we all are. It's. With so many things that have happened in the last 15 years, honestly, since 9, 11, the last 23 years, then of just. We keep getting more aware of all the awful things in the world, and it gets harder and harder to see the good stuff. And there is. There is good stuff. It keeps happening. It's just that the bad stuff is what takes up most of our brain now.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And we always say, like, you know, be the good you want to see in the world. And it's hard to do that when your brain is just overwhelmed with negative feelings, negative thoughts, and you see terrible stuff. It's like, how can I combat that with anything? And for me, what always makes me cry is when people show up for people. When people just, like, are good. Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Like, inherently good or just, like, do.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

A good thing for someone else.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And there are a million things that do that. It tends to happen more for me in movies and TV than it does in theater.

[Ariana Grande]

See, and that's what's so funny, is it's rare for it to happen for me in a TV and movie scenario, and it happens to me in the theater all the time.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And so.

[Ariana Grande]

And maybe that's just because that's how I express for sure. So I'm like, more tuned in, I guess.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But I think all the moments. I mean, music is always prominent in the TV and movie that I. That it happens with me for the main one, the one I've talked about a lot on this podcast, is hold your laughter, Lauren. It's the Christmas episode from two years ago of Bob's Burgers. Now, granted, I was in a very raw space when I watched this episode, but it still makes me cry.

[Ariana Grande]

So specific. But it was what you maybe needed in that moment.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And it's. And to my credit, is now considered by most of the fans to be the Best Bob's Burgers episode of all time. But it is just the long and short of it is all three kids have things going on that night for Christmas, and the parents can't make it to all of them. And so it's decided that the youngest one who's doing a poem at the library is the one that they have to miss. Because she told them, like, it doesn't matter. I don't care about this one. I put in a joke poem, and somehow they picked it. And the oldest sister, Tina, realizes, oh, no, too late. Like, oh, no, she put in a real poem. Like, this one means a lot to her, but she's nine, and she's a bit of a sociopath, so she doesn't like to tell people she has feelings, but she does care. And the parents keep trying to get there, but they can't. So everyone. Like, everyone's just stuck. And at the last second, Tina leaves her own thing to go show up for her sister's thing, like, at the very last second. And every time I see Tina show up for that poem, I.

[Ariana Grande]

It gets you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm already kind of a little teary. And it's the same thing with, like, Will Ferrell in Lego Movie when he realizes that, like, his son didn't mess up his Legos, he just made a beautiful.

[Ariana Grande]

That, actually, no, that really got me, too. I was unexpectedly.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. When he. Because first he yells at his kid, Finn.

[Ariana Grande]

He's so mad.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And then he looks. Then he. But then he looks at all the pictures that he made, and he goes, you made this? And then he hugs him. It's. And perks of being a wallflower. I love it when people show up for people and come from away is just like that for 100 minutes straight.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But specifically when the people get back on the planes and they're doing the takeoffs and one of the passengers, I think it's Bob gets up. It's either Bob or it's just the actor playing. Bob gets up, and he's like, I want to do something for them. He's like, and I don't know what to do. They. They wouldn't accept payment. They wouldn't accept anything. He's like, it's like, I'm starting a collection. Pass the hat around. And, like, let's just, you know, do something for them with whatever money I'm getting.

[Ariana Grande]

Like, yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

He's, like, doing just that. And I'm passing a hat, and people start putting in money, and they. They do something with it in the end, and it and it just becomes the pay it forward of it all. And that really, that like again I. The second time I saw it on Broadway, right after lockdown, I cried multiple times, pretty much non stop. But the moment that I just like became ugly and it's weird that I'm ugly, but the moment I became ugly was when that hat happened. And then I just was that till finale.

[Ariana Grande]

I really wish I had seen it again after shutdown. I just think, you know, there's obviously so much perspective that has come with that time, hopefully for. For everyone. And so. Yeah. And then. And then like going back to what you said though, when Hannah like just lightly touches on the fact and like fact that her son like unfortunately did not make it and she calls to tell Beulah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Right. Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

I think the payoff that we get from that is the fact that they haven't made it about 911 until. Yeah, that point really they've made it about this stories about these people and getting them what they need in this time. And there's been like little like sprinklings of like what's going on in the world. But that really comes at like a. You're already at a very vulnerable state. And then they hit you with like the reality of the scenario.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. You know, 911 is always kind of hovering in the background, threatening to come in the door. And it has moments, but they're.

[Ariana Grande]

I feel like they're really tasteless with when they choose to speak directly.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Absolutely. And I think it's more that it's little bits of information to see how it affects the people where one of the things that they do that is tricky. And I never thought of it until I watched it this morning with this question from the Discord Channel. Because now I'll actually get into one of the questions from the Discord Channel since you guys were so good to write in about it. Someone asked, I will say I first read, rolled my eyes a little bit just because the podcast they mentioned is the podcast I do not like. But they said this is a take that is conveyed much better on the musical splaining episode. In the episode, I guess musical splaining did of come from away. I don't like musical splaining that podcast. I love Lindsay Ellis. I think she's so incredibly smart. But I only kind of liked that podcast when she was the co host and then she left and I just couldn't listen to it anymore. That said, the question is the choice to avoid addressing Islamophobia and the discrimination that resulted from 9 11, especially given the show's 10 year later angle, makes the. This person said makes the piece come across as self congratulatory and dishonest. I don't think it makes it dishonest. And there are pockets where they do hint at it.

[Ariana Grande]

Can you say that again? Because I want to make sure I.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Understand that fully that the show's choice to avoid addressing Islamophobia and discrimination of it that resulted from 9 11, especially with the show ending at a ten years later, this person, this listener thought makes the show feel self congratulatory and dishonest.

[Ariana Grande]

Heard. But the timeline, unfortunately it's.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think what they're getting at is.

[Ariana Grande]

I guess it could be a more overarching thing, of course, but.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But I wouldn't even argue. It's something that a lot of Americans didn't really clock for a very long time. I would argue people weren't even clocking in the 10th anniversary of that long. They were.

[Ariana Grande]

Well, and they weren't, you know. Yeah, of course I remember inherently like just not.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. There was an episode of Big Mouth, the cartoon show Big Mouth on Netflix.

[Ariana Grande]

You love cartoons.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I really do. Bob's Burgers and Big Mouth.

[Ariana Grande]

I mean I've watched episodes of both of them and they're fabulous.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But I mean also American Dad. Everyone knows how much I love Roger from American dad. My tastes are weird. Lauren.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I don't think they're weird.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What I mean is like I can quote all of Drop Dead Gorgeous, like any gay men, while I'm also like, I can also quote all of south park and American dad to you. That's what makes me so special. It's giving range, it's giving verse. But on Big Mouth there's an episode where they go to the Statue of Liberty for a field trip and the teacher's talking about like 911 and the terrorist attacks and how like America had to prove that terrorists didn't win. And one of the students was like, but like, didn't they? And everyone's like, what the fuck are you talking about? She's like, I'm just saying like our country like got torn apart because of that and now we're still so incredibly divided and like very prejudiced of different races and incredibly xenophobic because of it. Which is there is a lot of nugget of truth to that. What I will say is that I never really thought of that as being a result of 911 until that moment. I think that come from way because ultimately it is a message about hope and its Themes are about showing up for people and being there for each other. It can't really go that deep on the aftermath of Islamophobia. And I think where some people get frustrated is it does touch on it. You see the seeds being planted a little bit, and you could argue whether it has its cake and it eats it, too. The character of Ali, the Egyptian Muslim chef, gets discriminated against twice. The first time is when they're on the plains and they haven't been able to get onto the bus to leave yet. It's because he gets brought in for questioning, and that's all that happens. And he gets put back on, and they all go. And then there's like, another moment where they're all in the elementary school watching the news, and they realize what's happened. And it's the terrorist attacks and all these things, and. And two or three different. Let's just say white people get very much like, who here is not an American? And just sees, like, any person of color. And it's like, you know, terrorists. And, like, one person's like, I'm a Muslim, but I was born in Connecticut. Like, just showing the beginnings of. We get here. And then right before they leave, Beverly Bass says that one of her flight attendants won't get on the plane because of Ali. And thus they have to call in, like, an interrogation to make sure that he's okay to fly with them, despite the fact that he helped cook all the food for them.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, like, hello?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I know. And he ends up. He ends up having, like. They allude to it, like, has, like, a deep cavity search. I think that for dissenters of the show, they could call Come from away toxic positivity. The musical where I think that's not correct, is toxic positivity is ignoring trauma. It is ignoring darkness and sadness, and it is ignoring problems for the sake of simplicity. It is the. Honestly, it's the progressive version of MAGA of, like, I can't handle complications. So just. It's all good. I don't hate you. You don't hate me. It's all love. And I'm like, it's not all love. And ultimately, that's what gives you cancer and many other ailments. And I don't think that come from away. Is that because there's also the having trauma, having dark things happen to you and not defining yourself by it and be like, no, I will overcome this. I will work through this and appreciate the good that has happened to me. And, I mean, it's. I'm assuming You're a literate person and you read Diary Van Frank in school. Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's ultimately what the end of her diary is. Like. I still believe that people can be good. And she's living in an attic and eventually going to the camps. Like, and this is how she. How she views the world.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think that there's a lot of that DNA income from away. Like, and we lose having the show be about Ali and see what happens to him in those 10 years. So we see him being profiled and having this cavity search and then we see him 10 years later. So we haven't seen him go through the healing process of all of that and what he goes through on a day to day. Just see him choosing positivity and love and talking to Beulah and the joke of, like, give me the recipe for that fish and cheese. Spoiler alert. It's just fish and cheese. But, but, but there. You can be frustrated by the lack of more in there, of course. And I think. I don't think that it's the writers going, well. It's not important. We want people to focus on the good so much as, like, we don't have the time and the story. There's more good in this story than. Than there is bad. And we would be dishonest if we didn't acknowledge any of the bad. But if we just. If we just lived in that for. By the end, what's the point of even telling the story? Because so many people's lives are affected for better, including the people that bad stuff happened to.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

So I recognize that. But we need to talk about it. Okay, next up, Sorry. Talk about your history with Come From Away. We talked about that. Did Chris. Okay. Did Christopher Ashley deserve best director at that year at the Tonys? And can you talk about the Tonys in general? We did talk a bit about the Tonys. Christopher Ashley, Lauren, you've been on Broadway, famously, so how would you define a director's job? It's not just staging.

[Ariana Grande]

No, it's not just staging. It's the overall arcing theme and maintaining the vision that they have for the show on all ends of the spectrum. It's somebody checking in with design. It's somebody checking in with, like, they're the person that all of these creatives are checking in with to make sure that everyone's in line. Hopefully everyone's in line with what the view for the musical or the show was. Was supposed to be about.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, everyone's on the same page.

[Ariana Grande]

Everyone's everyone's on the same page. Everyone's, you know, working towards the same goal.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. And in the same world.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

If. If it's. It sounds like such an easy answer to say, but, like, if you ever find a bump in a show you're seeing, like, you can go back to the director and be like, why is that bump there? Every. That. They are the point of reference for all design, all creative, all acting. And so it's why, when we were in school together, we had a professor who I don't like, but he did say one thing that I thought was very wise, which is, like, as an actor, it's not your fault if you get cast. So if you're a miscast, like, you do your best. Like, you went in, you auditioned, they wanted something in you, and, you know, you just do the best you can. So if you see a performance in a show that you think is lacking, you have to go back to director and be like, why? A, why did you cast them if they don't have what it takes? And B, how are you not helping them further? Like, you got set up everyone for success. I've never watched a cast and seen a bad performance and been like, oh, I blame the actor. They're. They're just doing their best. So for something like, come from Away, especially with that original company and how it was all set, like, the tone that showed walks such a high wire, and the tone is set by the writing, it's set by the actors, it's set by the design, and it all comes from director. So it's not just, oh, he uses the turntable really well.

[Ariana Grande]

It's.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Everything is in line. And that is a director's job. And I think with Ashley, that is something he did really well with this show of, like, you're gonna come in rolling your eyes, and you're gonna walk out leaping. So how do we do that? Mm. Yeah. I don't know. That was me talking, but I wanted.

[Ariana Grande]

No, I. I was. I agree with everything you just said. Said.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But I'm just saying, like, you've been in the room where it happens on a few occasions, so you've seen these professionals work on this stuff. And so as someone who's had blood in the game, I just wanted to hear your take on that.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, I mean. No. I mean, a good director is somebody who can bridge the gap.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Who can. Because again, going back to what we said earlier, not every piece is going to be perfect. There's always going to be holes. And hopefully, if you work together and everyone's on the same page. The holes aren't as craters, you know what I mean? As cratery. Like, they're like, you're able to sort of move through and it makes sense. And like, Come From Away is a really good example of that because it just, I think the through line and the theming is like, yeah, Chef's kiss.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Speaking of musical splaining, Lindsay Ellis did say something on the in the Heights episode of that podcast where she was like, listen, ultimately, at the end of the day, if a musical doesn't work for you, everything just becomes an example of why it didn't work for you.

[Ariana Grande]

Right?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But when a musical does work for you, everything becomes an example of, like, why it succeeds or things that you don't mind because overall the show is effective for you.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And you want to just try to do your best to make a show not as airtight, but, like, as strong against criticism as possible.

[Ariana Grande]

Billy, I beg to differ with you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

How do you mean?

[Ariana Grande]

You're the top.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

You're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're the nimble tread of the feet of Fred.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Do you have really any really good advice a director gave you, either on Broadway or in skill?

[Ariana Grande]

Or in skill? I guess not off the top of my head, but I think I always enjoy when a director has a clear vision, whether I agree with it or not. Right. Like, if they have a clear vision and they're willing to have a collaborative process in order to make sure it's like the least sucky version of whatever we're doing, I think that's what I gravitate towards. But yeah, and I love when they're like a human and they're like, this part sucks. How do we make it better? Like, let's all think about this, you know, like, understanding that, like, yes, they are the. The touch tone for, like, theme and. And everybody who's working on the same thing, but that they, you know, understand that it's not just a one person job.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

1,000%. Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, I guess.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

Sort of like a best broad stroke.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But best idea always wins. And also when they have a clear vision, it makes your job as an actor easier, even if you don't agree with the vision. It's like, well, now I know what I'm doing.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I know where we're going. And I can figure myself out and.

[Ariana Grande]

Somebody who is malleable in that too. To allow a collaborative process, I think is like, sick.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Hot take. If you're Collaborative. I like you. Someone writes broad and a little late. As I kept meaning to request this for the whole series. Oh, this is someone who was asking questions back from when I did the Sondheim series. And they asked this for nine, too. But they said you talked about stripping down a show to its essence. And, like, how would you strip down shows to, like, be, like, the most compact they could be? Comfortable is already pretty stripped down, but, like, is there. Oh, I'm sorry. Obviously pretty stripped down. But I always honestly just wanted to hear my. They just, like, hear me talk about stripping a show down to its essence. I don't think you can really strip come from away down much more than it already is, other than, like, taking away the turntable. But if you ever hear me say, I prefer no turntable, that's how you know my body's been swapped with an alien. I love a turntable, and I will always ask for it if it's there.

[Ariana Grande]

Really?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I love it. I think it's one of the best.

[Ariana Grande]

That's kind of shocking to me.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Really?

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I love them.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay. I mean, I love this.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

People have used them terribly. People have overused them. Matt Koplik loves a turntable.

[Ariana Grande]

Loves a turntable.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

He really does. Like, people have used them terribly or overused them. But, like, some of my favorite staging moments include a turntable. My favorite moment of staging this year was Hills of California with the turntable. With the. The staircase. When old Joan is about to go.

[Ariana Grande]

Up the staircase and see when it's used really well. It's very effective.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, Listen, y'all, like, come back around.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm ready.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

When. When Frozen reveals older you.

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, it really was heartbreaking.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's beautiful.

[Ariana Grande]

That part was really, really beautiful.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Other questions inspired by both the Sondheim series and the British Invasion 1. Who would you want to see in this show? Laura Nicole Chapman, number two. If you had to cut one song from the show, which would it be? I mean, it's a pretty tight show. The one song that I tends to sort of phase out on is, like, into the Darkness or Out of the Darkness, whatever it's called. When they. When they leave the planes and get on the buses to go to the next destination, it's just not. It's not one that I'm jamming out to. It's not one that I'm particularly moved by. I also don't love, much as I love their story. I don't love Diane and Nick's final, like, lovers duet song where they're taking the photo yeah, it's a bit of a skip for me.

[Ariana Grande]

Sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's. No, say it somehow. You know what I mean?

[Ariana Grande]

Sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this show in the Broadway incarnation? For me, it's like probably a 9.5 out of 10. On its own merits as a musical, I would probably say an 8 out of 10. It is not a show that is indestructible. A weak ass director can totally kill it. That said, there are very few shows that I think a weak ass director can kill.

[Ariana Grande]

Also, like, as we've discussed, there are some really delicate moments in this and, you know, they need to be treated with.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

With respect.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, respect, delicacy and intelligence.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Absolutely. Who is your dream team for this? For a production? Who would I want to see, direct or choreograph this? Because I gotta say, like, I really did enjoy the OG.

[Ariana Grande]

Lauren.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Any upcoming directors you've worked with on readings that you enjoy, who you think could do a good job with this?

[Ariana Grande]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's just that, you know, so many people.

[Ariana Grande]

I wouldn't be mad at, like, a woman stepping up to, like, women can direct. Shut up.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, my God.

[Ariana Grande]

No, but I just think, as you mentioned, yes, we do have some, like, awesome men roles in this, in this musical. But I think it's really cool to see all the women, like, rising up.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And the women are the better roles in this show.

[Ariana Grande]

And so I would sort of love to see, I don't know, maybe like a Sarah Oak Levy or like a Joanne Hunter.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, Joanne Hunter. That'd be cool.

[Ariana Grande]

Do you know what I mean? Like, I need, like a badass, badass lady director.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I feel this is such a cop.

[Ariana Grande]

Out because I also, like, I'm picturing. I'm like picturing them like, with the opening scene and I'm like, here for it. Like, the energy that they bring into a room would be something that would be so fun.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, this is a cop out because I just said her name in the nine episode when asked who I want to direct a production of Nine, but I would see a Jessica Stone directed Come from away.

[Ariana Grande]

Okay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, I enjoy her thoroughly and I enjoy. She's had two shows where I enjoyed the musical and her work and another musical where I enjoyed her work. So with that in mind, I've yet to be disappointed with Jessica Stone direction. Love it. Yeah. Okay, sorry, Discord keeps scrolling all the way back down to the bottom of the comfort we channel. Okay, next one. Apparently they're doing this at the Muni and someone Asked what are our thoughts of them doing it at the Muni? Is it too small of a show? Will they use the entire youth ensemble as the passengers? If they know what's good for them, they will take children off of that fucking stage.

[Ariana Grande]

You know that's not gonna happen.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

No, they're gonna pull what Lear d'Espacenet did with into the Woods at Encores and put kids in the audience singing single sing. Children will listen.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm actually here for it. But I know you. You have your opinion.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We just watched that episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelei and Suki go to Miss Patty's dance show with the kids. And they start off by doing magic to do in the audience. And Lorelei's like, oh, God. Oh, God. Kids are in the audience.

[Ariana Grande]

Kids are in the audience.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Bitch, it's me.

[Ariana Grande]

That's you. Bitch, it's me for sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Them doing the Muni is wild.

[Ariana Grande]

It's wild. But can I say, I mean, can I say, like, the Muni does a lot of musicals that I'm like, wow. That like they did Kinky Boots and I was like, that's a pretty intimate, like, setting for the musical. And they pulled it off so I'd be interested.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Oh, I. I'm not. I do not doubt that they'll do a really good job of making it work for that stage. It is just, I mean, Kinky Boots, while it is mostly a unit set with some slides and a thing that twirls.

[Matt Koplik]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

There's that center thing that twirls in Kingy boots.

[Ariana Grande]

Like the office.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Doesn't the office have a center thing?

[Ariana Grande]

No, it doesn't. It's stationary. It does move back and goes off, but then like the walls are always there. And then like treadmills, of course. I mean, conveyor belts.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm conflating the Sweeney Todd unit set with the Kinky Boots unit set.

[Ariana Grande]

Ah, yes. I confuse Sweeney Todd and Kinky Boots all the time.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Well, there's a factory whistle just saying, sure, sure, sure. But also Kinky Boots has like pussy pop and drag queens, which comfort communities like. Well, we make up what we lack in set, we make up for in pussy popping drag queens. We have 90 of them in a kick line. That wasn't Lauren's track in Kinky Boots. In case anyone's wondering, Tiny Mullet. That was your nickname. Yeah. I don't know what you're going to talk who. I don't know who you're going to have talk about it, but love to hear some. Someone who Saw it at namt. Neither of us saw it at namt.

[Ariana Grande]

Sorry, sorry.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We're not that special.

[Ariana Grande]

We didn't.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I saw the touring production and thought it was very good. Casting was incredible. Talented people, truly diverse group of humans. I appreciated the meticulous thought that went into that. It was obviously built to tour because there wasn't. There wasn't a turntable. So the staging was different.

[Ariana Grande]

We didn't. Yeah. Turn. It's very rare that you would have a turntable on tour.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. You didn't have one for Frozen. Gross. Gross. Just put it in the deck, my guy. I love the fact that the show doesn't really have any vocal show off numbers besides Me in the sky and focuses on having really emotional, powerful group numbers.

[Ariana Grande]

And everyone knew that we need. We wanted a done Colella belt song, so that's why.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's why she gets it.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, it's.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That was why she got. She was the lone Tony nominee of the cast. I mean, listen, there are some vocal arrangements where they go pretty high, but it's never.

[Ariana Grande]

Also, can we just say, while she was totally like, rightful to be in that category, like, musicals don't always have to have like a billion belt songs. And like, that isn't the reason that everyone should be. I mean, listen, you're coming from a belter, but like, that's not the reason everybody's like, yeah, nominated.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You're. We're talking to someone who paid for her entire wedding belting through America.

[Ariana Grande]

It's true.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And listen, we love to hear it. Olive oil, my love. But you're also talking to someone pointing to me who may or may not have had a viral Instagram post 2 years ago bemoaning the state of music.

[Ariana Grande]

I sort of. I. I also sort of love that not every song is a belt song.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

It makes. It makes that song pay off. It makes us tune in. And you know, I just think if.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You know Jen Colell, it's not even the roof of her register.

[Ariana Grande]

No, she can go higher.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She. Absolutely. And they. And they could have done so, but they didn't.

[Ariana Grande]

No, they kept it where it needed to be.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. And it builds to it too. Like it's. It's me and this.

[Ariana Grande]

She earns it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah, it's. It's a. It's a building belt. She's not on those E's the entire time. She.

[Ariana Grande]

100.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's very wizard.

[Ariana Grande]

And I. I actually loved that because after a while, if every single song is a belt song, I tend to go, okay, well, we know that they can all sing really well. And I hope that they can because they're in a Broadway musical.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But, you know, I mean, it's. It's great voices all around in that company. Oh, somebody else writes about.

[Ariana Grande]

It's a slay.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Someone also wrote about seeing it in Toronto. I'm really loving the diversity of the cast. And their mom loved. Their mom really loved seeing, quote, unquote, regular people on stage, which is very much the case of the Broadway company as well. Which I feel like is always a tricky thing to say, because it's like, oh, thank God you're not gorgeous. And that's not what I mean.

[Ariana Grande]

That's a tricky place to come from.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's a tricky place to come from. But I've also. I have bemoaned, in addition to the state of musical theater writing, that Broadway has had a very difficult time understanding what diversity means. And honestly, Broadway fandom of counting. I call it counting the color, which is like looking through a cast and seeing who's, you know, what ethnicity, which is important to have that. But there's also gender, there's sexuality, there is body size, there is age, there is agility. And it's not just cast. It's also who's on the production team, who's backstage. Like, backstage. Whoever's running backstage really handles the tone of a show.

[Ariana Grande]

That's the other thing. We can't just, like. We're not just talking about, like, diversity based on who everyone's on stage. If we're telling a diverse story, it calls for a diverse creative team as well.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Absolutely. And I think that with come from away, it is. The diversity is not just the ethnicity. It is the age. It is the body type, it is the vocal type. It's. It's. You're seeing all walks of life on stage.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Because, you know, there are tons of super attractive people and come from away. But also, what is considered attractive is different from every person. And that's not me being a tree hugger. That's just literally there are billions of people on this earth. We're all gonna be attracted to different kinds of things.

[Ariana Grande]

Such an interesting comment, because as somebody who is walking into a room and trying to understand each character that I'm going in for, like, sometimes I'm dolled up and I have a lip on and heels, and sometimes I'm walking in in my tennis shoes. And that's. I don't know. That's. We're all multifaceted humans.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I don't think that they. I don't think that they're saying, like. I don't think they're saying that. I think they're saying more that it's. There has been a time where Broadway actors were cast as specific type of a specific look, sometimes over personality or vocal agility or ability. And with Come From Away, it's not about abs. It's not about, you know, height or waist size. It is purely about personality. And it is about just sort of being as different from each other as possible. You don't want two people on stage to mix them up. And I think part of that is also just the artistry of the show of you've got 12 actors playing a bunch of different roles. If two actors look to alike in hotness, you're gonna mix up who's playing who.

[Matt Koplik]

You need.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You need the actress playing Beulah to look different than the actress playing Hannah, right? Yeah. And the two Kevin's gotta look different because they're both named fucking Kevin and they're gay.

[Ariana Grande]

And that's why the casting was amazing and why.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And why it continued to have really good replacement casting. But also, like, why a lot of those actors stayed with the show for most of the run because some of them weren't gonna get to play a leading role in, you know, Mean Girls or in spongebob. It's just sort of. There's. There are plenty of people with keys to the gate, and they have a very specific idea of what is considered a successful actor on stage. It's frustrating and it's limiting, and they're not. And it's not everyone. I want to make that very clear. We don't have a hundred casting directors and directors out there being like, okay, Michigan graduates. White, blonde, six abs, has to be able to belt up to an E. That's not everyone. But it also would be dishonest to say that there aren't a few of them who do do that. Fewer of them. Now, a lot of them have left the industry, but there are some of them. So I appreciate that they talked about that. But I also hear you outwards. Like, it's when someone comes into the room without makeup on, you don't go, oh, my God, So brave. I'm so happy to see that.

[Ariana Grande]

It's like, right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's like, I just. I just didn't wear makeup.

[Ariana Grande]

I just like. Like today I didn't feel like wearing makeup or. Yeah, whatever. I don't know.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Let me very clear. Lauren is wearing makeup right now. And thus she is worthwhile to me. And on that note. Let's take one last break.

[Ariana Grande]

How do you mean you're the top?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

You're an arrow collar. You're the top. You're a Coolidge dollar. You're.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And we're back. Okay, so last couple things on the Discord. I did ask about the rankings of that season of Best Musical. As I said, a lot of people had Come From Away and Great Comet in their top two. Someone else wrote, I was. I haven't been able to get into Come From Away from the cast album. I don't have Apple tv, so I haven't been able to watch it. I do think it's not as. While this is a weird one for me, this is a score that is filled with bops. And yet I'm like, the cast album doesn't really represent what makes that show work. Which is weird to say for a score that I like. And then it's very hummable.

[Ariana Grande]

Sure.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Like when I tell people Groundhog Day doesn't. You don't understand what made me love Groundhog Day just by listening to that score. Like, you gotta see the show, especially because they have certain tracks where it's just music. And I'm like, there was staging happening here. Can we not give the listener a little something here to mention?

[Ariana Grande]

It's. It's hard to fully encapsulate.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. Come From Away is a much better listening experience than that. But still, I'm like, you should watch it. You should watch it.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah. If you can borrow somebody's password.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I've borrowed our friend's Disney account for a while now, and they haven't caught on yet, so. Oh, and by them, I mean Disney, my friend, doesn't care. People just asking about, like, the politics of the Tonys of Best Musical winners.

[Ariana Grande]

That was a really stacked year. It was a really stacked year.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It was a stacked year because Come From Away as again, they only ended up winning Director. I say only, but it is a. That is a weird situation where the one thing you win is that. Because there have been years where, like, usually best Director. This is why you bring me on again, because this is how my brain works. Director will usually go to a Best Musical winner or a Best Revival winner. Occasionally it'll go to a random show for whatever reason. Like, they did something really cool with whatever. It's like the Sweeney Todd revival with the instruments. They won Director because even though they didn't win Revival just because it's like John Doyle took Sweeney Todd and made it work with nine actors and instruments, you're in Town won director, but they also won score and book. Like, Come From Away just won that one thing. And it makes you wonder, like, people who voted for Evan Hansen in a slew of ways, but couldn't ultimately give it director, or voted for Dolly for revival, but couldn't give it director. And it makes you wonder why they couldn't do that.

[Ariana Grande]

Right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And it's possible with Evan Hansen, there was just wasn't enough theatrical staging to push them over the edge. And Dolly was ultimately so much of a blueprint of the original that people weren't really willing to give Jerry Zaks credit for it. I know that's why Warren Carlisle was deemed ineligible because they're like, it's too much of the original for us to give you a nomination. So it's possible that that infiltrated the Jerry Zaks win. I don't know. It may sort of just be like, everyone ultimately kind of went with the originality of Dear Evan Hansen, ended up being just such a massive hit, but not wanting to completely goose egg Come From Away. But I don't know between not which, like, which one you think is better, but, like, which one you lean more towards on terms of score or book. Between Evan Hansen and Come From Away, is there, like, one where you're like, if I were to vote, I probably would vote for this. And here's why.

[Ariana Grande]

I think I would have voted for Come From Away. I loved Dear Evan Hansen. I loved the music. I thought the storytelling was amazing. I think I loved that Come From Away was giving me a slice of life, a slice of a real story, maybe one that I didn't know anything about. And here we had this big inciting incident. And, like, I just found it completely fascinating. And I just think that everything worked together so well in that way. Whereas, like Dear Evan Hansen was a contemporary new musical, which I loved, but I knew exactly sort of where we were maybe going. Did I sob through the whole thing? Absolutely. You know, and the music I still listen to to this day, and it's amazing. However, as a storytelling, overarching moment, I loved Come From Away.

[Matt Koplik]

Yeah.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I think Come From Away for me was ultimately the more exciting and fulfilling theatrical experience.

[Ariana Grande]

Yes.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Which is why I ultimately give it best musical.

[Ariana Grande]

And again, all of the aspects working together. Thank you, director. But, like, all of the aspects working really, really well together to tell the story.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Listen, I am someone who loves chaos. There's that meme of the. Of the guy in the window that says, like, it's like, freak or something like that. That's like, yes, yes. And everyone's like, oh, that's me going to wicked screenings and like singing along when it's not a sing along. Things like that. That version of me is voting at the Tony Awards and voting for Great Comet for Score Come From Way for book and Groundhog Day for musical and being like, don't ask me to define why I just did. Fuck off. But if we're talking in a world where I have to take the Groundhog Day out of it and my love of chaos out of it, I think I would do Come From Away for book, director and musical, still comment for score and I probably would still give Ben and Rachel Bay Jones their Tonys for Evan Hansen because those were dynamic performances and it's not. It speaks less about any disdain I have for Evan Hansen and more about my joy of Come From Away that I would pick it over Evan Hansen.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm also like. I'm like an underdog girl always.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Also these hypotheticals are so safe because like Evan Hansen got its Tonys, it has its money.

[Ariana Grande]

Totally. We're just talking like exactly.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Like it has its acclaim. We're not taking anything away from it.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, it was amazing. Everyone loved it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. It's one of those things. It's like, it's such a safety net to like go into this hypothetical because it happened so long ago.

[Ariana Grande]

I. I'm an underdog queen.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah.

[Ariana Grande]

And I really think that Come From Away was like a super well rounded.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. You're talking to somebody who like.

[Ariana Grande]

And it's a 90 minute no.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's an. It's a 90 minute no. Even if it's technically speaking, 100 minute nigh. But the.

[Ariana Grande]

Which I love. Succinct.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's succinct. But also like speaking of underdogs, you're talking to someone, Lauren, who on Tony night this year, despite.

[Ariana Grande]

What are you about to say?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Despite all evidence that it wasn't going to happen, I sat there and went, mary Ann Plunkett for best Actress in a Musical. Mary Ann Plunkett for best Actress in a Musical. Make it happen. Make it happen. And it didn't. And it was never going to. But I sat there, I was like, please, I ask for so little. Aside from the million things I wake up every morning asking for. Alright. Any other things on the Discord? No, that was really it. I think people just sort of going into their questioning of why they maybe couldn't get into Come From Away just from the album as opposed to not having seen it, wondering, you know, how much of people's love for Coming From Away comes from now. They're like, lack of liking Evan Hansen as much after the fact. And I do think that the fandom of theater really loves pendulum swings. They love going from one extreme to another. And when we decide that something is bad, we then start making the opposite thing. The good. Even if we didn't feel as much in the before time.

[Ariana Grande]

Right?

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Which is fine. That's. We. We watch these characters swing back and forth and come from away. We watch them screech in, I might say the fish, and they, they, they kiss a fish.

[Ariana Grande]

A fish.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

They kiss a fish while wearing boat hats.

[Ariana Grande]

Love it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's.

[Ariana Grande]

I love it. Fine, I love it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We love it. We love it. But I feel like, because you said earlier that you felt it didn't get its proper due at the time, and I hear you, and I don't think you're totally wrong. But also I think because it's now closed and it didn't win Best Musical, people want and now people. Not you, but many people out there have a disdain for Evan Hansen. It's like, well, did we, did we give Come From Away as much acclaim as it should have gotten? The interesting thing I was looking at, I like to look at the Broadway grosses a lot, and I was looking at the grosses of shows that ended up closing after Covid. Like, what was going in their business box office wise. Like, right before Lockdown and Come From Away and Evan Hansen were two shows that, like, Covid absolutely killed. Because if you look at the, like, their grosses the six months leading up to Covid still selling out every night, like, grossing anywhere between 800k to 1.2 million. Like, those shows had another, like, five years in them and ultimately neither of them were able to make it past a year when Broadway reopened.

[Ariana Grande]

And this is a whole nother podcast. But yeah, and we're not back.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We're. We are.

[Ariana Grande]

We're not fully back.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

We're not fully back. Once we've gotten two steps closer. One step back.

[Ariana Grande]

Correct.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

For every show, like an oh Mary or Death Becomes or that or Sunset Boulevard that is doing really well, we have shows that are struggling a bit and need to find their way. Things like maybe happy ending are giving me hope because that show is on the upswing. But then we have other shows that haven't, but also some shows that people have been getting behind that maybe I don't get behind. So, Lauren, who am I to say that a show deserves to close? All I'll say is that I saw a show. And I said, I hope everyone involved gets a job immediately afterwards.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, that's a thing.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

But also, Broadway is the only ecosystem, Lauren, where the loss of jobs begets new jobs. Sure, a show closes, another one goes in. It doesn't make the show closing any sadder.

[Ariana Grande]

No, but everyone has to lose their jobs and then get said new job again. And it's sometimes those things are very few and far between.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

It's true. You never know when the next job is going to happen. But, you know, Frozen went into the St James and Finian's Rainbow had to close for that to happen, among other shows. So it's just, it's one of those things where I. You'll never hear me ever celebrate the loss of a job for someone. But when we talk about how this is a fandom that loves to be like, we need more new stories, we need diverse stories, we need. We need more representation. I'm like, the only way that happens is for theaters to be available. So if we keep pushing and sometimes the show's time just comes to an end. There are some shows that didn't get their proper due, that came in and out a little too soon, but there are some shows that, like, had a nice healthy run and we can say congrats for you. Now make. Make peace and make room. Make peace and make room. Wow. I want that on a shirt.

[Ariana Grande]

That was deep.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Thank you so much.

[Ariana Grande]

Whoa.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Sometimes I say deep shit.

[Ariana Grande]

Make peace and make room.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Make peace and make room.

[Ariana Grande]

Wow. Namaste.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Namaste. That's what I'm going to say to you at your one year anniversary.

[Ariana Grande]

You're a writer.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I'm a I. Lauren, I know you wrote a play.

[Ariana Grande]

See, I did that for you.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Thank you, guys. It's okay. Lauren's married.

[Ariana Grande]

I'm married.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

She's so married. She could not be more married if you tried. Lauren, where can people find you if you want them to find you?

[Ariana Grande]

You can find me on Instagram. Lauren Nicole Chapman. And that's. That's pretty much it.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

That's on main. I'm on Instagram only at Matt Koplick. Usual spelling. I know this is one of the shorter episodes of Broadway Breakdown, you guys, but consider this. We are covering a 90 minute no. So in a way, this is our version of a 90 minute no.

[Ariana Grande]

That's right.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Yeah. It's what it is. If you like the podcast, give us a nice 5 star rating or review. It always helps with Apple podcasts. I don't think we've had any new ones since I Read the review for the Gypsy episode. And you don't always have to write a five star review if you hate the podcast. Lord knows people have written two stars, three stars, one star. I just ask if you dislike the podcast and you want to make it known. Just be respectful with your dislike, as I try to be with my dislikes. Lauren, we close out every episode with a Broadway diva. I'm assuming I know who you're gonna pick, but I put her in post. Do you want Daddy Colella or do you want someone else?

[Ariana Grande]

I want Daddy Kalela.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

Okay, I'm gonna. I had her do her song from Chaplin. I'll see what else she's got out there.

[Ariana Grande]

Chaplin.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

What you gonna do? Yeah, I remember seeing her in that. I was like, oh, girlfriend came to eat.

[Ariana Grande]

Yeah, I think that's the one.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

I said, for someone who is so thin, she eats all the time.

[Ariana Grande]

I have nothing to say.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

You have nothing to say, and I have too much to say. Okay, so on that note, I think this actually might be the first new episode of the new year. So welcome to January, everybody. I don't know what's after this episode, but I look forward to finding out with you all. Take it away, Daddy. Bye.

[Ariana Grande]

Take it away, Daddy. Now get yourself outta here. Whatcha gonna paint when you cannot paint a town? I'm gonna wipe the smile from that famous little cloud and what you're gonna do when it all falls down.

[Lauren Nicole Chapman]

And.

[Ariana Grande]

All the king's horses and all the king's men Will never put.