← Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist
Lea Michele on ‘Chess,’ Motherhood and a Broadway Homecoming
00:52:47
Emmy-nominated actress and singer Lea Michele has spent more than 30 years performing, from her Broadway debut in Les Misérables at the Imperial Theatre when she was just 8-years-old to starring in hits like Spring Awakening, Glee, Funny Girl and Scream Queens. Michele sits down with Willie Geist backstage at the Imperial Theatre to discuss her full-circle return to the theater where it all began, how Chess has brought joy and creative spark back to her life, and why feeling fulfilled as a mother and wife has made this chapter feel especially meaningful. Plus, she steps back into the dressing room she used during Les Misérables and reflects on the confidence that first led her from an open call in Englewood, New Jersey, to the Broadway stage.
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- [00:01]
Lea Michele
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Willie Geist
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Lea Michele
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- [01:06]
Willie Geist
Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a great conversation for you this week with Leah Michelle. Leah is currently starring in the Broadway musical Chess at the Imperial Theater in New York City. It's the very same theater where she got her start on Broadway. She will tell you the story in our interview. But she was growing up normal kid, no Broadway dreams, no dreams of stardom in New Jersey. Bronx born, Jersey raised and joined her friend at an audition for Les Miserables when she was eight years old. She sang a song from Phantom of the Opera, just kind of off the cuff and got the part. So by 8 years old she's in Les Mis and a Broadway career is born. The rest of the world got to know her in Glee, of course, where she starred for six seasons as Rachel Berry beginning in 2009. So that was as much as people know her from that. That was kind of an interruption almost of her Broadway career. So she was doing Broadway, was in a show called Spring Awakening, which was a big hit, won a bunch of Tonys. She starred in that with Jonathan Groff, great Broadway and television actor. He was the king in Hamilton, you might remember. Good friend of hers as well. You'll hear his name in our conversation. So she'd done all that on Broadway. And then Ryan Murphy, who was developing a show for Fox about a Glee club, sought her out and asked her to come be on tv. There's a crazy story about her audition she's okay, but there was a car wreck on the way to the audition. She still did the audition. She'll tell you that story. And then returned to Broadway after her run on Glee. She came back in Funny Girl as Fanny Brice and got to play the role played by one of her heroes. She speaks really movingly about Barbra Streisand and what she has meant to her over the years. So, so much to talk about. And just so you can kind of picture it, we do the interview on stage at the Imperial Theater again. That's where she started in Les Mis when she was 8, and now she's back there in this show, Chess. A lot of people talking about her name for a possible Tony Award for what she's doing. It's about Chess's. She'll explain the plot a little bit, but basically takes place the Cold War surrounding a chess match between an American and a Soviet grandmaster of chess. And all the politics and all the drama and some of the comedy wrapped up and all that. So we are sitting on the stage doing the interview, and I saw it the night before our interview, and as you'll hear, she said she saw me, too, which I did not expect. She connects with the crowd, let's put it that way. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a great conversation with Lea Michelle right now on the Sunday Sit down podcast. Thanks so much for doing this, Leah. Thank you so much. So happy to see you.
- [03:50]
Lea Michele
Nice to see you.
- [03:51]
Willie Geist
I have loved hearing you even as we sat down, talk about what this.
- [03:55]
Lea Michele
I know. We've already talked about so much.
- [03:57]
Willie Geist
I know. Let's start over.
- [03:58]
Lea Michele
Thank you for having me.
- [04:00]
Willie Geist
No, but I mean, the fact that you're doing this incredible show on this stage more than 30 years after you first appeared on this stage as a little girl in Les Miz.
- [04:10]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [04:11]
Willie Geist
What does this room mean to you?
- [04:14]
Lea Michele
Everything. It means everything to me. This is where it all began. This is where I fell in love with what I have now been doing for over 30 years. As you said, I made my Broadway debut on this stage when I was 8 years old in 1995. I had never sung before. I had never performed before professionally or anywhere, really. Literally never anywhere. And I went on an open call in Englewood, New Jersey, for Les Mis with a friend of mine. I'd seen two or three Broadway shows prior, and I auditioned for Les Mis, and two weeks later, I sat right in that audience, in that seat right there, and I made my Broadway debut. And, you know, you asked me before, like, what do you remember from that time, like, I remember everything, and I loved it so much. I remember saying to my parents after my first performance, I want to do this for the rest of my life. Don't ever tell me to stop. Don't ever let me stop. And they were like, okay, we will support you as long as you're happy. And I think that the best part of all of it is that I feel the exact same amount of joy and love now in this show that I did in les mis in 1995. I feel. I'm sorry. I know this is, like, so cheesy to say, but I feel like a kid again. I feel like somewhere along the way and over the years, like, the joy sort of comes and goes, and as an artist, you feel sometimes fulfilled and other times not. And you see the joy and you know it does. The spark sort of comes and goes, and the light goes in and out, but I feel so back in that space of joy and creativity and extreme love for what I do, and I'm the most grateful for that, is to have that feeling back and to. I don't know if it's this theater or if it's this show or if it's the combination that has brought it back for me, but I wake up every morning and I'm so excited to come here every single day.
- [06:35]
Willie Geist
I've heard you say, this is the happiest I've ever been in my professional life. Which is saying a lot, because you've done a lot. What do you think it is? Is it this group of people that you're working with? Is it the material? Is it being back on Broadway? What do you think is combination? I guess of all those.
- [06:51]
Lea Michele
It's definitely a combination of all of those things, but the first thing that came to me is just the fact that I feel so fulfilled as a mother and as a wife. I think that's always something that I've wanted my entire life, was to be. To be a mom and to be married. And I have the most amazing husband and two beautiful children. And so the fact that that part of my life feels so full and grounded and full of joy, to then be able to go and do what I love and to have the space where I work be filled with such space, support such creativity and such joy. It's an amazing combination that putting those two things together has made me feel so incredibly fulfilled.
- [07:44]
Willie Geist
It is an extraordinary show. Thank you. I sat exactly where you just pointed, I think, yesterday. Did you? Did you.
- [07:51]
Lea Michele
I see everybody.
- [07:52]
Willie Geist
Do you really? I didn't Realize you can see out there.
- [07:54]
Lea Michele
I do. I like to really connect and I really like to. Yeah, I like to just make connections. And especially the words that I'm singing in a lot of the songs, but in nobody's side in particular, and the words that I'm saying and the energy behind it, I really feel like I have to look everyone in the eye and in the face and maybe you'll resonate with what I'm saying or not, but you'll just feel what I'm feeling. And so, yeah, so the other day, looking, I saw Jane lynch and I texted her, I was like, you're here. She's like, how do you do that? But even when I was in les mis At 8 years old, my mother always used to call me Eagle Eye because I could find them anywhere in the theater.
- [08:39]
Willie Geist
It's a connection.
- [08:39]
Lea Michele
Yes. I saw you.
- [08:40]
Willie Geist
So that's so funny because I thought maybe that I saw you too, but I thought, what a narcissist to think the star of the show is singing to you. And it turns out you were.
- [08:48]
Lea Michele
I saw you.
- [08:49]
Willie Geist
But the show, I mean, there's so much in it. There's history, there's comedy, there's drama, obviously, all of it. What was it about this story and this music and this book and all of it that drew you back to Broadway? Because people were saying, okay, what's her next move after, you know, you did so well in your last time out in Funny Girl. What was it about this show?
- [09:12]
Lea Michele
Well, Funny Girl was extraordinary. And I wanted to play Fanny Brice for as long as I could remember. And there was something a little about the thought of, will I ever find anything that, you know, would make me feel the way that Fanny Brice did? It was just so sort of impossible to think that I would be able to find another role that I would feel as inspired and fulfilled by. But during Funny Girl, Michael Mayer, who I'd met originally at Spring Awakening when I was 14 years old, we then collaborated again on Funny Girl. And he called me and said that he was working on Chess and I didn't really know anything about Chess. I had heard the song Heaven Help My Heart, which I sing every night, but that was really it. And Michael called me. It was very late at night after, you know, maybe a two show day. It was probably like 11:30 and I'm at home in my apartment, everyone else is sleeping. And he said, listen to this song. And if this song resonates with you, I think you'll want to do this. And it was Idina Menzel singing Nobody's side from the London concert version of Chess that they did, I think, in 2016, it was. And he knows me. He knows me very well, because I just became addicted to it. I could have said yes having just listened to that song. But then I read the script, which Danny Strong has created such a wonderful, you know, version and retelling of this story. And the minute it was the first scene between Florence and Freddie that I just felt was so complex and complicated and messy. And I immediately saw her strength combined with her vulnerability. And I said, I want to play this woman. And that's the thing. She's a woman. This is the first real adult that I've ever played before. You know, even in Funny Girl, I start out in the show in pigtails, and I think she's maybe 16 when the show first starts and then it ends where she's married and is a mother. But I wanted to play this character that just felt so mature. But there's such a complexity to her in her history and the trauma that she's been through and these relationships that she's now enmeshed in. And there's also something that I find so interesting where I feel as though I've always had something to kind of use as a shield in my performances. Often that's with comedy or my physical comedy and stuff like that. But she doesn't have that. And we don't have a lot of anything to hide behind on this stage. We don't have a set. We're not doing multiple costume changes. So it's very raw and it's very vulnerable. And I felt that that was a challenge. So between the unbelievable challenge of what this score is, which is a whole other conversation, I felt that she would really challenge me. And. And I love her, and I am obsessed with her, and I can't wait to get up every day. I can't wait to get on this stage and be Florence and to feel that strength and that confidence. And she's living in this world of men. And what does that mean? And I just love it.
- [12:51]
Willie Geist
You said something a minute ago when we were talking in our conversation that will be longer than the interview itself. But you said this is, you know, work always feels like work for all of us, even those of us who love our jobs. You wake up and you were saying, like, you wake up in the morning, you cannot wait to get to this theater.
- [13:10]
Lea Michele
Yeah. I mean, look, some days are harder than others, and especially some days if you're not feeling well and what that means vocally for you. But I always used to say to Jonathan, like, you mean you. Like my friend Jonathan Groff? You always, you know, you. You mean you're like, you could do it again. You finish a show at 10, and if I said you had to do it again, could you do it again? He's always like, yeah, it's hard leaving my kids, like, that's. That's the hardest part. You know, I think that the balance of that and figuring that out and sometimes there's, you know, tears, and some days are easier than others. But I think what I mean by that more is I don't. As challenging as the show is, I don't wake up and feel like I'm looking at a mountain that I have to climb. I feel like I'm. If it is a mountain, then I'm, like, ready to go. I feel ready to attack it. And I'm not afraid. If I'm not always so super happy, which more often than not, I am, but I don't feel like I have any fear. And that's definitely something I've battled and I've struggled with throughout my life, is having anxiety or stage fright, which I still do. You, you know. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. All the time. And I just. I. I live with it now. And there are nights where I don't feel it at all, and those nights are incredible. And then there are nights where I feel it, and I'm just like, okay, this is just a part of me now. I'm not gonna let it really control me. So I think for me, I feel like there's just such growth and joy in the fact that when I wake up, I'm not the first thing I don't think is that I'm afraid. I think that I'm really excited and that I just can't wait to do it.
- [14:56]
Willie Geist
What does it feel like to walk out? I think you come out this way, right? Your first appearance on stage.
- [15:01]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [15:02]
Willie Geist
A couple minutes in.
- [15:03]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [15:04]
Willie Geist
Your name is on the marquee. A lot of people are here to see you. When you get the reception you get when you walk out, what does that feel like?
- [15:12]
Lea Michele
It's really wonderful. Yeah. They've structured it in a way that we all get a really wonderful acknowledgement when we come on, and I love that that is shared, not only for myself, but for so many of the other cast members. For Nick and Aaron and Bradley and Hannah, it's a really special thing that Michael has done, and I think as performers, it's really nice to kind of come out and, you know, have that moment and then say, okay, now we're gonna put on a show for you. But you know, I know that I have wanted to come back to the stage for such a long time and returning to Funny Girl was so wonderful. And being back now, I think that people were really excited about me returning, but I was also so excited. So I'm happy to stand up there and be like, I'm just as excited to do this right now.
- [16:01]
Willie Geist
Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Lea Michele right after the break. This is the table, the one with the view. This is how you reserve exclusive tables with Chase Sapphire Reserve. This is your name on the list. This is the chef sending you something he didn't put on the menu. This is 3 times points on dining with Chase Sapphire reserve and a $300 dining credit that covered the citrus pavlova and drinks.
- [16:28]
Lea Michele
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Willie Geist
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- [16:34]
Lea Michele
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- [16:55]
Willie Geist
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- [16:58]
Lea Michele
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Willie Geist
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Lea Michele
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Lea Michele
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- [17:41]
Willie Geist
Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Lea Michele. Well, you were talking about when you started here, so now going back to when you're 8 years old and Les Mis that you truly had no training, nothing. And I think people go come on. But going back and reading through your story, you're growing up across the river in Tenafly, New Jersey. Shout out to Born in the Bronx. Born in the Bronx. Born in the Bronx, growing up in Jersey, after you moved from the Bronx, and you hear about this audition, basically your mom's a nurse, your dad owns a deli. It's not like there's these aren't like stage parents pushing on, you know, so where did that confidence come from in an eight year old to say, I'm gonna go audition for Les Mis?
- [18:19]
Lea Michele
I know, I think a lot of it has to do with like, Rachel Berry. I think people often confuse me with her, and there are certainly similarities there, but I think that people think I came out of the womb seeing Barbra Streisand and, you know, demanding, putting gold stars on everything and, you know, just waiting for my moment. And that was not the case. I grew up really loving like Jim Carrey and like comedy. And I. And I wanted to be funny. And that was definitely something that I liked. I was, I wouldn't say I was the most outgoing kid, but I certainly wasn't sitting quiet in the corner. But I wasn't performing for my family. I wasn't doing any of that. And it was because of a friend of mine, Chloe, who her family would take me to go and see Broadway shows, and I saw one or two and I didn't feel the connection. I didn't really know what I was seeing. It didn't connect. And then I saw the Phantom of the Opera and that's when it just. Something shifted. I asked for my mom to buy me the cd and I sat in my room and I listened to it over and over again. And then there was the open call for Les Mis in our hometown a few weeks later. And I didn't even want to go. My friend's father had a heart attack the night before, and she was going to audition. And then her mother said to my mom, can you please take her on the audition? And then I said, well, I'm gonna go too. And I don't know where that came from, but I had the most wonderful upbringing with the two most amazing parents that had a home that was filled with such joy. And I grew up with a very big Italian family that a lot of confidence underneath a very small roof of about 50 Italian people sitting around one table. You know, no one was shy. Everyone talked really loud and with their hands. And even my father's side of the family, who's sephardic, also very, you know, vibrant households where we Grew up feeling like we could be ourselves. And that's the greatest gift any parent can give their child. So I think that's where the confidence came. I was like, I'm from the Bronx. I can do anything. Like, that's how my parents raised me. So it wasn't like, I'm the best singer in this room. I'm gonna get this part. It was, I can do this. And that's what my parents taught me. And so I went in the room, I sang angel of Music. Both Christine and Meg's parts, it was a duet that I just made into one. Was like, where in the world have you been hiding? And then, Christine, you must have been dreaming. I was doing both parts.
- [21:13]
Willie Geist
Oh, my gosh.
- [21:15]
Lea Michele
Some sort of split personality performance. They were probably like, who is this kid? No sheet music, no headshot, nothing. They asked me what my name was, and I said Lea Michele, because that was one thing. I was always a little insecure of my last name, which is Sarfati. That's my, you know, real last name. And I was, you know, everyone always growing up had a bad nickname that they would say. And so I quickly just said Lea Michele. And that's how it.
- [21:45]
Willie Geist
Wow.
- [21:46]
Lea Michele
It stuck. And, yeah. And then when I left the room, the casting agent went up to my mom and they're like, we're gonna call you in a few weeks. We wanna see her again. And my mom was like, okay. And when we left, I was like, I think I'm gonna get this. And she was like, things like that don't happen to people like us. And. And it did. And here we are. And I brought my children here the other day. My son was. He's a little, like, second show. You know, he was around for Funny Girl. And my daughter was just running around here with this confidence that I was like, okay, I see you. But I looked at my mom and my mom was like, I can't believe I'm here with your children. And I used to walk you through that door. You know, my son is going to be six, so it's only two years younger than I was. So it's a real incredible moment for my family. And I'm just so grateful for my mom and dad.
- [22:42]
Willie Geist
That's beautiful. I love, too. It seems to me that you did your best, along with your parents, to keep your life as normal as you could. You go to the high school in your town, you got into college, considered whether that was the right move. So you were, you know, you're on Broadway. That part's not Normal for a kid. But you tried to, like, be a teenager, right?
- [23:03]
Lea Michele
In some ways they tried. And, you know, even on, like, two show days, I would. That would be the one day that I would miss school. So I would miss school on Wednesdays, but, you know, like, on a Thursday, I was in school in the morning and then doing a show at night. And my friends at school, they understood, like, there was an okay level of respect, but it wasn't the easiest, but they really, you know, tried. And when I. I finished, I did Les Mis, and then I did a show called Ragtime, which was an amazing show to have been a part of the original cast of that show. One of the greatest, greatest musicals to ever. You know, after that, I was like, I just want to be a normal kid, and I just want to be in school and, you know, be on the volleyball team and be on the debate team. And then Spring Awakening came along. So, you know, but I did have really wonderful pockets of, you know, having a normal high school experience that I'm super grateful for. I think a lot, you know, normal sort of left the building. When I went to California, and when I started working on Glee, that's when, you know, everything really changed.
- [24:16]
Willie Geist
Yeah, but how. Spring Awakening. You were how old when you started that?
- [24:20]
Lea Michele
So I did the original workshop of Spring Awakening when I was 14 years old.
- [24:23]
Willie Geist
Fourteen, okay.
- [24:24]
Lea Michele
And then it got to Broadway by the time I was 19. So from 14 to 19, I did all of the workshops, different casts, different, you know, workings of the show for all of those years. And then we got our, you know, Broadway stage in 2006.
- [24:42]
Willie Geist
Jonathan Groff comes into your life.
- [24:44]
Lea Michele
Who's that?
- [24:45]
Willie Geist
The great people. If you don't know, look him up. He's the king in Hamilton, among many other things. So. So Spring Awakening is a launch. And then you mentioned then Glee comes along.
- [24:55]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [24:55]
Willie Geist
Which is something completely different in some ways. Although the show obviously felt familiar to you based on the material. But going to LA and doing television.
- [25:05]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [25:06]
Willie Geist
Was that, like a whole new kind of uncomfortable for you, or did it feel like a good fit?
- [25:12]
Lea Michele
I certainly dove into it the same way, like, I did with this. Like, I had no reason to be confident. I had zero experience. I'd never been on television before in my life. But I was just like, no, I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna play Rachel Berry. And something in me in the same way that it did when I was 8 years old, was just like, you're meant to be here. You can do this. And that sort of Confidence in me led the way. I remember Ryan Murphy on the first day of filming. I didn't know what a camera. I didn't know where to look. I didn't know where to stand. I didn't know what to do. And he was like, you just. You would have thought that you've been doing this for. For years. And that was another wild story that. That wasn't even supposed to happen. I was out there to do Les Mis at the Hollywood Bowl. I'd always wanted to play Eponine, so that's why I went out to la. And then Ryan had seen Spring Awakening, and he wrote Glee for myself and Jonathan. I didn't know that. Jonathan kept telling me, he's writing us this show for the two of us. And I was like, that is never gonna happen. I could never get cast in tv my whole life. I was always told that I looked too ethnic. And you know how many times I was told to get a nose job. And so I just figured that that was never gonna work out for me. And then, you know, I came out to LA for Les Mis and I auditioned for Glee not knowing I was the only person they were seeing for the part. Got into a car crash on the way.
- [26:42]
Willie Geist
Is that a true story?
- [26:43]
Lea Michele
That is such a true story that even I can't believe it happened that
- [26:47]
Willie Geist
you actually walked into your audition with, like, glass in your hair and blood.
- [26:51]
Lea Michele
Yeah, I was. I was turning.
- [26:53]
Willie Geist
I don't mean to laugh, but that's wild.
- [26:56]
Lea Michele
There was a closed lane on the right side, so I was making a right turn from the center lane, but someone snuck into that right lane and hit me. And my car spun and the car stopped. And I was like, do I pretend like I'm dead? Like, I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe this happened. Like, what do I do? And then I was like, well, if I'm dead, I can't audition for Glee. So I revived myself and I ran up to the security gate, and I was like, I have to go. Like, I have to get this job. They're like, this is the part where the similarities to Rachel Berry start to. This is where it starts to. And I did, and I came inside and I pulled chunks of glass out of my hair and wiped. They were like, you can go home. And I was like, I am not going home.
- [27:47]
Willie Geist
What did they say? Was Ryan like, hey, what am I looking at here?
- [27:51]
Lea Michele
I was talking to more of, like, the casting directors. By the time I got into the room to see Ryan, it was like, pretend. Like, none of this happened and do your job.
- [27:59]
Willie Geist
That's wild.
- [28:00]
Lea Michele
Yeah. And then they told me in the room that I got, wow. Which was unbelievable.
- [28:06]
Willie Geist
And you knew Ryan Murphy. It's gonna be good. The material was good, the music was good, but never. You couldn't. I've anticipated what it became.
- [28:14]
Lea Michele
No. Spring Awakening was a. Was. If I. If there could have been any preparation for Glee, Spring Awakening was the best you could have asked for because it was similar in the sense of like this thing that I cared so much about that I wasn't sure if people would understand that then became, in its own right, a real Broadway phenomenon. Glee was sort of the. I mean, 50 billion times what that was. But still, we did not ever think it would become what it did.
- [28:47]
Willie Geist
And how did you deal with the side of. From your point of view? It's, I want to be an artist. I like doing this. Then the world says, oh, we get to know everything about you now. And we get to have people chase you around and take pictures of, you know, who you're dating and all that stuff. How did you handle that?
- [29:03]
Lea Michele
Luckily, I think, like, so right during, I remember in the middle of Glee, we were all like, oh, there's this thing called Instagram and there's this thing called Twitter. It was all just starting, right? So. But there was like one little window right at the beginning when we first started, where of course I learned very quickly what paparazzi was. That was not a big part of my world here in New York. So that was a very quick education. And then social media started to come about more. And so. But it was this really interesting time where it's at such a peak right now. But we came like, maybe like right in a little bit of a sweet spot. But of course, still there was so many eyes on us, a real obsession with who we were and outside of the show. And we were so young, like really very young. I didn't even know that until now. I'm gonna be 40 and I think about that 22 year old girl who went out to LA. I said goodbye to my parents. I never planned on even staying there. You know, New Yorker through and through. I. And then 13 years later, I was still there. So it was a real change that I never expected, I'm so grateful for. But it's funny the way the universe works that I've found my way back. I never planned to leave theater and to be back here now, though, having taken all of those life experiences with me. And I wouldn't change, you know, I wouldn't take any of them back. But I'm really so happy to be home. I really am.
- [30:48]
Willie Geist
How did your parents cope with what was happening in your life with Glee? When they were watching their daughter be on the COVID of magazines and people talking about it and all that kind of stuff, did they help keep you grounded?
- [31:01]
Lea Michele
Yeah, I think that my parents really kind of. We've always tried to keep our world very small. Yeah, they protect me a lot as well. Like, they never let sort of. If there was anyone in our world feeling sort of the fanatical or that, like, hyper energy, like, they really kind of calmed that. And I could always go home, and I did. And I would just be sitting at the same table with my family in the Bronx, like, and that's what I would do. I would go home as much as I As I could. Our life here never changed, and so I tried to keep myself as rooted to my family as I could. And my parents did an amazing job of doing their absolute best to make me feel like that might have been happening there. But when we were together and when we were home, like, that was always the same. So I really never. You know, my mom always used to say, like, I would go to the. We performed at the Staples center, which is, like, one of the largest arenas in the world, doing Glee. And then we came home, and my mom and I were just, like, alone in my house in California, and she was like, it's a real shift. Like, how are you feeling right now? It's like, I'm okay, but if I didn't have you to talk to right now, I might not be okay. But to be able to just be like, wow, that's kind of crazy, right, That I just did that. But now we're home, and it's, like, quiet, and it's a lot of things like that that I'm so grateful to have had the people that I had to really kind of, like, latch onto to help just make me remember that, like, everything is okay and who I really am and having great people that I could trust around me.
- [32:47]
Willie Geist
Stick around for more of my conversation with Lea Michele right after a quick break.
- [32:53]
Lea Michele
Hey, everyone, it's me, Morgan Stewart, and I have a new podcast called the Morgan Stewart Show. Join me each week as I talk about pop culture, fashion, my personal life, and just a warning I'm gonna be giving my opin everything. I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun. The Morgan Stewart show is out now. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts or watch full video on YouTube. Hey, it's Kelly Ripa. And if you don't know, I have a podcast where I get to say whatever I want. Hold on. Let me get a shovel and a body bag. I envision doing a podcast with the conversations that happen in my dressing room off camera, where people feel free to talk. No hair, no makeup. This is my kind of job. Only Kelly Reaper can ask me these questions. I'm flipping the script and saying what's really on my mind.
- [33:37]
Willie Geist
We're seeing a different side of you. It's a little bit more honest.
- [33:41]
Lea Michele
When the cameras go off, the real fun begins. Get my hair done over here. Hey, this is an off camera podcast, so it doesn't even matter. It's unfiltered conversations and unexpected confessions. My mom says, woody, I knew your dad. Stop the presses. I would like to volunteer to administer any and all DNA tests. Maybe that should be part of the show. Let's talk off camera with me Kelly Ripoff. You just put that in the universe. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. When planning a trip, Expedia makes it simple. It's the one stop. Shop for travel, flights, hotels, vacation rentals, cars, and activities all in one place. Everything you need to plan the trip lives right there. And with Expedia, you can bundle and save, book everything together, or start with just a flight and add a hotel, car, or activities. Later, as plans come together, you can save up to 30% Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Members only. Savings vary.
- [34:44]
Willie Geist
Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Lea Michele. We've kind of talked around Funny Girl, but Funny Girl, come on. I mean, and there is that thread from Glee where there's a storyline for Rachel, right? Totally. She comes to New York.
- [34:59]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [35:01]
Willie Geist
When you heard that was even a possibility, what did you think?
- [35:06]
Lea Michele
Well, it all started during Spring Awakening. Michael Mayer was the first person to tell me to watch Funny Girl. Cause I was experiencing my first sort of heartbreaks during Spring Awakening of, you know, having boyfriends and having my heart broken and trying to sort of manage and balance what I wanted to do professionally, but also really wanting love and having it not working out and picking the wrong people. And Michael was like, you need to watch Funny Girl. And I went home and I bought those little, like, water crackers from the market.
- [35:37]
Willie Geist
Oh, yeah.
- [35:37]
Lea Michele
And little cream cheese and champagne.
- [35:43]
Willie Geist
Oh, wow.
- [35:43]
Lea Michele
And grapes. And I sat in my living room and I started Funny Girl. And it ended. And I started it right over again from the beginning. And I just was like, and I loved Barbara growing up, and my mother always had Barbra Streisand music playing. And I didn't know her that well, but when I was first told to get a nose job at 15 years old, which is very sad that anyone would ever. I mean, everyone should make whatever choice they want to make, but to be told by someone else what you should do to your body at such a young age was very hard. And luckily, my parents helped to sort of shut out those voices and opinions for me. But my mom always said, Barbra Streisand never got a nose job, and you're not getting a nose job. So I heard her name a lot growing up, and then I saw Funny Girl, and I was like, oh, this is my everything. It's my favorite movie. It's my favorite music. She is my favorite. It's all of that. And then I started doing Glee, and I sang Don't Rain on My Parade. And I remember not a lot of the kids people really knew. Even Corey was like, what is. Who is that? Is she your favorite? You like her? I was like, do I like her? Let me tell you about Barbra Streisand. Let me tell you about Funny Girl. And my version of Don't Rain on My Parade went to, like, number three on the charts.
- [37:12]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [37:13]
Lea Michele
And people were, like, learning about Funny Girl and learning about these songs that, you know, who may not have known about it. And I got to, you know, do more of her songs from the movie. So then around 2014, I think it was, Ryan Murphy had the rights, and he wanted to bring it to Broadway. But I was coming off of one of the most challenging years of my life, and I would have had to fit it in within the Glee schedule, which was unbelievably challenging. And I was playing Fanny a lot on Glee. I mean, we were basically. I had one season where I was in Funny Girl on Broadway, so it didn't feel like it was the right time for multiple reasons. And then it was around, now we're into 20. I don't know, 19, I think it was. And I spoke to Michael Mayer, and he was bringing it to Broadway, and we talked about it for a little while, but I really wanted to have a baby, and I got pregnant, and I was so excited. It had, you know, took me a while to get pregnant, so when I did, I was so happy, and I figured, okay, that's. That's it. That's the story of Funny Girl for me. I'm so happy that it's going to be on Broadway that people are going to get to hear the music. And I was very comfortable with the story ending right there. And in 2020, my husband and I moved back to New York because during the pandemic, we felt so isolated from our families who are both here on the East Coast. So we decided to move back home. Both of our families were very happy, but no one was happier than my husband because he's from Philly and he didn't want to be in California. He just went there for me. And I didn't really know what was ahead for me. I really didn't know, you know, where my career would take me next. I was just so happy to be married and to have our son. I had a super traumatic pregnancy. So the fact that we had a healthy baby was, like, really all I cared about. And then Michael called and asked if I would consider coming and joining the company. And I don't know again, how or what made me think I could do it. I was maybe only a year postpartum, and I hadn't done Broadway in over 15 years, but I said yes. And I jumped right into it. I think I rehearsed for six weeks, and then I. And then I came on stage as Fanny. And it's just, like, so crazy. I, like, just was so grateful to be back to play that part. Yeah.
- [40:08]
Willie Geist
And people were so happy to see you in that role. You were so embraced by audiences, by Broadway. You were back on Broadway.
- [40:18]
Lea Michele
Right.
- [40:18]
Willie Geist
I mean, that had to feel amazing. Cause it did feel like a leap for you.
- [40:21]
Lea Michele
Yeah.
- [40:21]
Willie Geist
You weren't sure how it was gonna go.
- [40:23]
Lea Michele
Maybe I knew that it was super important for me to make sure that the experience was. I couldn't just knock it out of the park as Fanny. It meant so much more than that. I needed to make sure that it was a joyful experience. 360 on stage, backstage for my family. I wanted to make sure that it was everything that I thought and dreamed it could be in my mind. And so that was very important to me. And. But, yeah, I mean, I just. Everything that I thought that it could be in my mind. Of all the years of dreaming of what I could do if I was given the chance to play Fanny. I felt like I achieved that. And I'm very grateful. I mean, I learned how to tap and I'm a terrible dancer. Next thing you know, I was tapping. You convinced us with a mustache. You like that.
- [41:26]
Willie Geist
Does Barbara know the way you feel about her?
- [41:31]
Lea Michele
I mean, I don't. I don't know if, you know, if she knows 100%. But I believe she knows that I admire her deeply. And when I was doing Funny Girl, my dresser came to me. I was sitting on my couch and she handed me a gold envelope like Willy Wonka style. And she handed me this envelope. And she just looked at me and I don't know how or why, like I'm getting the chills. And I just looked at her and I was like, is this what I think it is? I don't even know what made me even think in what world it could be what I was thinking it was. And she just was like, it is. And I opened it, and it was a letter from Barbara.
- [42:20]
Willie Geist
Oh, my God. Now I got to know.
- [42:21]
Lea Michele
I know. And it just said. It said, it feels good to have your dreams come true, doesn't it? Love Barbara. And it was so true, because it did. It felt so good. I keep it in my safe now. Next to the first haircut that my son got, I have a very creepy little envelope of his hair
- [42:44]
Willie Geist
and a note from Barbara Streisand.
- [42:45]
Lea Michele
Yeah, I know. From Barbara Streisand. Yes.
- [42:47]
Willie Geist
Casual stuff.
- [42:49]
Lea Michele
That's what it is. Honestly. That's in there.
- [42:54]
Willie Geist
How amazing, though, to have the person you dreamed of as a child.
- [42:57]
Lea Michele
That was all I needed. Everyone kept being like, is she gonna come? Is she gonna come? And I was just like, that's. That is for her to, you know, I was so grateful to have this support from afar. I felt that she. I felt that she approved of what I was doing. I knew I was doing the version of that she created that was from her core. I made it my own. But I wanted to honor the performance that I saw. And so I hope that she knew that and appreciated or approved of that.
- [43:40]
Willie Geist
I have a feeling she did. I have a feeling she did. You have a show in a few hours. I'm not gonna make you use your voice anymore.
- [43:46]
Lea Michele
Yes.
- [43:47]
Willie Geist
Thank you so much for doing this. Congratulations on this triumph.
- [43:51]
Lea Michele
Thank you.
- [43:52]
Willie Geist
You're getting so much love for it.
- [43:53]
Lea Michele
I appreciate it.
- [43:54]
Willie Geist
I suspect there's more love coming.
- [43:56]
Lea Michele
Thank you so much.
- [43:57]
Willie Geist
Right.
- [43:58]
Lea Michele
This is wood, right? I think so, yeah.
- [44:02]
Willie Geist
Thank you so much.
- [44:02]
Lea Michele
Thank you.
- [44:03]
Willie Geist
It was great. After our sit down conversation on stage at the Imperial Theater, Leah gave me a little backstage tour, showing me around the wings and up into her dressing room and the dressing room she used to back when she was in Les Mis all those years ago.
- [44:19]
Lea Michele
I did the Spring Awakening reunion here. We did a 15 year concert reunion of Spring Awakening also here on this stage. So this really is home I know. So I found a picture of me from 1995 when I was in Les Mis. And it was me. And right behind me was a Chess Playbill. And so I was like, oh, my God, how crazy that here's this photo of me from when I was in Les Mis. And yet Chess was right there behind me. But I didn't know where the photo was taken. I didn't know if that wall had been, like, taken down. Whatever. And then the first time I walked into this theater with Chess, Nicholas and I came to scope out, like, dressing rooms and stuff. And the minute we walked through the stage door, I looked right here, and here is where I took that picture. And there it is. And so then I sat down.
- [45:15]
Willie Geist
I've seen the. It's the same picture 30 years later.
- [45:18]
Lea Michele
I know. Except I wasn't sitting when I was eight. I was standing. But here it is.
- [45:23]
Willie Geist
Isn't that incredible?
- [45:24]
Lea Michele
I know. And this playbill was behind me the whole time.
- [45:27]
Willie Geist
Incredible.
- [45:28]
Lea Michele
And so now I'm looking, and I'm like, okay, is this my future? Oh, am I just, like, checking? Okay. Cause I. So I've been in this.
- [45:36]
Willie Geist
Yep. Check.
- [45:37]
Lea Michele
Could be in that.
- [45:38]
Willie Geist
Sure.
- [45:40]
Lea Michele
Did this.
- [45:40]
Willie Geist
Did that one. Yep.
- [45:42]
Lea Michele
Gotta do this.
- [45:42]
Willie Geist
I need you in that. Gotta do this I need you in Cabaret. Yep.
- [45:45]
Lea Michele
Could do this. I think this is a lot of dancing. You've established that's not gonna work out. But it's half covered. It is.
- [45:55]
Willie Geist
Nobody knows.
- [45:55]
Lea Michele
So I don't know if that's the sign. And then Jess. So that's incredible. I don't know. I don't know if we're supposed to follow the board.
- [46:03]
Willie Geist
My other takeaway is no one has redecorated in 30 years. It's still lined up very nicely.
- [46:08]
Lea Michele
Well, the. So they added. So this was added.
- [46:11]
Willie Geist
Okay. That's new.
- [46:12]
Lea Michele
I think this was added, too. This was added. So they add, like. You know, I think over there is, like, as they come through. You know, as they come through.
- [46:21]
Willie Geist
That's so cool.
- [46:22]
Lea Michele
And then, obviously, this wasn't here, because they put them up once the show closes.
- [46:26]
Willie Geist
Oh, when it closes.
- [46:27]
Lea Michele
Got it.
- [46:27]
Willie Geist
That's so cool.
- [46:28]
Lea Michele
Isn't that so wild? I love it.
- [46:31]
Willie Geist
That's part of what I love about these theaters, don't you?
- [46:33]
Lea Michele
That, like, I just can't believe this was behind me. Feel all the time like.
- [46:37]
Willie Geist
I know.
- [46:37]
Lea Michele
That's so crazy to me.
- [46:40]
Willie Geist
It's also interesting because that was here for such a short time.
- [46:43]
Lea Michele
I know.
- [46:44]
Willie Geist
And this is such a success.
- [46:46]
Lea Michele
You know, it just is about the I mean, there's so many. There's a lot of reasons. If, you know, sort of the lore of the history of what chess was in the 80s, it makes a lot of sense as to why it was, you know, coming right towards the end of the Cold War. And I think people were a little. It was like an oversaturation. I don't think that they wanted to maybe live in it. Whereas, like now with having the time and the. And then the connection to what we're experiencing in our world right now, it just was about the right time and place, I think. Did you see? Where is he? Jonathan and Sarah Hyland. They created this is so funny. They dressed up like me and Nick and Aaron and made their own little chests logo. These are all of our happy opening letters from our friends and other performances, which is so nice.
- [47:38]
Willie Geist
Very cool. So how. What's the run now? Do we know?
- [47:41]
Lea Michele
We are currently here until June. Sean Allen Krill, who I love so much, who is fabulous in our show, has allowed us to enter his dressing room, which is so gorgeous, by the way. Sean. Oh, my God.
- [47:54]
Willie Geist
Nice decor. Shawn.
- [47:56]
Lea Michele
Shawn, you got this fancy couch. Oh, my gosh.
- [47:58]
Willie Geist
This is like a nice studio apartment.
- [48:00]
Lea Michele
This is.
- [48:01]
Willie Geist
I could do this.
- [48:02]
Lea Michele
This is amazing, by the way. Sean. Oh, my God. While this was my dressing room when I was in Les Mis. Oh, my God.
- [48:10]
Willie Geist
Shawn left me a note.
- [48:14]
Lea Michele
Meanwhile, if you come and see Chess, all we do is fight and I. I cry and I hate him so much, but I really love you, Sean. I'm keeping this.
- [48:26]
Willie Geist
So this was when you were in Les Mis. We were talking 30 years ago.
- [48:29]
Lea Michele
30. I was in this dressing room. We had a desk that went all the way across. And I shared this room with two other girls in Les Mis. I played either young Cosette or young Eponine or I would be the COVID for the night. So it rotated, but the girls dressing room was here and the boys dressing room was right next door. And again, this was the room where I heard Broadway songs for the first time. And I mean, it seems also so small, which is crazy. Like, in my memory, it's this, like, big room. And we had our shelves. They don't have it anymore. But you used to write under the desk. You would write your name before you would leave the show. And this was mine right here. I was here. And I had a little castle on a cloud figurine above. And this was my room.
- [49:19]
Willie Geist
I'm struck by how much you remember everything for an eight year old.
- [49:23]
Lea Michele
Yeah. I would go across the street and my favorite pre show scene at this little, you know, place I would get a pickle and a croissant at the, you know, whatever. The Edison Hotel Cafe, and Dean and DeLuca was across the street. Remember, everything we would go to Sardi's next door was how to Succeed in Business, which originally was Matthew Broderick, and then he left. And who replaced him was Uncle Jesse from Full House, who is a dear friend of mine, John Stamos.
- [49:56]
Willie Geist
Stamos.
- [49:57]
Lea Michele
Thank you. That's when I met Stamos for the first time at Sardi's one day in between shows. Yeah.
- [50:04]
Willie Geist
And for a kid, what a thrill just to be living in this world, you know, and moving around.
- [50:09]
Lea Michele
I loved, like, this theater community and everything that came with it and all of the special spaces and the people and, like, getting to, you know, even then, like, leaving Les Mis and going into ragtime and working with, like, Audra McDonald and Marin Mazzie and hearing these women sing and, like, learning so much from them was the most incredible educational experience that any, you know. But I would sit in this room and I would play, like, Phantom of the Opera over and over again and try to sing the high note that Christine would sing at the end. And, you know, it's really extraordinary to
- [50:46]
Willie Geist
be back here in a lot of ways. This is where it all began for you.
- [50:49]
Lea Michele
This is where the love was born.
- [50:51]
Willie Geist
In this room for the thing you're doing today still.
- [50:54]
Lea Michele
And so many of the words and the. The things that I say in this show, you know, when I sing someone else's story, it's like I say. And if that girl I knew should ask my advice, I wouldn't hesitate. She needed to ask me twice. Go now. I tell her that for free. Like, I mean, I don't even know what. If that means anything, but to me, it means, like, I think of that young girl, and I just think that, like, you're where you're supposed to be, and you will always, you know, be brought back to what it's meant to be.
- [51:21]
Willie Geist
Mm. That's beautiful.
- [51:24]
Lea Michele
I wanted my dressing room at Funny Girl to feel very much like, you know, sort of, I don't know, like a Ziegfeld dressing room. I wanted it to feel a little darker, and for my dressing room here, I just wanted it to feel like home.
- [51:46]
Willie Geist
Yeah.
- [51:46]
Lea Michele
And so I worked with a dear friend of mine, Krista Rodriguez, who I was in Spring Awakening with, and I asked her to help me decorate this room, which she did so well. And I like to say that I have to Do a Broadway show in order to get any quiet mommy time. And so here is where I get to take a break.
- [52:12]
Willie Geist
Oh, wow.
- [52:14]
Lea Michele
I know.
- [52:14]
Willie Geist
Oh, this is beautiful.
- [52:15]
Lea Michele
This is all thanks to Hugh Jackman. Because when I was in Les Mis, this was the wig room and it was two rooms. And then he apparently came and did Boy from Oz here and made this a two room. A little. I mean, this is like my mom getaway. This is.
- [52:29]
Willie Geist
I wouldn't. I'd come here on off hours.
- [52:32]
Lea Michele
As a parent, you're just like, oh, wait, this is amazing. Yeah. I have a little picture of me and Jonathan Groff over here.
- [52:41]
Willie Geist
Look at that.
- [52:43]
Lea Michele
And then here.
- [52:44]
Willie Geist
Even smells good in here.
- [52:45]
Lea Michele
Thank you. You can take that down if you want. This is me in Les Mis right outside of the theater. It's a little dusty with the T shirt, but yeah, that's right outside of my Uncle Shelly behind me. So I look at this picture every day before I go out there. And I'm like, I think she would be so happy and she would be so grateful that I listened to her when she said, don't ever let me stop doing this. And so we're still doing it.
- [53:13]
Willie Geist
She's also had a lot of guts over the years to do that audition, to do the Glee audition. There a theme here, isn't there, where you funny girl, where you just kind of dive in and do it.
- [53:24]
Lea Michele
Dive in and do it despite.
- [53:25]
Willie Geist
You said you've got some anxiety about it sometime. I know.
- [53:29]
Lea Michele
Just go. It's not always easy, but I try. But yeah, this is my little, beautiful, cozy little space.
- [53:36]
Willie Geist
I can see why you like to kind of tuck in here and get cozy.
- [53:39]
Lea Michele
It is nice. And I have some drawings here of my. Oops, sorry. Trista asked me. She was like, do you want to have like chest up? I was like, not really. I just wanted to feel like home. I want to feel. But she just snuck in one little.
- [53:53]
Willie Geist
Okay.
- [53:54]
Lea Michele
But I have all toys here for my kids. They come and like, they have. I have books for my children and all of these shelves. And they come in between shows sometimes and they play. And then I have drawings from my kids behind the door that I get to have a little peek at every day before I go out there and just. Yeah.
- [54:14]
Willie Geist
And when you're just doing the night show, you get dinner, tuck them in and then come over.
- [54:18]
Lea Michele
I get them as close to. Yeah. I mean, my day is like waking up at 6am and get my son ready to go to school. And then I take my daughter to a little mommy and me, class that we go to together, come home, I put her down for her nap. And while she's napping, I get things done. And then she wakes up and get my son from. And then that's around when I start getting ready for the show. My mom often comes and helps out with, you know, our kids, and I'll start getting ready. I have what used to be a very long process of getting ready, which I've now condensed because I just simply can't spend my entire day. You know, I have to be with my kids. But this is vocally the hardest show. I mean, and that's saying a lot, having played Fanny Brice, but shifting the gears of the different genres that I sing throughout. So I have to get in a really good warmup. So that takes me, like, 45 minutes usually.
- [55:14]
Willie Geist
Does it really? It's that long?
- [55:16]
Lea Michele
Yeah. And try to warm up my body as much as I can. And then I make them dinner. We sit down, we have our dinner, and if I have time, I can give my daughter a bath. And then I come. I come here.
- [55:28]
Willie Geist
You're not missing much for a working mom.
- [55:30]
Lea Michele
Like, I mean, I did keep my son home from. So that I could spend the morning with him because I knew I was coming here. So we, you know, we do. We can, but it is. The theater schedule is really, you know, missing bedtime is really hard, but you get a lot of time during the day, which is really great. Weekends are hard, too, because, you know, you miss out on a lot. But it is a. It is a okay schedule. It's not like when you're on TV and you're sort of like, I don't know what my day is going to be. I don't know when I'm going to be home. There's a lot more structure here, which I think for children is helpful.
- [56:02]
Willie Geist
On tv, you're sitting in the trailer going, I could be home with my kid right now.
- [56:05]
Lea Michele
Or, like, it might be an hour. I don't know if we're gonna get to this scene. It's a little bit more unpredictable. And I think that they do well with structure and being able to say, like, you know, my schedule. You know that I have two shows on Wednesday and one show Thursday, so it's a little easier for them to.
- [56:20]
Willie Geist
You're doing it all. You're amazing.
- [56:22]
Lea Michele
Trying.
- [56:22]
Willie Geist
Thank you so much for showing us around.
- [56:24]
Lea Michele
Thank you so much.
- [56:24]
Willie Geist
This is so much fun. My big thanks to Leah for a great conversation. You can see her in Chess on Broadway now through June. And My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear my conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today every weekend on NBC to see these interviews with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down Podcast.
- [57:08]
Lea Michele
Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then you should summon the podcast Scared to Death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads to its name
- [57:19]
Willie Geist
and is co hosted by me, Dan
- [57:21]
Lea Michele
Cummins and me, Lindsay, co host and also Dan's wife. Each week on Scared to Death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and even some submitted by our listeners, all designed to make you want to sleep with the lights on. Think you can handle the horror? Tune in to Scared to Death every Tuesday at the stroke of midnight to find out.