A (2:47)

I would say you own this role.

C (2:48)

Thank you.

A (2:50)

Have you met Winona?

C (2:51)

I have not. Oh, you haven't?

A (2:52)

Has she been to the show?

C (2:53)

No, not that I know of. I don't think so. I think if she was there, hopefully I would have loved to have met her. But energetically, I'll just. I feel like I'll meet her somewhere up there at some point.

A (3:03)

I have a feeling that's gonna happen.

C (3:04)

Yeah.

A (3:05)

So let's talk about this. Where people have not seen Stranger Things on Broadway yet. Explain what it is and what time, place, you know, what time it takes place in.

C (3:12)

Yeah. So we are the origin story of the show, the story, the backstory of Henry Creel Vecna. What was his formative years like? And that takes place in Hawkins, Indiana, in 1959. And what's incredible about the show and what we have to offer, I mean, right now, being a big moment with season five, so being able to tie in what we've been working on for this past year as well as what's going on, all the little nuggets in season five. But you do not have to have seen the show to the TV show to have understood our production, which is incredible. But if you have watched the TV show, there is endless amounts of nuggets, lore, like, really good stuff going on, even revealed, honestly, I would say in the first scene, which is one of my favorite scenes, Picture day, there are a lot of things being thrown at you, and there are many things that end up coming to fruition in season five that are seeds that are placed in 1959 in Hawkins, Indiana.

A (4:03)

So what has happened? We saw what happened in season five, like, out in the world. What's happening on Broadway when it comes to season five?

C (4:09)

Oh, the season five touchdown in the Marriott marquee is big, I would say. What's happening? I mean, these audiences have taught me a lot. I've never experienced audiences like these audiences before. Most people have never been to a live theater production in their life. So when I meet these fans afterwards at the stage Tour. Not only have they not seen a Broadway show, but they've not seen a live play or a musical. So they are. What is the biggest gift which I think Sonja Friedman continuously is giving the world, is introducing anybody and everybody to feel comfortable in a space that can feel really intimidating, which is a theater, Whether it be because it's really expensive or because it may be language and facilities that you don't know how to quiet down in or relax into, it's an intimidating space. And this show has been anything but that. And I think what has been unbelievable is the level of excitement fans have of feeling like they're learning things and discovering things that nobody else knows. And those little nuggets are only on stage so they're not captured anywhere else

A (5:07)

when you look at the show every night. And I know that it's a very active, very energetic. There's a lot going on there. People who have seen many Broadway shows, Lindsay, our producer included, said, like, I can't believe what goes on there every night.

C (5:21)

I can't.

A (5:22)

How do you describe it first? And prepare for it Second?

C (5:26)

I would say. I like to say I feel like it's the Olympics on that stage from each and every company member. What is so rare about our show is that every company member is physically on the stage. Everybody is working the entire time, every swing, every cover, the crew members backstage. I mean, bless these people. The best crew on Broadway, no questions asked. But they are doing as much of a marathon backstage as we are doing on stage. I would. The tenacity it takes to tell this story every night with new eyes and with a refreshed sense of curiosity on some days feels easy, and on other days feels hard. But what I have felt to be the greatest challenge is even on the hard days, when you walk out there and the, like, insane amounts of roaring that happens when they just see the Stranger Things logo come on the screen, I'm like, no. People have traveled far and wide for this moment, and, like, look what you get to give people the joy of this world right now. And all of my weird stuff that's going on in the back of my head quieted, like, immediately, because it could be, like, one of the most important nights of their year that they've maybe saved up for.

A (6:35)

So many people, I'm sure. What do you do physically to get ready? Do you have any preparation aside from breathing? Jumping? I don't know.

C (6:42)

What are you doing? Aside from taking a deep breath? Yeah, aside from taking a deep breath. I'm a big Pilates person. I need to feel seriously, like, in my body before I'm running around on that stage. Also, because of the revolves on the stage, there's a lot of movements and running that we're doing that can really cause serious injury if you're not careful. So the utmost strength is required of body and mind to show up every day to work. So I actually do a three minute plank before the show every day.

A (7:05)

Of course,

C (7:07)

I worked up to it over many months, but it's my way of being like, okay, now I'm hot, I'm warm. I'm ready to go. On top of our amazing vocal coach, our dialect and vocal coach on the show, Liz Hayes gave us a great warmup that kind of helps guide me on some days where I'm like, okay, Allison, you have to be an actor again. Like, touch your warmup. Do your job. Get on there.

A (7:24)

Yeah, that's amazing.

C (7:26)

Three minutes. Yeah.

A (7:27)

I'm really on your elbows.

C (7:28)

Yeah.

A (7:28)

I'm really impressed.

C (7:30)

I'm really impressed. I'm glad about it.

A (7:32)

Now, you referenced you were on Broadway when you were much younger, Correct. Tell me a little bit about where that all started. How old?

C (7:38)

My first show was Stephen Sondheim's Son in the park with. I was turning 10.

B (7:43)

Wow.

C (7:44)

It was also my first audition, which was wild. I knew one song, and it was one Sondheim song. And I just decided to sing that for him. And I remember walking out of the room and my mom. My parents are amazingly creative people, but not actors. And, like, showed me a photo of Sondheim and was like, is this guy in the room? And I was like, oh, yeah. He was cracking up at me. And she was like, okay, that's hopefully good. And that was my first job. Wow. Playing Louise in Sunday in the park with George at Roundabout, their first revival. And then I went on to do Mary Poppins when I was, like, 12, I think. Yeah, like 11. 12.

A (8:20)

And then you went to school?

C (8:21)

And then I went to school, Yeah. I went to USC and was out in California for 11 years.

A (8:25)

Did you always know you wanted to be on Broadway?

C (8:27)

No. No, I had no clue. My parents were incredible at facilitating environments where they would try to just find something that I could latch onto. And it wasn't necessarily sports. I was, like, doing weird things on the side of the soccer field, like, digging out the worms. That was not working. And so they were like, this isn't. Where can we put this girl where she can find more community? And ultimately, my mom's always been a deep lover of the theater and Found this local production company called Roundabout. Sorry, Roundabout? That's hysterical. That's a full circle. Because it's called Random Farms.

A (9:00)

Random Farms?

C (9:00)

Yeah. Random Farms Theater Company. And that's where everything began. Yeah. I love it.

A (9:06)

What do you think of going forward? I mean, Stranger Things has become such a phenomenon, and, like, I think it's gonna have a very, very long life. And it's super exciting to see as more generations of audiences really are gonna see this.

C (9:20)

I was having this thought the other day. I was like, I Wonder when I'm 80 years old, and I look back on this moment, and I'm able to be like, that was one of the largest phenomenons in cultural history, and you got to run around and play a part in that. And I think these are one of those life moments where, like, I can't understand or fathom the scope of this experience right now. I think far outside of it. So maybe it'll hit me when I'm 80 and be like, whoa. I mean, I definitely feel whoa all the time, but I think it's so much larger than I even have the capacity to understand right now.

A (9:53)

It's really incredible. And you look at the different age groups that are there and that are absolutely obsessed. Congratulations.

C (9:59)

Thank you.

A (9:59)

Thank you so much.

B (10:00)

It's so good to see you.

A (10:03)

Now here's Charlie Cooper.

B (10:09)

Well, I'm so glad you're here.

D (10:11)

I'm glad to be here. And listen, I'm so excited you are taking me to work today. I feel like so many people would love this experience.

C (10:17)

Oh, my goodness.

D (10:18)

What's it like for you to, like, come up these escalators and do your thing every day? You know what?

B (10:22)

It's insane because I don't really see the front ever. I go through the stage door. So I am also getting an experience that I don't usually have just to come through the front and see. I'm a huge Stranger Things fan, so to see anything related to the show affiliated with myself, like, I freak out. So it's really just show stopping every time I see it.

D (10:41)

I love that. I love that you're getting the opportunity to play Patty.

B (10:46)

Yes.

D (10:46)

And this is a prequel. Does it kind of change the way that you approach the scripting and the performance and all of that stuff?

B (10:53)

Yeah. So I'll take you way back. So originally I got an email that said, stranger things, Broadway self, tape audition. I was like, never gonna book this. I'm not a Broadway girly. I grew up doing television. So I just sat in the audition. I did what I thought I might do in a Stranger Things audition. Yeah, which is what? Which is, you know, like a more filmistic style. Didn't worry about the Broadway aspect or the theater aspect. So I sent it in, didn't expect to hear anything back. Two weeks later they called me back in to like callbacks in la. And long story short, I ended up going through that whole process and they brought me to a seven hour callback in New York City. Oh my God. Which I didn't know was gonna be seven hours. And they had me do the entire play as a one woman show, all of the Henry and Patty scenes. And what I didn't know at that time was that we were rewriting the script at that time to be tailored to myself because they did the show in the West End and Patty was very different. And I just had very strong opinions about who Patty was and what her relationship with Henry Creel was. And that's kind of the version of the show that you see now. So to be able to create Patty from the ground up and have a say in the Henry and Patty storyline, it's, you know, it's incredible. I mean, look, you've got the scary boy staring at us through the window. He's always watching. And you know, that's Patty Newby's man right there. So I love that. It's been amazing.

D (12:13)

You kind of touched on the fact that like, I mean, TV was your jam.

B (12:17)

Yeah, it was.

D (12:18)

And I mean, you became a star on TV on Nickelodeon. And I want to know a little bit more about just like your transition. And were there habits that you had to break that you maybe used in that realm that like, maybe it wouldn't serve you very well here or vice versa?

B (12:36)

I love to take my time when I act now. Stranger Things, the first Shadow is a three hour long play. We gotta get it out. You gotta know the story, you gotta hear the lines. There's no time to be like mugging for the camera, you know, what do they call it? Mewing when you suck your cheeks in and do the whole thing? Yeah, no time for that. So that was a habit I kinda had to break because I like to kind of think in a scene and really receive what the other actor is saying. And I just had to learn different way of doing that. And Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin were incredibly patient with me during that whole whole process. I won't imitate the accent, but it was always cut the pauses. Cut the pauses, Gabrielle. So that's a habit that I had to break. And you know Learning Stranger Things is really physical. Yeah, it's probably the most physical thing I've ever done. Every night, it's like doing an action movie. I feel like Tom Cruise. So learning how to take care of my body, learning how to take care of my voice, because I scream a lot. I go from screaming to singing to just speaking my dialogue. It's. It's a lot. It's a lot of athleticism, for sure. As you can tell, I haven't warmed up yet for the show. I haven't done my Tongue Twisters. But just learning all those things about articulation and breath control and, you know, physical therapy to keep everything in line. It's been a learning process for sure, that I feel like TV can't teach you. But on the opposite side of that same coin, on tv, you know, you learn discipline. You learn all of the basic fundamentals that are needed to do something like Stranger Things, the first shadow. When I was a kid, I did a show called all that. It was a reboot.

D (14:07)

I love that. She's like a show called.

C (14:08)

Are you kidding me?

D (14:10)

I mean, classes are iconic.

B (14:11)

Show all that.

C (14:12)

Excuse me.

B (14:14)

Well, you know, this little show called all that, this little thing I've heard about, really taught me how to think on my feet because we would get these sides right before we would go shoot. Sometimes we would be playing a character on Monday, and then on Friday on our shoot day, it'd be a totally different sketch. Like, night and day different. Like, if I were playing Beyonce on Monday, you might be playing Beyonce on Friday. Like, it might be a totally different thing. And that really helped me with Stranger Things because when we were in previews, it would be kind of a similar thing. We'd be rehearsing during the day, and then at night, we would have to put in whatever changes into the show into a live performance from 2000 that you don't get to take two for.

D (14:51)

Right.

B (14:52)

So I think that my background in television really did prep me for certain things that were to come with Stranger Things. And it's a unique play because it's meant to feel like you're watching an episode of television being shot live. So some of the performances do stay true to theater and do stay true to the broadness and the grandness of it all. But there's also some really small, intimate moments that are like, oh, wait, it feels like we're watching a movie right now. Yeah. So I got very lucky with Stranger Things being my first. My Broadway debut, for sure.

D (15:23)

We've grown to, like, know and love Your comedic timing, how does that translate to a show that's like the complete opposite almost?

B (15:30)

Yeah, I mean, I. It's funny because I get. Sometimes I get people saying, gabrielle, you weren't funny. And it hurt my feelings. And I'm like, I'm really sorry about that. But there are a few jokes that Patty has and, you know, if you come see the show more than once, you'll catch them. But it's not inherently like slap to slapstick comedy or, you know, a multi cam where it's like you have a laugh track. Sometimes it feels like that because the audience is really locked in and like they're like, okay, these are the funny bits. But it's a drama and it's a tragic love story. And I think, you know, the people who have grown up with me that I get to meet at the stage door every night, they enjoy that because it's like you're also watching me as a person step into womanhood. You know, the type of content that was reflected when I was a kid, that's because I was a kid. And then now I'm growing up and I'm telling more mature stories. I'm telling a story about a little biracial girl falling in love with a little white boy in the 1950s under a supernatural scope. And what does that look like? And I think it's cool that people who knew me when I was 12, 13, they get to come see that. Right.

D (16:34)

I love that so much. Let's talk a little bit more about that because this show definitely has some themes of otherness and belonging or lack thereof. And as a woman of color playing this role, can you kind of talk about how that resonates with you perhaps in this industry?

B (16:49)

Yeah, I think that specifically biracial representation is key, and it's a really beautiful lens that we get to look through. Kate Tree Fryer, our writer, was very specific about, because we are telling a story in the 1950s staying true to what that looked like in America, but also paying homage to Hawkins. Right. During the TV show, you see slight nods to the racism.

D (17:13)

Right.

B (17:13)

With Billy's character and with the bullies calling Lucas midnight. You know, it's not inherently blatant, it's not, you know, preachy in any way, but you're like, okay, if I'm really paying attention, I'll catch it. And that's the same thing with Stranger Things. First Shadow, you know, with Walter calling her Mystery Meat. It's not because she's biracial, but if you're watching in the audience, you're like, wait, pause. That's not right. And we have that moment where sue and Charles, two of the black students, stand up for Patti. And at that point, we don't know who her real mother is. And we don't know Patty's origins at that time in Act 1. But it's been great and it's been a blessing to be able to represent that on stage.

D (17:55)

I love that. I love that. And lastly, I mean, I feel like you've been able to do so much in such a short amount of time. You're 20 and you've been able to find stardom on Nickelodeon. You've been able to call an NFL game. You've been able to perform on one of the biggest stages in the world. I mean, for a show that's iconic,

B (18:14)

yeah, it's mind blowing. It's wild, it's epic, it's wild, it's beautiful. It's bittersweet because my run is almost over. I came here a year ago. I moved the day after Christmas, and now I've got about six, six weeks left in my run as Patty Newby. And I'm trying to take it all in. I'm trying to just, you know, breathe and allow myself to soak up each and every moment. At the beginning of the run Last April, spring 2025, I asked myself, as we were just starting on opening night, are you gonna enjoy this? And I challenged myself to answer that at the end of the run. And here we are at the end.

C (18:52)

And I can.

B (18:53)

I can say confidently that I did enjoy it. And it's sad leaving Ms. Patty behind, but I'm excited for the future and everything that's to come.

D (19:02)

I love that. Can I ask you what's next?

B (19:04)

Everything's next. Everything's next. I will be heading back into film and tv.

D (19:08)

So excited.

B (19:09)

You'll see me on your screen very soon.

A (19:14)

That's gonna be a wrap for this latest episode of the Broadway show Uncut. Until next time, I'm Tamsen Fadal and I'll see you soon.