“Getting to do it for an audience, i like drugs”: 7 tony nominees on jumping between Hollywood and Broadway

Ahead of the 78th Tony Awards, WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE ON SUNDAY NIGHT AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL IN NEW YORK AND AIR ON CBS, The Hollywood Reporter Gathered Seven of the 2024-2025 Broadway Season’s Standout Performers for Our Annual tonys Roundtable.

Joining US to Discuss their tony-Nominated Parts, As Well As Hot-Button Issues Like Nontraditional Casting, Gender-Neutral Awards And Screens on Stages, Were TWO NOMEES Audra McDonald (Stage Mother Rose in Gypsy) and Nicole Scherzinger (Aging Film Star Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd.); Two nominees for Best Actor in A Musical, Darren Criss (A Futuristic Ai “Helperbot” in Maybe Happy Ending) and Jonathan Groff (Bobby Darin in Just in time); a nominee for best actress in a play, Sarah Snook (26 Characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray); and two nominees for best actor in a Play, Cole Escola (A HILARIOSLY AHISTORICAL MARY TODD LINCOLN IN Oh, Mary!) and Louis mccartney (A 1950s Teen with Telekinetic Powers in Stranger Things: The First Shadow).

Two Are Veterans of the Great White Way: McDonald, 54, Has Garnered 11 Tony NOMS AND SIX WINS, BOTH RECORDS; and Groff, 40, Has Landed Four Noms (Including for Hamilton) and Won Last Year For Merrily We Roll Along. The Other Five Are Tony-Nom First-TIMers: Scherzinger, 46, Formerly of the Pussycat Dolls; Criss, 38, Glee Star and Emmy Winner for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story; and Snook, 37, Who Shot to Fame On SuccessionFOR WHICH She Won An Emmy Last Year. Escola, 38, who uses they/them pronouns, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and McCartney, 21, Making His Professional Stage Debut, are the Season’s Breako.

The Group Was Diverse in More Ways than One. Criss, at One Point, Marveled: “We Have A Gen Z from Belfast Who’s Playing An American [McCartney]. We have a czech-filipino-hawaiian girl playing norma desmond [Scherzinger]. We have a non-binary Person Playing Mary todd Lincoln [Escola]An Australian Woman Playing Several Englishmen [Snook]A Gay Farm Boy from Pennsylvania Playing Bobby Darin [Groff]a black girl from fresno playing rose [McDonald] and A white passing asian-american as a robot [Criss himself]. Like, What The Fuck Is Going on Here? That’s incredible! ”

You can Watch the Entire Conversation – or Read a transcript of It Edited for Clarity and Brevity – Below.

Before We Dive Into Your Shows, Can You Talk About A Person Who Provides You With The Tools to Perform Eight Shows a Week, at the Level at Which You Are Doing Iting, Without Yo.

Darren Criss I THINK AnyBody HERE Kids HAS TO GIVE FULL UNBRIDLED Credit to Our Partners, Because is a Herculean Task to Be a Pare – A Present One – and to have the Daddy. To quote Wickedbecause i’m a theater geek, “Magic is a demanderting Mistress,” and it does not let up. I’d also like to SOUT OUT A MOVEMENT PROFESOR I HAD at the University of Michigan, Malcolm Tulip. He Helped to Unlock My Interest in Physical Theater. IT WAS JUST A NICHE INTEREST FOR ME THAT I Never Thought Wound Come Up in Any Other Realm in My Life. Cut to 20 Years Later, I Find Myself in A Sity Where i Call Upon The SkillsTs that HE introduced to me.

Louis McCartney One of Our Directors, Justin Martin. He’s Been One of the People Who Stepped Up WHEN I MOVED Away from Home, as A Director and Being there for me as a bro, just hanging out and keeping me going.

Audra Mcdonald Zoe Caldwell, Who I DID Master Class with 1996. I didn’t know what I was doing and i was vary frigtened about work with her, Because she was Such Grand Lady and One of the Greatest Actresses of Theater. But She Ended Up Become Such A Mentor That I Named One Of My Daughters After Her. I Learned from Zoe by Watching How Disciplined She Was About the Preparation for Each Performance, About Knowing Everybody’s Name at Theater, Making Surea. I have adapted a Lot of her Methods, one of which is makeing sure that i’m at theater a good Three Hours Before Showtime. I don’t the train to be about to take off and i’m just getting to theater. I’m going to be the one to make say the train is ready to go.

Jonathan Groff Our Choreographer, Shannon Lewis, Is A Prolific Broadway Dancer, But Just in time WAS HER Choreographic Debut. I’ve Never Really Danced Before This, and She Was, “I Got You.” She gave me 10 weeks of dance lessons, Three Times A Week, Before The First Day of Rehearsal. Sheuhht me this Thirty-minute Physical Warm-Up of Five Different Songs that she has a playlist, and i do it every day before doing the show.

Cole Escola Darren’s Wife.[[Laughs]Actually, There’s This Great Interview Where Zoe Caldwell Is Telling This Anecdote about WHEN She STEPED IN FOR Anne Bancroft in The Devilsand she’s recalling a line off the cuff and turns her head and goes Right Into Character. The Lights Don’t Actuly Change, But You Feel Like There’s A Lighting Change and A Temperature Drop – I’M Getting Goosebump Now Just Thinking ABOUT IT. But It Reminded Me, “OH, IT’S JUST ABOUT HAVING IMMEDIATE AND FREE Access To Your Imagination.” SO, Darren’s Wife and Zoe Caldwell.

Sarah Snook The Vocal Coach That I Worked with in Australia, GeralDine Cook. I Hadn’t Done Theater Since 2016, and Needed to Get My Instrument Back Into Shape and To Get The Athleticism Going for this Particular Show, With So Many Different Characters and Talking for quetly and all of that. And she was realy instrumental in being able to switch them on quicly, and to also Know that I have something to go backs, in the 10th week, you?

Nicole Scherzinger I Not Necessarily A Person for Me, It’s A Higher Power, Because It’s So Much Bigger Than Me – As We All Know, It Is A LOT. So i’d have to say a Higher Power, and my a hatrostors.

Cole, you’d been Thinking about doing something Mary todd Lincoln for 15 years. WHY HER?

Escola I HAD The IDEA, “What if Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination Was A Good Thing For Mary Toodd?”[[Laughs]But is Really a story about someone with a dream that everyone around her ginks is stupid – and that’s how and felt about this Idea, so is vary meta. I Mary’s Story, and THEN IS My Story with The Show—

Scherzinger And Norma’s Story.

Escola And Rose’s Story. My Deep Fear is that i’m irredemably Annoying. So i though, “You Root for Someone Whooneone Annoying, with No Redeming Qualities? Can You Have The Audence on Her Side by the End, Even Thought Time T.

AUDRA, AT AGE OF 10, YOU WERE Part of A Production of Gypsy at a dinner theater in fresno?

Mcdonald YES, I WAS ONE OF UNCLE’S JOCKO’s BUDDIES.[[Laughs]

Over The Years Since, Was It Even An Aspiration of Yours to Be A Part of Of A Broadway Production of It? WHERE DID THE IDEA Come From?

Mcdonald Gavin CREEL [the Tony-winning actor who died of cancer last year just 48]who was a wondrous friend to many of US here. HE BROUGHT Sara Bareilles to Thanksgiving Dinner at Our House, and My Older Daughter Was Obessed with Sara, So One Point Gavin Said to Her, “WHY DON’T YOU GO TALK And then, as I was nursing my younger Daughter Upstairs, I Heard Sara at the Piano and My Older Daughter, Who Plays The Bass, Playing “Who Made You King Of Anything?” I Ran Downstairs to Take Pictures, and Ten Gavin Said, “Oh, Honey, I Want To Talk To You About Something! Come Here!” And He Dragged me Into the Garage and Told Me His Idea that I Should Play Rose in Gypsy.

Scherzinger Wow, that’s an amazing story!

Mcdonald SO IT’S A TRIBUTE TO GAVIN. He’s the one who put it in my head.

Jonathan, You Portray Bobby Darin from AROUND 19 TO 31, AND HE DIED AT 37. YOUR Association with this Project Goes Back to 2018?

Groff Eight years ago, [producer] Ted Chapin Asked Me to A Night of Bobby Darin Music at The 92nd Street Y. Sort of Like You, Cole, Part of My Inspiraction Is Watching Clips of DIVAS SINGING, SO I WING HOME AND YouTube, and I Had this reaction that i normally feel WHEN I Watch Barbra [Streisand] or judy [Garland] or beyoncé – it’s USUALLY reserved for a female performer, but he was singing for his hais Life. THEN I STARTED LEARNING ABOUT HIM, THAT HE WAS TOLD HE WAS GOING TO DIE BY DIME HE WAS 16, SO FROM 16 TO 37 WAS All Borrowed Time For Him, Anus Reflected White Clips, Off of My Computer Screen. I read this quote that, “at the end of the day, he was a nightclub animal,” WHICH is now a line at the end of the Our Show. SO at the Y, We Started Doing His Music Live, Which Was Really Fun, Button All of A Sudden, In The Space Between Audionce and Performer, It Felt Spiritual. For the Last Seven and a Half Years, We’ve Been Trying To Make It Happen [on Broadway]. And now we’re at circle in the Square, Finally Getting to do it for an audience, and is like drugs. IT’s Great.

Nicole, The World First Got to Know You Through the Pussycat Dolls – You Ladies Were Together from 2003 Through 2010 – But From What I Understand, Your Interest in and Involve Quest to get back to it. In Fact, I was invited to something at the pendry Hotel in la in 2022, and I was wasn’t suht was was behind it, but i was was thrilled to get to see you——

Scherzinger You Went?!

YES. This was an intimate performance that you gave, whoh sort of Connects to Sunset Blvd.Right?

Scherzinger I Got My First Job WHEN I WAS ABOUT 14 at ACTORS Theater of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky – WHICH, FOR Louisville, Kentucky, Is Big Time, Y’All – and I Was in Ae. That’s WHERE I Found My Tribe. I ALWAYS FELT, SINCE I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, that I Didnn’t Really Fit in and Didn’t Really Feel Comfortable In My Skin, But The I Went To The T this Performing Arts Schol and The I Was, “The Ti, The Tho T T T T T Ten Infformation Arts of The Tho Hike, The Theater, The Tho A Gue Ande Ie Gue And The T. Like me! ” I Started Out in Voice and Learned to Read Music and Sang in the Choir; and THEN I WENT TO MUSICAL Theater. Ms. Mateus Cast Me in Alice WHEN I WAS 15—

Escola Alice in Wonderland?

Scherzinger Alice in Wonderland.

Escola Okay. It could have been Alice Doesn’t live here anymore.[[Laughs]

Scherzinger And that was bad-time for me because backdn people donn’t casto roles like that. I was like, “yo, you’re casting a hawaiiian-ukrainian-filipina girl as alice?!” So, that’s whore my love affair Began with Musical Theater. I Went on to College and to Do A Lot More Musical Theater – Summer Stock in Many Different Places Armond The Country – SO YES, This Is Over 30 Years in the Making. In the dolls we have a song Called “WHEN I GROW UP [I Want to Be Famous]”And were chooting that music video on Hollywood Blvd. In Front of the Pantages, and there’s Actual A Video Where I Go,“ I Always Thought I’D END UP. Pantages with Wicked. I was fortunate enough to do Rent at the Hollywood Bowl 10 Years Ago. Neil Patrick Harris Directed It and It Had A BeautyFul Cast—

Criss I saw that! It was fantastic. You smokted that.

Scherzinger AROUND 2017 OR 2018, I WAS LIKE, “CAN I PLEASE AUDITION FOR THINGS?” And People Wuldn’t Even Alow Me to Audition. SO I CREATED MY OWN SHOW AND PUT IT IN London, New York at the Django, and THEN IN LA [at the Pendry]. I was like, “i’m just going to go put it on myself and invite people to come.” It Was All The Roles that I Wanted to Be Cast in and All The Songs That I Wanted To Sing. And that’s what you saw.

You obviously Achieved your objective, because andrew lloyd webber and jamie lloyd Approached You About Sunset Blvd. – And I Know You Sort of Thought at the Time, “is it a great compliment or insult to be asked to Play Norma Desmond?” But I Think The Ultimate Compliment Came After Andrew Lloyd Weber Later SAID THAT YOUR CONFORRANCE IS The BEST THAT THAT HEEN IN ANYTHING THAT HE’S BEEN A PART, WHICH IS HIGH Prais.

Escola He didn’t see me in Cats.[[Laughs]

Darren, Maybe Happy Ending is an original musical. How did it get on your Radar and How did you Wind Up Bringing It to Broadway?

Criss I Think All The Best Stories That We Wren Really Prepared to Hear – Batman or Star Wars Are Examples. If You Were Trying To Elevator-Pitch Any of Them, People Wuld Be Like, “What The Fuck Are You Talking About? That’s The Dumbest Idea I’ve Ever Heard.” SO it is fun to be part of something Singular. I was Telling Audra That i Name-Drop Her Ever Night Who People Come by To Say Hello. I SAY, “I DON’T envy the Herculean task that Audra has. First, i Over Three Hours of Ripping Your Soul Out Vocally, Emotionally, All These Things. But The Bee -Pie. Comparisons and Expectations, WHICH ISN’T FAIR to HER—

Mcdonald And Singing Along![[Laughs]

Criss Because i’ve Done Shows Like Little Shop [[of HorrorsOFF Broadway]and Hedwig [[d Angry Inchon Broadway]WHERE POOPLE KNOW The MATERIAL, THAT CAN ALSO BE ABSTACLE AND SOMETING THAT YOU HAVE TO OVERCOME, FOR BETTER or FOR WORSE. For me, i’ve never been a party of anything that audience have been complely unencumbered by expection or experience. That in ittself is an obstacle, because now I have to try and convince them that this is someting Somewhat worthwhile, but it is amazing to feel that gasp of, “What is going. But in short, this came to me in 2018, and it was just a matter of being available – the pandemic and then a Strike and so Many Things that Happy Until Finally the Stars Aligned in A Way.

Sarah, The Picture of Dorian Gray Was Never Done for the Stage Until 2020, WHEN IT WAS FIRST PERFORMED IN AUSTRALIA. How Did You Wind Up Attached to It?

Snook Kip [Williams, the playwright] and I HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT IT AROUND MARCH OF 2023. I WAS ABOUT TO GO AND CHOTOOT of the Final Scenes in Barbados for Season Four Of Succession. I Went, “This is an Amazing Tht’s About To End, And This Is Something Else That I Could Go On To.” The Question, First of All, Was, “What’s The Earliest You Think You Could Do this? We Have A Theater We’re Looking at August.”[[Laughs]I was like, “I have a baby i’m currently cooing. She’s due in april. SO THERE’S no WAY I CAN MAKE AUGUST WORK. The Earliest I Could do It It Is this Ti And so they accommodated that.

You’re used to having to perform a lot of lines very quicll, Between Sorkin’s with Steve Jobs an SuccessionAmong Other Things, But Doing SO while Also Literaly Running from One Character Into Another, As You Do in Dorian Grayis digffrent.

Snook It’s Different. And’s Prose That Has Been Turned Into Dialogue and That Has To Be Spoken in A Way That Audence Can Receive It, To Understand It, To Be English Game It – Finding Plat Need to be moving on and get the audience Leaning Forward, and THEN ALSO TO ALLOW THEM TO SOT SIT BACK FOR ACECOND AND ENJOY The PRETY Pictures. And I Think, Ironically, That Having A Baby and Doing This Show Was Maybe A Good Choice Because Itans That You Stay Very Straight and Narrow. You’re not going out of after the show to have a DRINK or WIND DOWN. IT’s Like, “No, I’ve Got to Go Breastfeed In Two Hours, SO I’M GOING to TRY TO Het Another Hour Hour-A-A-Half of Sleep Now, Wake Up and Feed

Louis, you’re only 21. What was going on in your life whene Stranger Things: The First Shadow? WERE YOU ALREADY A WATCHER OF Stranger Things?

McCartney I was just moving out of dublin. My Dad and I Were Doing Our Little YouTube Channel, Whosh Is How All [the show’s producers] Got Wind of Me, and How My Agent Got Wind of Me Me As Well. I was finishing up season Three of Hope Streetwhoh was the soap I did. And Then I Got Wind of This “Untitled Netflix Play Directed by Stephen Daldry,” and I DID TKI My Focus Ten Turned On Jamie Campbell Bower [who played the character on the TV show] and His performance in Season Four. I THINK he’s phenomemenal – I wanted to imulete that, but also create my own lyine Go to School and Get A GirlfRIEND? ” At the start of the process, I Judged Him and Thought That He Was A Bad Kid, But Now I Think He’s A Really Good Kid and It’s His Conditioning and the People ARUND HIM THAT SHAPED HIM. But that’s the quest of the Our Play. IT’s Quite A Psychological Greek Take On Stranger Things. You’ve Got The Mother Archetype and You Have The Tragic Hero, Very Hamletand there’s Lots of Questions to the Stars, “WHY ME AND WHY AM I LIKE THIS?” But Also Keeping with The Mytology of Stranger Things and Honoring the Fans.

It Has Now Been 10 Years Since the Opening on Broadway of A Little Show Called Hamiltonwhochh mr. Groff Here Helped to Bring to Life. Jonathan, 10 Years Later, What do You Belide Is The Greatest Legacy of Hamilton?

Groff That lin-manuel miranda is a fucking genius and wrote an an unparalleled work of art. I Replaced Brian D’Arcy James in the Show Off Broadway at the Public Theater. He originated the role of the king, so i got this reality interesting experience with the show Because and Always Felt Outside of It and Inserte of It at the Same Time. Lin and I Became Friends WHEN I WAS DOING Spring awakening d HE WAS DOING In the heightsand we had stayed in a touch, and then Brian Had to Leave and Lin Texted Me, “What Are You Doing Next Month? I was like, “sure.” I Went On A Friday and Was in the Show on Tuesday. WHEN I SAW IT, I WAS LIKE, “OH My GOD!” I mean, we all had that experience seeing it. The King is on Stage for Nine Minutes; WHEN We MOVED TO BROADWAY TO THE RICHARD RODGERS, I WOURT PEEK THRUGH The Curtain, Watching the Show. Lin is Such A brilliant performer, he have such an awareness of Storytelling and Audence, and He Knew How to Kiep Everone’s Attraction for Two-AA-A-Half, Three Hours. EVEN WHEN I’M LISNING TO THE MASHUP THAT WE’RE DOING ON THE TONYS I’M LIKE, “OH My GOD, Hamilton is so good! ” Now It’s Been AROUND FOR A DECADE AND YOU’RE LIKE, “OH, YEAH, IT’S Hamilton”-i The poster and it’s“ Send All Your Friends to See It ”and WHATEVER. BUT EVERY TIME I RE-Eugene with The Material, It’s Just Pure Genius.

AUDRA, YOURS IS The SIXTH BROADWAY INCARNATION OF Gypsyand you are the first person of color to play rose. You’ve been navigating this conversing your whole Life, or at Least Since You Were 16 and Playing Eva Perón in Evita. ALSO, YOU RECEIVED YOUR FIRST Tony NOMINATION FOR Caroouselfor a part that had been played by White People. Can You Take Us Into Your Experience With Nontraditional Casting?

Mcdonald I Was Very Lucky Growing Up in Fresno, California, and Having Two Parents Who Needed Something For Their Very Hyperactive, Over-Emotion, Over-Dramatic Child. They Found this dinner theater for me, and i went and audioned and became a part of the Little Junior Troupe. And Once I Was A Part of that Troupe, Like WHEN ALL OF US Kind of Find Theater, It Was, “OH, HERE I AM!”

Escola “Bye, everyone!”

Mcdonald “I Know Who and Am Now.” Or, “I KNOW THAT ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE ME,” WHETHER WE KNOW Who We Are Are or Not. But in that theater in fresno, i at one point was cast to play the servant girl in The Miracle Worker – I Just Ran Out and Auditiored for It and Got The Part – and My Parents Said, “Absolutely Not. You Will Not Be Playing That Part. We Donwest You. From then on, it was, “What role do you have you can play? And make them say no to you.” SO WHEN THE CALL CAME TO AUDITION FOR CaroouselI THINK THAT HELPED ME. I’m trying to find who a person is, not what they look like; That’s a party of it, but, “who are are they? and is there something in my soul that can help illuminate some that character is?” And that’s what i feel about what’s happled with rose. The Main Thing with Me Playing Rose As A Black Woman Is We Are Not Shringing Away from It. We have not Changed a Single Line. We have not Changed Any of the Grammar. A Lot of People Come to this Show and Say, “Oh, Well Rose Is Saying“ That Ain ”And“ That Ain ” – I’M LIKE,“ THAT’S WHAT ARTHur Laurentts Wrote! ” I felt i just KNEW WHO She WAS, AND WHY COURCK Asian Woman’s Story? It Could Be Anybody’s Story!

Cole, you’re a bit of a trailblazer yorself. Over The Last Few Years, There Have Been A Couple of Non-Binary Performers Who Have Been Recognized, But Not Many. Some Award Shows Have Adopted Gender-Neutral Awards. That is not the Case Obvioously at the tons, so you have to weight in on kind of any existing categories you were Wanted to be Eligible For, and Selected Best Actor in A Play. But How did You Feel About Having to Make That Call? And is that someting that you hope changes?

Escola I do hope it changes, yeah. I didn’t love having to make that choice. There are arguments, “Well, Women Are Given So Little, and that would woke More Away from them,” but at the Drama desks Last Year, Best Performer Went to Sarah Paulson And No Men Won, and I Think The Same Thing Happy in the Supporting Category. So i don’t know, it’s such a weird Thing, It’s Almost Arbitrary – “Well, A Man Couldn’t Play this Same Role That A Woman Can Play.” WELL, an eighty-year-ed couldn’t play Juliet-Well, I Shouldn’t Say That. An eighty-year-ed Could Play Juliet. But WHERE THE LINES Are Drawn, I Guess, Doesn’t Make A Lot of Sense to Me. Best Director Is Gender-Neutral.

Every Other Category is.

Escola Every Other Category.

Mcdonald IT MAKES FOR A SHORTER NIGHT.[[Laughs]

Escola IT MAKES FOR A SHORTER NIGHT. I don’t know. I Just Want to Do My Show and Be Myself, and I DON’T Want to Push People’s Buttons – Well, That’s Not True.[[Laughs]I do want to push people’s Buttons, But Not Those Buttons.

Another Topic of Conversation in the Community Is The Role That Technology Is Playing. Sarah and Nicole Have Camera Rigs on Stage with Large Screens That Give Us A Look Into Things That People Never Wuld’ve Been ABLE TO SEE ON BROADWAY UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO. Louis, somes of the effects in your show are unbelievable, and probably woldn’sHarry Potter and the Cursed ChildThe Effects of Wich Were Handled by the Same People Who Worked on Your Show and Are Getting A SPECIAL Tony for reason. In the Case of the Three of Your Shows, the Technology Helps to Connect the Stories to the World of Today, Especialy for Younger Audiences, Woundn’t You Say?

Snook Yeah, Absolutely. Technology is Always Going to Advance – We Invent Things and We Find Ways to Incorporate Them Into Our Lives. And We’ve Always Had Theater – It’s An Ancient Art Form. SO Inevitably You’re Going to Incorporate Technological AdvanseCements Into Theater in Some Ways. And as long as it have a dramaturgic purpos and an Active Influence on the Audience, I Think There’s A Place for It. This Show Woundn’T be Possible with the Camerawork that the Camerapeple do, and also the Video they record, edits that we’ve Created beforehand. And is your Amazing to work inside of that.

Nicole, How Did You Acclimate To Acting While There Are People with Cameras Running AROUND YOU?

Scherzinger I gues i’m kind of used to camera IT MAKES SENSE, OBVIUSLY, BECAUSE NORMA IS A FILM STAR, THAT HE INCORPORATED THAT. And we don’ve a set or props orything, so we’re able to Tell that Story on Stage and Thin to Be a Little Bit More Intmatate WHEN. But yeah, as pop Star, this [points to the left side of her face] is my good side. I’m sitting on my bad side [points to the right side of her face] Today.[[Laughs]So i’ve had to throw all that down the drain. He [director Jamie Lloyd] Has Taken Me Out of My Comfort Zone, But Is What’s Got Me Here Today. It’s Supped to Emanate from Within, Anyway.

We’ve Establized that Unbelievable Physicality is Demanded of Each of You in Tese Roles. Audra, you’ve said that you’ve Never Played A More Exhausting Part. Darren, I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DON’T NEED A ChiroPractor Walking AROUND TO YOU ALL DAY.

Scherzinger I have several good obes.

Criss I’ve got to ask nicole.

What do you do for yorself fitween performances?

Criss I’m Really Militant About Contrast Therapy. IT’s this Ancient Norwegian Stuff. It’s Being in a Hot Bath and A Cold Plunge. I’ll do a sauna and a steam. I do this two, Three Times a week for about about a half hour.

Mcdonald Do you have a sauna in your Dressing Room?!

Scherzinger And a Cold Plunge?!

Criss I do not. I Wish I DID. I’ll go to a Place that that have a sauna. I’ll do a steam room for 15 minutes, a Cold Plunge for Three Minutes, and A SAUNA FOR 15. I’ll DO IT IN-BETWEEN SHOWS. IT’s A Meditative Thing. It’s Good for My Respiratory System, Circulatory System and Immune System, and that Is How and Keep My Battery Charged. I a reset. IT’s My Time to Just Relax. I Feel i’m on a Beach. I Close My Eyes and Just Drown Out the World.

Mcdonald I would never come for the Second Show.[[Laughs]

Criss WELL, IS THAT COLD PLUNGE at the VERY END, SITING IN 45-DEGREE WATER FOR THERE MINUTES. After that i’m like, “All Right, Let’s Go, We’ve Got Another One!”

Snook I Just Sleep. I Think It’s So Important. I mean, for me, i need eight hours.

Escola Between Shows?[[Laughs]

Snook You’ve the Got to have the Deep-Sleep Recovery Because It Heals Your Body.

Scherzinger That’s how and feel too. I have to tell myself, “i a new day, i a new performance.”

Escola I reminding me of that ethl merman Quote: “Warm up? That’s what the Opening Number’s for!”[[Laughs]I can’t rest between shows because then i wouldn’t get up up.

Mcdonald I can’t either. Other Shows i’ve Been Able to, But I Can’t Sleep in Between This One. Our Show Is Basical Three Hours, SO ESPECILY ON A WEDNESDAY MATINEE, WE’VE GOT A 2PM AND A 7:30 PM, SO I ONLY HAVE ENUGH TIME TO DO ALAR DOWN.

Escola Yeah, exactly. The Wall Stare.

You All Move Back and Forte Between Screen and Stage Work. WHEN YOU GO FROM ONE TO THE Other, What is the Thing That You Moust Conscioses to Remind Yourself to DO DIFFERENTLY?

Escola I don’t [do things differently]and that’s WHY I Always Get Told On [a film or TV] Set, “Just Less.”[[Laughs]

Mcdonald “Think Louder.” I used to be so afraid of the camera. Once I Figurered Out that Camera is the audience, and realized that I Could Think Louder and the Camera Will Pick It Up.

Escola Oh, I’ve Got to Write That Down.

Scherzinger I’M Taking that.

Speaking of Moving Back and Forte Between the Stage and Screen, Some People Will Discover You Through One And Not Even Know That You Do The Other. Darren, you told me a funny story about this earlier Today.

Criss There’s No Prerequisite for You to Know Anything About A Person’s Career. I’ll Never Forget, I SAW this QUEEN [McDonald] A Long Time Ago at One of Her Shows in Los Angeles, and there was a woman Next to me who love Private Practice [the ABC TV series on which McDonald appeared from 2007 through 2011]. We Were Just Small-Talking Before You Went On, And I Mentioned Ragtime and all the trees that that i’ve loved your performances in. And she says, “I didn’t Know She Was A Singer.” And i’m Like, “You Best Buckle Up, You’re About To Get Served Some Serious Fucking Shit!”[[Laughs]I just was so moved by that because, again, there’s no prerequisite here. Her Gateway Drug Was Private Practice. We Take All Kinds. We’re happy to have you!

Mcdonald No, it’s true. People who’t’t USULY come to see theater, but come for some reason – “Well, I Love Nicole from The Pussycat Dolls, so i’m coming to see her” or “I love sarah from Succession”OR WHATEVER – WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS IS THEY GET BIT by theater Bug. They get a taste, and then they want.

Let’s Close with Some Fun Rapid-Fire Stuff. Excluding Relatives, Who’s The Person Whose Atendance at One of your performanCes of your current show was meant the most to you?

Escola Elaine May.

Groff Tom Hanks.

McCartney Tom Hanks As Well.

Snook Bette Midler.

Criss Lord andrew Lloyd Weber.

Scherzinger Glenn Close or Oprah.

What’s The MOST unusual Thing in your Dressing Room?

Escola Me.[[Laughs]

McCartney Dieded Lavender that I have yet to buy a vase for.

Snook I’ve Got A Little Crochet Doll of The Characters of Dorian and Jane From Predestination [a 2014 film in which she starred] And My Met Gala Outfit, WHICH THIS INCREDIBLY TALENATED YOUNG WOMAN Crocheted. I love them, and so does my daughter – she loves to play with them.

What’s The MOST ANNOYING THAT AUDIENCE MEMBERS Are Doing at Broadway Shows in 2025?

Snook I don’t get particularly annoyed by it because i KNOW the IMPULSE, But I DO JUST WANT TO MAKE A PSA THAT WE CAN See Youar Youor Pones When. IT’s A Reflective Surface Reflection Back Onto The Stage. I can see you filming.[[Laughs]

Mcdonald We Can’t Anything About Phones. It is what it is. But at Curtain Call, It’s Almost Like No One’s Applauding Anymore Because they’re all filming! I The Weirdest Thing to Me. “WELL, THEN WE’ll Just GO.”

Scherzinger Because they’re trying to catch that legacy, honey! They Got to get it.[[Laughs]Also, we can hear you eating. Sometimes with the rustling, i’m like, “did you get it? Did you?”

Last One. If You Could Snap Your Fingers and Make It SO, What would be the Ideal Number of Performances You would perform perform per week?

Scherzinger That is a great Question.

Mcdonald That is a Really Good Question.

Criss Do you get to decide any they are?

Absolutely.

Mcdonald Wednesday matinéE is gone.

Snook Yeah, I Think Seven Is Good.

McCartney We Doa A Double-Double-Two On Saturday and Two On Sunday-SO we don’h have a wednesday matinée.

Snook The Sunday Matinée is not someting that exists in London, but is fantastic.

Scherzinger Delightful.

Snook Because then you get a spare night!

Scherzinger Six would be lush. You Could Just Do It Forever Ten.