WEBVTT

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♪ I've heard it said ♪

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- Just kidding.

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- I cannot think from "Wicked."

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♪ I've been changed for the better ♪

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♪ And then I'm changed ♪

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♪ For the best ♪
♪ For good ♪

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- Good.

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- I'm in "& Juliet."

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(groovy music)

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- Okay, so watching you
perform this was like,

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just watching someone
fulfill a dream role.

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This character is so fun, so
funny, so snarky, so feminist.

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So am I correct in that assessment?

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- You are so correct,
and actually it's funny.

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I feel like I've been asked for years,

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Betsy, what is your dream role?

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What is your dream role?

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And I would always say, it
hasn't been written yet,

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and it has been written.

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Thank you, David West Read.

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♪ My loneliness is killing me ♪

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- Juliet plunges Romeo's
dagger into her heart.

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- What if Juliet didn't die?

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That should almost be
the start of the play.

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♪ Hit me baby one more time ♪

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- Okay, so your character
gets to take the pen away

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from the most infamous male playwright,

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William Shakespeare.
- [Betsy] Yes.

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(Lauren bleching)

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(Betsy laughing)

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- [Lauren] So.

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- How do you really feel?

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- Like, whatever we get it, but like, eh,

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but how do you feel women
writers or women-centric stories

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in general have progressed in theater

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since your career started?

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- I think this is, I mean,
this is actually like,

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the most perfect example.

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I have played, I cannot
tell you how many times

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I have played the girlfriend or the wife

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of a more successful writer.

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Spoiler alert, that's
actually what I'm doing now,

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and the story has always kind
of stopped right at that.

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It's stopped there and it's
like, oh, this is where

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the story ends for her and
she's trying to be supportive

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or she's a little overlooked,

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and that is where this musical begins.

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- You're nominated for
your first Tony award.

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- Oh my gosh.

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- In Best Performance by an
Actress in a Featured Role

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in a Musical, so like of
course, I mean of course.

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Like, the second I saw it, I
was like, yes, like absolutely.

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- That's what my mother said.

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So thank you for that.

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(Lauren laughing)

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Appreciate that.

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- So do you have a first memory
of wanting to win a Tony?

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- I'm not gonna lie, I've
gone through this speech

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in my life but that was probably more like

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when I was 14 years old.

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I think the like, older Betsy,
the Betsy who's been around

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for a little bit more, even
though I'm still obviously

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in late 20s, just like Anne.

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- [Lauren] Yes, of course.

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- I think I understand what it has taken

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to kind of get here.

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(screen whooshing)
So I'm, I swear to you

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when I say like on Tuesday,

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that was just like,
(screen whooshing)

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the most thrilling thing,
but I'm sure as a child

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I rehearsed a speech, you know,

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thanking my parents and my God.

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- You can just go like that.

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- Trying to stay.

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This is horrendous.

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(audience laughing)

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We could legit be in "Wicked" right now.

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(audience laughing)

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- Okay, so everything's
very exciting right now.

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Great show, huge Tony nomination,

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but what was like the worst
moment of your career?

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- The worst moment of my career.

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- Apart from like, COVID
(bleep) getting you down?

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- The worst moment, maybe
like a stage mishap is.

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- [Lauren] Okay.

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- Like as a, I mean like, oh, my gosh.

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You know, I don't know if you really

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want to go deep, go that deep.

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- Whatever comes, whatever
your heart wants to say.

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- The worst, okay,
genuinely, one of the most

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embarrassing things that's
ever happened to me on a stage

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was, it was really kind of one of

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my first professional gigs,
and I was playing Evelyn Nesbit

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in "Ragtime," the musical.

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- [Lauren] Okay.

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- We all know "Ragtime," the musical,

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and I had, I was the last
person to enter in the prologue.

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She very famously, every
single other person,

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every other person in the
cast goes up on stage.

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I had somehow just decided
to put my street clothes

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on the back of my chair
and I sat down last minute

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to kind of, I don't know, touch
up my makeup or something,

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and my street bra, my
personal bra, which was like,

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tattered and torn and like
ragged, we're not talking like

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some cute sexy bra here
had somehow managed

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to get hooked on.
- Like, your everyday bra.

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- The back of my Evelyn
Nesbit gorgeous costume,

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and I came traipsing out and I was like,

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♪ La la la la la la la la la whee ♪

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and I did a spin.

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I have never heard such laughter.

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I had about 30 cast
members behind me cackling

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and I just kept going.

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I was like, Evelyn Nesbit was

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the most beautiful woman in America.

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Meanwhile, I had a bra, my own bra,

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like strap, cup, cup,
strap, and it was swooshing

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and I turned upstage to the
cast, this is the best part.

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I turned upstage and
someone else was talking,

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and I just saw tears
streaming down their faces.

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They were laughing so hard.

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Do you know what I thought that night?

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- What?

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- Oh, I am extra funny tonight.

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(Lauren laughing)

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I am, oh my God, you guys.

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I'm extra funny.
- I'm on fire.

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- I am on fire.

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No, I was not on fire.

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I had a bra attached to my body.

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So that was probably one of the most like,

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horrifying moments, but also

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it provided this story for today.

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So you know what?

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Win-win for me.
- Thank you so much

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for sharing.
- You're so welcome.

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You're so welcome for that.

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♪ Since you've been gone ♪

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♪ I can breathe for the first time ♪

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♪ I'm so moving on yeah yeah ♪