Mention It All - Broadway Needs More Bravo Ft. Marla Mindelle

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

On today’s episode, Dylan is joined by Marla Mindelle, a Broadway vet who’s channeling her love of Real Housewives into her brand new show, The Big Gay Jamboree. She and Dylan talk about her Bravo background, and how the new show took shape after Marla’s success with Titanique. They also discuss the inherent theatricality of reality TV, some of their best Housewife run-ins, and what’s in store this fall on Bravo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Home Depot.com slash price match for details. Betches Media presents. Ha ha, laugh, funny. Mention It All, a Bravo by Betches podcast. We don't say that, but now we said it. With me, Dylan Hafer. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention It All podcast.

I am so excited to be joined today by a hilarious, very talented performer who is, you know her from her show, Titanic, which she co-created, starred in, won lots of awards for. And now she is back on the off-Broadway scene with another hilarious music. at the Big Gay Jamboree. Please welcome Marla Mendel. Ooh, yay. Yes. And most importantly, while you're on this podcast, also a huge Bravo fan.

Oh, my God. The multiverse. The Bravo, put me in. I'm like, I should say that up top before people are like, what is this? What is you doing here? No, leave me to rot there. And, yeah, I am obsessed. I'm a huge fan.

I had a chance to see your new show at the Big Gay Jambore last week. and it is like a gay musical theater, housewives crossover fantasy. That is true. It is a gay fever dream. And somehow the real housewives is in that Venn diagram, as it should be. It really is. I mean, I was thinking about, I feel like we've arrived at a place in culture where, like, housewives and kind of like gay references and things like that are a little more, like,

esteemed than maybe they used to be. 1,000 percent. I think it's because they're so, the housewives are just, they're theatrical. They're heightened. The fashion. It's campy. It's art. Dare I say it is art. But to me, it is art. Yeah, I love it. And I have loved it. I've been, I've been a diehard fan since the very, very beginning. I do. I want to get into that. I want to talk about your, you know, background and everything that you have going on. Your new show, so fun. I got to see Titanic before you left the show. It's been running now for over two years. Two years. I was doing like back of the napkin math. It must be coming up on a thousand performances. Sometimes. I think so. I mean, it's been that long that I'm like, what, what year is it even? It's crazy. So it started in the theater in the basement of the shutdown. Of the Christie. Which now no longer exists. They blew it to smithereens as they should. Oh my God. So I didn't see Titanic there. The only time I've been to that venue was for the

invited dress rehearsal of Sonia in your city. Stop it. The coverlask. That was there at the asylum? Like the first time she did it. And then I think she's done some some other venues. Wait, I had no idea that it was that historical. Honestly, they should preserve it then. They should make it like, you know how they like preserve building? A little packed. Yeah, exactly. So that was, I think, pre-Titanic, but there was, it was like the invited dress rehearsal. I don't remember like the circumstances of arriving there. But it was also, they had an activation for Sonia sangria. I don't know. What was in that? So they what do you think was in that drink? Ketamine. It came in a bottle. Yeah. They were, it was like, I think it was carbonated, which is. Oh, twist.

Yeah, sparkling. Okay, sparkling. Sparkling ketamine. We weren't allowed to take any photos once we got inside the venue. So they're handing out like the little cups of the sangria. And they're like, I'm like, oh, can I take. Little cups of sangria. That sounds like Jim Jones.

Truly, it was free, but like at what cost. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, like, can I take a picture of the bottle? They're like, no photos. Even in the bottle? Even at the bottles. They were like, if we see a photo, you're getting kicked out. Oh my God.

That is so funny. But that was. Protect Sonia at all. A very chaotic two hours I spent in that downstairs theater space. Oh my God. It was two hours long, with an intermission or without? I don't think there was an intermission. Oh, my God, Sonia.

I don't know how her show has evolved, but at that point, I would say it was very work-in-progress feeling. And there was like a mime performance. There was a stand-up comedian. Wait, stop it. This is now becoming something that I'm actually very upset that I did not see. Yeah, there was like Sonia did an opening, like, segment. that was like her and two like musical theater guys who were kind of like carrying her around the stage a little bit.

Oh my God. If you're listening to this podcast, I need to know who it is because I'm sure I know them. You know, our world is so small. I'm sure it was like Andrew Ken and Bulger or someone like that. It was not Andrew Keenan Bolger or something. But he did Luann. Adjacent. Yeah.

Andrew Ken and Bolger adjacent. Yeah. Name them. If you're, if you're listening, please show yourself. I'm sure they have stories. Yeah. No, I must know. Wow.

That is so funny. I cannot believe that we were, that Titanic was in the same historical space as Cabrales. See, it's probably good that you didn't know that when Titanic was there. I would have used it in like an improv or something. I would have invited Sonia. Actually, maybe not because you know that she would have walked on stage and Titanic would have turned into cabralesque. And that would have been really incredible for like 30% of the people in the audience. But then the other 70% would be like, what the hell is going on?

I heard this was good. What's happening? Surprise. So you departed Titanic last year. Yes, I left last year. And then it has continued to, it's continued to run. It has continued to run. It is blown up all over the, all over the universe.

I mean, talk about a multiverse. Titanic is, it just opened in Australia. Crazy. Yesterday, we start rehearsals for London in about a month. It's in Canada, as I think happening this month at the end of this month. It'll be in Chicago, I believe. I mean, who knows? Who knows what's next?

It's going to be on Mars. There are gay aliens and it's going to space. Have they seen Titanic on Mars? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. If they've seen anything, they've seen Titanic. Exactly. James Cameron is like beaming it up there. Yeah.

So you're now back with a brand new show, which is like, I would say it's kind of another level from Titanic in terms of the production, in terms of the sort of scale of it, the design, everything. What was the kind of origination of big gay jambore? Was it something you had like in a notebook from before? Or is this? It's such a crazy roundabout story. I had done musical theater all in my 20s. And then I was like, I can't do this anymore. I've got to get out of this business. I'm going to be a writer in Los Angeles. And me and my writing partner, Jonathan Parks Ramage, moved to Los Angeles together. And we wrote Big Gay Jamboree as a movie musical as like this golden age kind of musical about this, about a failed actors who wakes up trapped in like a music man kind of thing. And at the time, we had gotten the interest

of Margot Robbie and her production company Lucky Chap. And so they decided that they were going to produce the movie. We sold this movie. And as many movies go in Hollywood, it died a long, slow, painful death. It went into like a movie development K-hole where we just could not attach an actress. And then the whole movie just kind of fell apart. And at the time in L.A., I was working on this rinky dink show called Titanic. And I was like, well, nothing's ever going to fucking happen with this.

So this is like pre-pendemic? Pre-pandemic? This was maybe nearly a decade ago that this whole thing. I know. That's how long it was. Okay. Yes. And Titanic is also nearly a decade ago, too.

At the time, I was doing it in L.A. And I was like, well, nothing's ever going to fucking happen with this. Turns out Titanic blows up and becomes this huge success. Maybe last March, I'm performing as Celine. I'm singing, taking chances. I look out in the audience. And I'm like, oh, there's a stunning smile, somebody who's just laughing their ass off. And I'm like, oh, my God, that is Margot Robbie.

Surely she will not remember me from our days working on this little movie. Right. If anything, it's like, this thing that didn't go. Yeah, exactly. Well, and also, like, she's, you know, she's a busy lady. She was doing Barbie press at the time. Like, she's not going to remember Rinky Dink me. And sure enough, she emailed me a couple months later.

And she said, I saw Titanic. I've been telling everyone to see it. Is there anything else that you're working on? I'd love to catch up. And I was like, you know, actually, I've been thinking about turning this failed movie into a stage musical. And she was like, all right, let's do it. And I was like, that's not going to have.

Like, this is all, this is too good to be true. Right. You're like lovely email thread. Yeah, this was like a great email change. In fact, when I got the email, the email said, hey, it's Margarabi. That was a subject. And I sent it to my sisters. And they were like, don't open it.

It's a scam. Like somebody's probably trying to get you for money. And, but I opened it and it was actually Margar Robbie. And she was like, great. When do you want to do it? And I was like, I want to do it as soon as possible. Like, let's revamp it for the stage. It's ready to go.

And she was like, okay. And that was not even a year ago. That is so crazy. Isn't that crazy? It's crazy how something can be just like fully at square zero for so long. So long. And then all it takes is kind of the right. circumstances. And then it's like, yeah, we're doing this now. And it's so funny because at the time,

I also met these producers, Sue Wagner and John Johnson, who are like very, very, they just won the Tony for Stereophonic. And I had gone in on just like a very general meeting with them. And I said, I have this project and I've been trading emails with Margarabi. And they're like, wait a second, we just met with Margarabi a couple months ago. We've been looking for a project to all potentially work on together. And they were like, all right, let's do it. And so it was like, and this is, it is a dream come true. Because I feel like musical theater. as you know from your days, you know, in the theater. Getting something up and running, it just takes so long.

It's the same as movies. It just takes so long. So the fact that this was like this dead on arrival movie project that has now kind of had this glorious resurrection is crazy to me. Yeah. I mean, it's cool that somebody like Margot Robbie who can, you know, put her stamp of approval on something is like clearly interested in doing theater and in getting stuff going. Like that's, it's like a cool, you know, person to have kind of.

Oh my God. It's the bad. And I just feel I'm a deranged. I'm a mad woman. Like, I just feel like a crazy woman. So the fact that Marga Robbie has put her stamp of approval on my sense of humor, which is like criminally insane. Yeah.

It is incredible. It means that she must be insane too. There's a line in Big Gay Jeboree where it's something about like, oh, like, once you get the gays on your side and you're like, you can do whatever you want. Anything you want. And it's true. Yeah. And this, so this show, like, when.

you were sort of resurrecting it and adapting it for the stage, obviously there are a lot of references, a lot of, you know, things that are tied to real life. How much did you kind of have to update and like kind of polish it up? At first, we were like, oh my God, it's going to be exactly the same as the movie. It's going to be exactly the same. And as we started reviving it, we were like, it's now very, very different. And because, and I think one of the reasons it's so different is because what I learned in Titanic is like, as long as you make it funny, like, the world is your oyster. Like the theatrical stage you can. can do anything.

Yeah. So all of the references like in, you know, there's this whole Bravo spin off. There's this whole, you know, kind of Jennifer Lopez tangent that we go on. I mean, I have had that Jennifer Lopez song stuck in my head. Oh my God, good. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yes.

Good. I have so many people. I had a guy named Paul Colato. He was like, I just got into a huge fight with my family over politics. And the only thing that was in my head during the entire fight was Jennifer Lopez has a backup. I was like, that is so whack, but great. It's one of those things where. it's the first time

the Jennifer Lopez mentioned comes up but I won't spoil it everybody goes to see the show but like I'm like oh okay this is this improv like do they change it every night is it like a throwaway thing and then it's like

oh this is the rest of the show but that's like that's the beauty of the show is that I feel like it goes on all these kind of crazy tangents and that was not very typical of the movie or yeah of the movie

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And so it's like, it's like, if I'm like, if I'm Jewish and another person is like, oh, I'm Jewish too. I'm like, okay, we have a shared history that goes way back in time. That's what Bravo is to be now. My girlfriend is like, should I start watching it because you're such a fan? And I'm like, honestly, like, I wouldn't even tell you where to begin. Yeah. And even if you began in New York, you'd have to span 14 seasons and then go nearly 14 seasons with every other show as well.

That's how deep the language runs. Yeah. One of the things about my line of work is that I've constantly am getting questions about what do I watch next? What should I start with? And you're like, honestly. And I'm like, first of all, you have to let it find you. Like, you can't force it on somebody because it is a journey. But also it's like if you really, really want to be like in the bag, it's a commitment.

It is a commitment. It is a long-term relationship that might burn you somewhere down the line. And then you're going to have to pick it back up again. Right. You're going to have some tweets about how much you ride for Jen Shaw. They're not going to age well. They are not going to age well. My sister is watching New York.

And she is now on season 10 or 11. But she started season one. I want to say two weeks ago. Like when you, once you start, it goes quick. It goes quick. Yeah. It's actually disturbing to me how fast she watched. If she is listening, I'm disturbed.

Olivia, you disturb me. Yeah, I had a friend. I think during the pandemic is watching Roney. And it was like, I'm in season nine. And I'm like, nine. Exactly. Yeah. It's like you just started season one yesterday.

Mm-hmm. So I am a huge housewives, Stan, aficionado, and I am proud to say that I'm highly immersed in the multiverse. And so basically, you know, I won't give anything away, but the plot of Big Age Embry is that it's a failed musical theater actress who wakes up trapped in a Golden Age musical. But she's this failed actress. She's never got her chance to shine. So now her second biggest dream is to become a real housewife. And so, yeah, that was just kind of like a fun idea. Because my dream, L.O.L. This is like one of my dreams is to become a real housewife. And I don't think it'll ever happen. So now I'm living vicariously through my character, Stacy in this musical. Now you would have an interesting like hook that was like, I was on Broadway. Then I did this other. You know, I created these shows. And then now here I am. Here I am. I know. Anda Cohen. If you are listening, here's your girl. She's right here. She's auditioning right now. But yeah. So we were like, wouldn't it be so funny if my character wants to be a real housewife. Wouldn't it be so fun?

if like maybe we like wrote a song about it. And yeah. So and and I think it's so funny because I've tried personally to get into Dubai. I've given it like a couple episodes and it's just not my particular cup of tea for what. I'm going to pick it back up because I want to give it the chance that it deserves. But we were like, wouldn't it be so funny if the only franchise that my character can't get into is Dubai? Right. This is a real sticking point. Yeah, the real sticking point. So we just like kind of wrote, we, we just went for it. And you know what? There are going to be a lot of people that are not going to understand it, but for that, that minuscule amount of gay people in that audience or straight women in that audience or whoever that gets it, they will think that it's the

most genius thing that they've ever heard in their life, hopefully. I think that's something that it's like you really have to embrace that it's like not every joke or every bit or everything is for everyone, but that if there was no, if you tried to make everything broad, then nobody would really latch onto it in as much of a way as they have. Yeah. I mean, it's really what I learned with Titanic. Like, we wrote something so, in my opinion, queer and campy and niche and like early gay YouTube quotes galore. And then I have a 70 year old woman coming up to me. I'll never forget this. She was like, I hate Celine Dion. I hate the movie Titanic. I loved this show. And I was like, girl, why are you here? But it was for her. There's something for everyone. I mean, people walk out. It doesn't matter what age you are or what you know or what you don't know. You love it. And so I'm hoping that we do that again with this show. I mean, if you love Golden Age musicals, you will love this show. Yeah. Like, it's, it's not like, oh my God, it's, it's only a show about Real Housewives. And if I don't watch that, then there's nothing for me. It's, it really is

like, you know, it's, it's pulling from so many different places. Like, there's musical theater references. There's a chorus line send up that just. Yeah. I mean, it really, it sends up, I mean, because that was my life. I grew up on Golden Age musicals and I watched all of those movies as a child, as I'm sure, as you did as well. And, Then I went to musical theater college. So then I was like immersed in like Jason Robert Brown and, you know, and contemporary musical theater. I mean, that was my generation.

And so there are references, glorious references to all of those things in this. But like, yeah, like little hints and Easter eggs here and there for other people as well. One of my faith, I noticed like halfway through the, the opening scene of the show, there's this statue that's in the middle of the stage. Oh, yeah? There's a quote. There's a quote. Oh, you caught that?

I'm so glad. No one has ever caught that. Okay. And it took me a few minutes and I was like, Eagles don't fly with them. I'm like, oh, my God. We had so many different like quotes. Yeah, the quote is it's an Easter egg for anyone looking and anyone who is like, what you must have been like in the first row or the second row.

Yeah. You know, like row Dish. Yeah. It was a, it was a good view. It's small but mighty. That theater is so interesting. Oh, yeah. It's like this, it's like a glorified hallway that somehow is very, has so many seats.

Yeah. Stomp was there for 20 years. A little shop of horrors was there. that was where it made its off-roadway debut. So it's like, it's ripe in history. And I love, it's so funny to me that it is just 10 minutes away from Titanic. So I, I see my face as Celine Dion on a trash can and I walk 10 minutes. And then I see my face on a billboard.

Yeah. For Biggeta Jamprey. So it's great. What is it like having that show, Titanic continuing to run and like, like, you're just like not there every day? It's weird. You know, I'm not going to lie with you to you. It was, it's certainly weird. It's like I always liken it to like Moses sending his or Moses going down the river.

It's like I am I am Moses's mother and I'm just sending my child down the river and hoping that he lands into safe arms. It's when it when it first happened when I first left, I was very, very sad because no one tells you. They always tell you the joy of creating a show, but no one tells you the kind of the grief process of giving your baby up and saying goodbye to it. I mean, it was nearly a decade process and it blew up before my very eyes. And so I was very sad. And so I was looking for a cathartic way to heal, which is why I decided to pick up Big A. Jambri. And then it was just fate that Margot and Sue and John wanted to do it.

So it's been a healing process to be able to write something again and do it with my friends. And yeah, and have people be responding to it the same way that they've been responding to Titanic, for sure. But yeah. I'd imagine that you've had some housewives or Bravo adjacent people either see Titanic or come into contact. Are there any, like, interactions that have stuck with you? Margaret Josephs came. Okay. My, oh, my, the love of my life.

Yeah. Actually, I met Margaret Joseph's. I was flown out as Celine to do the points guy's birthday party, to do Brian's birthday party. And I met Margaret Joseph's. And she is such a huge Celine Dion fan that then she came to Titanic. And then I saw her in the audience. And that was wonderful.

Yeah. And then, of course, we did like a little parody of, um, we did like a parody video, uh, of me walking by to see my poster, a la Luan. Yes. Yes. And then it caught the attention of Luann. And so then, yeah, I hope I hope Luan comes to see it. I hope she does too. I know. I know. I think I'm, I'm hoping these housewives come to see it because they are glorified in the big a jamboree. Yeah. There's also like there's another like scenic design thing with some. Oh yes, yes, yes. Some Easter eggs. Yes. Which again, if you are not a housewives aficionado, you might, it might fly over your head. But if you are, you're going to clock that

immediately. Yeah. This morning, as I was like getting ready for this, I was on Instagram and I saw this video of Bethany on a, on a runway in Paris. And I was like, I was like, oh, should I talk to Marla about this? And then I saw that you would share it on your Instagram story. I posted it because she was walking down with such a peppiner step, but also like glassy-eyed and dead. And I was like, this is exactly what my curtain call looks like. Because I walk out and I'm like doing like a crossball change and I just look dead inside. Yeah. It's a it's a V. Bethany Frankel. Bethany's trajectory has certainly been been interesting to behold. It's been wild.

The amount of chicken and tuna salad that that woman eats on live, I'm like, that is so balzy. Yeah. And then my favorite thing, my favorite Bethany thing, this is so specific, but she did a review of Bad Cinderella on Broadway. And she was like, it's fun. It's serving. See you next Tuesday.

It's a quick read. She was calling a Broadway show a quick read, which to me really got me. I was like, that is iconic. I think it was like two and a half hours long. Yeah, it's not a quick and it's not a book, but go off. Well, there was like bad Cinderella lore because I think, I think it was like Luann. Yeah, they were seated next to each other. I know.

I know. I want to be, I want to be a fly on every single wall. Yeah. Well, it's like, it's a little bit like playing with fire though because then it's like if you get if you get too close. If you get too close. Exactly. I know. I know.

I've always wanted like, because I think the editing of the shows are so genius. Like I want to be an editor, but then I don't all at the same time because I don't want to be too close. Yeah. Like I was watching the Real Houseways of Salt Lake City premiere that came back last week. Literally art. Yeah. Like to me, it is a five-star movie. Actually, our director wanted to, it didn't end up happening. But we have this huge video wall in the theater.

And he was like, wouldn't it be so funny if we watched the premiere. Because everyone in my cast is such a huge housewives fan. It's actually crazy that we cast them all. And we are all like so in sync. We were like, happy premiere day. Like, happy Salt Lake City premiere day. We wanted to watch the premiere on the video wall, which we were. didn't do, but we all watched it and then like we're sending memes all night long.

It was, yeah, it was really edited like within an inch of its life. Oh my God. In the best way, like not a spare second. Like very, very tight. No. There was a meme being like Martin Scorsese on the film on the set of Salt Lake said. That meme really really got me. I was like, it's so true.

It is like I am watching a Martin Scorsese film. Yeah. It really is remarkable. And I think it's like having that show back and seeing everybody like firing on all cylinders. And really like raring to. go coming coming back to a new season like it just rising from the ashes of reality vantis and deliver because I was like how are they going to yeah how are they going to top that because that was the best season finale minus aviva throwing her leg on the table okay which is to me is canon it's like good in a different way

it's good in a different way everyone just like kind of laughing and being appalled at the leg it's burned into my retinas but this season finale was the best season finale yeah of the franchise of any of the housewives franchise in my opinion. Well, it really felt like they kind of, you know, 18 years or whatever into Housewives, they like did something new with the form in a way that's really difficult at this point. It's hard to do something that feels like it hasn't been done before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I thought the exact same thing. Yeah. You know what's so fascinating to me about the show now is that everyone is so hip, hip to it. So there's a lot of stuff and like a lot of drama happening off camera, like on podcasts. Yeah. You know, people are like listening to.

careful what you say. Yeah, careful what you say. But then I'm like, so, okay, someone does a podcast and then someone has to listen to that entire podcast. That is crazy to me. There's just so much you have to be like doing and reading and listening to in order to like be offended by something to then bring it on the show. Yeah. And also there's kind of like a when you think about the actual like calendar placement of it all, that it's like if you're starting to film and you're talking about something that happened and since you last filmed like that podcast could be six months ago. And are you, are you keep? like a notes app that you're just kind of like, okay. Notes app. You're keeping a Torah scroll. Remember to confront Lisa Barlow about what she said. Exactly. I just keep thinking about like how painstaking the process would be to get a scroll created. Yes.

But that was again, high art and such camp for her to pull out. And it was a massive. Yeah. No, that like unfurled. It's a prop. That was like a prop. She like went to. to someone and had that designed.

And it unfurled and it like dropped to the ground in huge font. In like romantic font. I was like, this is brilliant. I fully cackled out loud by myself when I saw that. I do hope that she brought it to like a FedEx office or something just to see the reaction on their faces. Yeah, exactly. Can you print on this? And they're like, she should sell.

Honestly, she should auction that off. I would pay good money for that scroll. Yeah. That to me is a piece of art. Have you ever been, Have you been a BravoCon? I have not, but I am desperate to go. So they do like, they'll usually do some sort of like Bravo Museum type of setup.

Oh my God. That would be in the museum. Put it in the clubhouse. Put it in the clubhouse. And that heart shaped jacket. Looking straight up like cookie monster coming out. Yeah. That $15,000 heart shape jacket.

Put that, put it on my body, honestly. It is. It's, I always have questions when somebody's main personality trait is like fashion. Fashion. I wish it was my personality trait. And then she like went to lunch in that like... I loved that they, again, the editors at work, they clocked that it was like 37 degrees

when she was wearing the like no pants, puffer jacket look. It's like, okay, so fully like not practical and also ridiculous to look at it. And looking like caution, it was like caution tape. It was like... But honestly, she looked fucking fierce. So it's like, I got to hand it to her.

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She goes through and catalogs how much the outfits cost. And she goes, okay, then we have Lisa Barlow's jacket and pants, the jacket for $98, the pants for $472. And she has screenshots of like every piece that she finds. Some of them are like resale. Some of them are full price. I'm like, this is. That's a profession in it of itself.

It's like Mary Cosby's Boostier $9,000. Mary Cosby is what? How much do you? you think that jacket cost? I don't. The one was like, was it the one with like Melania Trump writing on the back? Like not like, yeah, the graffiti all over it. And, and Brownman's like, I have the same one.

Yeah. Oh, my God. L. Oh, L. No, I love all of it. I love all of it. But I couldn't be on the Real Housewives because of the fashion and the fact that those women wear like six inch heels like it is not like it is nothing.

It is crazy. I, um, I went to this Real Houseways of New York like pop up. premiere event thing last night. Last week, last week. And the new housewife, Raquel was there. And the shoes that she was wearing were like fabulous, but scary to me. Scary. I could not. A sensible 2.5 is like as high as I can go. A character shoe. Yeah. A carri. Yes. A Laduca, if you will. That's about as as risky as I get. Yeah. It is great. Just the amount of like attention and like effort that goes into every single appearance. And the glam. Oh my God. The glam squad and all that kind of kind of.

stuff. Yeah. I mean, I wish. I wish I could. Well, maybe one day. I feel like, I still have time. It's like you could have been a real housewife in like 2010 when it was like, oh, totally. You put on like a blouse. Exactly. Exactly. God, the fashion has evolved. Oh, my gosh. But I love being, I love being there from the getco. You know what I mean? And loving them from season one and loving them now. It's been, it's like a, it's kind of rewarding. Like when you've sunk that many hours into something. Yeah. And it's like, hey, now, you know, now Jennifer Lawrence is going to be in a movie about real housewives. I really feel like it's become like a cultural mainstay. And I'm hoping that little girls, little 14 year old girls from Michigan will one day

be singing some of the songs from Big a Jimberie, which are Housewives coded at the Jimmy Awards. That is my real goal. You're hoping not just not just one. We need like three Stacey's. Yeah, the belt off. Yes. They do a little medley. They do a medley. And they're right next to it. Big A jambri. And here is. Early Modern Millie Who. Yes. The early modern Millie Who. Exactly.

That's what I think of all the time as we stumble along. Oh my God. The sequel. I love, so you mentioned like that everybody in the cast is like a housewives. Oh my God. What is it like for you when you've been busy in rehearsals? You're in preview still. Is it like, oh, I come home at the end of the night and I turn this on to like come down?

Or how do you kind of use reality TV along with your actual profession? It is my. It is my escape. It is the thing that I fall asleep to. And then I'll wake up. And the next night, I'll watch it again and I fall asleep to it. No, I mean, it's everything. It's my escape.

So my roommate and I will watch, we'll watch it. We'll watch like an episode or two before we go to bed. Yeah, it's crazy. And then the entire cast walks around. I don't know why, but we're really into the Beverly Hills fight of Beast. How dare you? So we keep walking around being on. like, beast, how dare. The husband, don't you dare talk about my husband when we keep like

pretending to nearly choke each other? That's, that's what we've been walking around doing because we've all lost our mind. Have a piece of bread. Yeah, have a piece of bread. Yes. Oh, my God. That is, we were quoting that left and right. You know, so I'm going to Amsterdam in a couple weeks. And apparently the restaurant where that happened. You got to go. It's, it closed. And then now it's some, it's something else now. But somebody told me they were like, oh, like, don't worry. Like, you can still see like where Kyle like ran out. Oh, okay. Yes. And I'm like, oh, you know. Oh my God. Yeah, we, I don't know why we've been running around.

All of us. Beast, how dare you? Every single person in the cast. Well, I think that was, I mean, you were talking about kind of the theatricality of Housewives and how it, like, translates so well. But, like, I feel like that is kind of like peak. That is peak. Eileen was kind of like the RIP, Eileen.

Like, come back. I miss her. But yeah, I think like that kind of era of Housewives, maybe before everybody was like so online and like so on social media. Before so on. A little bit more like everybody was showing up to perform. And now it's a little bit more like we know what we're doing. Yeah, I know.

They've gotten hip to the scene. But I'm still like 100% there for it. Also, I love how everyone is becoming late in life lesbian or late in life queer. Like that to me is like just I eat, I'm eating that with a spoon. Yeah. So yeah, I just feel like everyone, they're elevating. They're like, well, we're online. And if we can't, we can't fight like this anymore, then we'll be gay for a little bit.

Who knows? I love it. Speaking of late in life lesbians, New York is coming back soon, Jenna Lyons. Oh, Jenna Lyons. I'm obsessed. The fashion sense, I am obsessed. I saw her walking down the street in Soho the other day. And I was like, should I, like, reach out and be like, I'm a huge fan.

And I was like, no, you can't do that, Marilla. That's crazy. I feel like Jenna Lyons is one of the housewives that I would be less likely to say something to on the street. Yes. Because she's like 6'5 and elegant and wearing a trench coat and looking like she's in the matrix. Yeah.

Are you, so where do you kind of fall on the new New York experiment? I mean, it's funny. I like it. I like it, but I also am, I'm such a fan of old Bravo as well, but I feel like they had to do it. Yeah. I feel like it was really smart. And then I watch all the legacy trips. Like I eat that with a spoon as well. So I will take any, like inject, I'm a drug addict for the housewives. Inject it in my veins. I love all of it. And I will take anything that they want to give me. Yeah, I think that's like, that's like, that's like, that's like, that's like, if they put it in front of me, I'm going to watch it. Yeah, I'm going to watch it and I'm probably going to like it.

So I liked it. It was great. I'm excited to see the second season. I love Bryn. Yeah. Yeah. I'm hoping that they can kind of like go a little deeper as a group this season because I feel like last, last year it was very like, we're kind of hanging out for the first time.

We're kind of hanging out. Yeah, yeah. The drama didn't really run that deep. Right. They were like dipping their. toes into being annoyed with each other. Right. Exactly. We're going to need like a little more substance here. Rather than just Jenna showing up late or early because she wanted to tan or something. I don't know. And she didn't want to like stay in the, in Aaron's house. Oh, right, right, right, right, right. I don't play. I mean,

honestly, I would want to stay by myself too. Yeah. I mean, it's like if I have a house that's 10 minutes Yeah, exactly. I'm just going to go there and sleep there. And then I'll come back in the morning and it's NBD. No, I think I I've excited for this season. We have a lot of housewives coming back this fall. which is. I know. I'm so excited. When did you become like a stand? I,

okay, so my, I was like a little bit of a late bloomer, but the first one I watched was New York, maybe like eight years ago, ish. So like still when it was, you know,

kind of heyday vibes, but then the pandemic really was like, the pandemic. Bad for me. The pandemic was bad for me too. That's when I got into Jersey. Mm-hmm. Oh my God.

But I did it so ass backwards. I started with season six. I was like, that'll be good. But then there's, so much drama before that. So I was like, okay, I'll go to season four. So I went six, four, five, eight, one, two, three. Like, I skipped all over. Okay. In order to get the fix. This is, this is like how I feel listening to people talk about Star Wars.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So there's like the original chronology, but then you can watch them in like this order and then there's the extended cuts. I'm like, uh, that's literally me with, with New Jersey. But New Jersey was pandemic for me. Yeah. I think the pandemic was also when I did a lot of the ancillary stuff like, okay, Southern Charm, Summer House, like all of that. Summer House, ugh, I'm obsessed with. Southern Charm I need to get into. That whole cast is telling me, like, oh my God, Marla, Southern Charm is where it's at. It's even better than Summer House. And I was like, really? Because I love Summer House. Southern Charm has a little more of like a saga vibe to it. Like there's- We love a saga. We love a saga. But there are some like really like tough

relationships to watch. I know. So I hear. Well, there's crossover in, Summer House too. So now I feel like I have to watch Southern Tour. I think I think it's worth it. There was a couple seasons ago, like after the pandemic, there was kind of a vibe where it was like, why are we, like, what are we still doing here with these people? But then the last couple seasons, they've kind of like kicked it back up like Vandre Pump. It's like, okay, like, what's going on with Vander Pump? And then the last two seasons exploded. It's kind of scary like the way that they can kind of like read the tea leaves and then kick it up a notch. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what they're doing. They're reading the tea. We gotta do something quick.

But they don't really do anything. It's just like something happens. And somehow it also sustains like the next couple seasons of the show. It's crazy. Again, art. It is literally art. It's literally art. And I mean, it's, it's a, it's a passion.

It is a passion. Oh my God. Look at us like talking about it. People that just stumble along this podcast are going to be like, what on earth? Thank God you have such a huge following. I know. The people will, they get it. They get it.

The people listening to this. I mean, it is such a community. I feel like it's, it's fun to hear that the cast of big gay jamboree, like, Oh, my God. Has that kind of in common that it's not just like, oh, we like say the jokes and then go home. No, no. We say the jokes. We send the memes.

We, yeah, repeated to each other in tech on stage. Yeah. We are all Looney Tunes. Yeah. No, it's great. And you can tell on stage. I mean, everybody, it's such a great cast, such a great ensemble. It's such, it's the best.

It's the funniest group of people I have ever worked with. Yeah. Everyone is a star and so sweet. And there are no ego. It's just like, it's such a dream come true. I can't believe I can't believe I've been given an opportunity to do it again and to do it in a way that, like, as you said, that's a little bit elevated. There's, you know, it's just wonderful. I'm so, so thrilled.

Yeah. And I know, I mean, I think anybody who saw Titanic is like, okay, like, got to go see the new one, kind of. Like, it feels like, it feels like it's, you know, a moment. People are excited for it. They are. It's been really great. Some people are like, I can't bring my mom to this one. It's a little dirtier than the last one, but I still love it.

I'll be back. And I'm like, okay, great. Yeah, I don't know if I bring my, I think my mom would be more confused than offended. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what? There was somebody, there was an eight year old there the other day being like, can I get your autograph? And I was like, oh, my God, amazing. She's like, we love Titanic too.

And I was like, okay, great. Love it. We love to see it. Come on, come all. Yeah, exactly. That's amazing. Well, congratulations on everything. Thank you.

And I can't wait for everybody to check out Big Gay Jamboree, which is, now at the Orphium Theater. Now playing. Come see it. Amazing. Marla, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Yay. Thanks everyone for listening. Don't forget to rate review and follow the show. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All podcast is produced by Dylan Hafer and Bell Roman. Editing by Bell Roman. Social media by Dylan Hafer and Candice Maniga.

Guest booking by Ali Friedlander. VP of Podcast is Chris Allen. And be sure to follow Bravo by Betches. Own it all. Pay off your home. Travel for Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly, big board buck slot machine by aristocrat gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package.

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