Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Lea Michele on ‘Chess,’ Motherhood and a Broadway Homecoming

Episode Date: March 22, 2026

Emmy-nominated actress and singer Lea Michele has spent more than 30 years performing, from her Broadway debut in Les Misérables at the Imperial Theatre when she was just 8-years-old to starring in hits like Spring Awakening, Glee, Funny Girl and Scream Queens. Michele sits down with Willie Geist backstage at the Imperial Theatre to discuss her full-circle return to the theater where it all began, how Chess has brought joy and creative spark back to her life, and why feeling fulfilled as a mother and wife has made this chapter feel especially meaningful. Plus, she steps back into the dressing room she used during Les Misérables and reflects on the confidence that first led her from an open call in Englewood, New Jersey, to the Broadway stage. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Got a great conversation for you this week with Leah Michelle. Leah is currently starring in the Broadway musical Chess at the Imperial Theater in New York City. It's the very same theater where she got her start on Broadway. She will tell you the story in our interview, but she was growing up. Normal kid, no Broadway dreams, no dreams of stardom in New Jersey. Jersey, Bronx-born, Jersey raised, and joined her friend at an audition for Le Miserab when she was eight years old. She sang a song from Phantom of the Opera, just kind of off the cuff and got the part. So by eight years old, she's in Le Miz, and a Broadway career is born. The rest of the world got to know her in Glee, of course, where she starred for six seasons as Rachel Berry, beginning in 2009. So that was, as much as people know her from that, that was kind of an interruption almost. of her Broadway career. So she was doing Broadway, was in a show called Spring Awakening,

which was a big hit, won a bunch of Tonys. She starred in that with Jonathan Groff, great Broadway and television actor. He was the King in Hamilton. You might remember, good friend of hers as well. You'll hear his name in our conversation. So she'd done all that on Broadway. And then Ryan Murphy, who was developing a show for Fox

about a Glee Club, sought her out and asked her to come be on TV. There's a crazy story about her audition. she's okay, but there was a car wreck on the way to the audition. She still did the audition. She'll tell you that story. And then returned to Broadway after her run on Glee. She came back in Funny Girl as Fannie Bryce and got to play the role played by one of her heroes. She speaks really movingly about Barbara Streisand and what she has meant to her over the years. So, so much to talk about. And just so you can kind of picture it, we do the interview on stage at the Imperial Theater. Again, that's where she started in Les Mis when she was eight and now she's back there in this show chess.

A lot of people talking about her name for a possible Tony Award for what she's doing. It's about chess. She'll explain the plot a little bit, but basically it takes place to the Cold War surrounding a chess match between an American and a Soviet grandmaster of chess and all the politics and all the drama and some of the comedy wrapped up and all that. So we are sitting on the stage doing the interview and I saw it the night before our interview and as you'll hear, she's said she saw me too, which I did not expect. She connects with the crowd. Let's put it that way. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a great conversation with Leah Michelle right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks so much for doing this, Leah. I'm so happy to see you. Nice to see you. I have loved hearing you even as we sat down talk about what this room means to you. I know. We've already talked about so much.

I know. Let's start over. Thank you for having me. No, but I mean, the fact that you're doing this incredible show on this state, more than 30 years after you first appeared on this stage as a little girl in Le Miz. Yeah. What does this room mean to you? Everything. It means everything to me. This is where it all began. This is where I fell in love with what I have now been doing for over 30 years, as you said.

I made my Broadway debut on this stage when I was eight years old in 1995. I had never sung before. I had never performed before professionally or anywhere really, literally, literally never anywhere. And I went on an open call in Englewood, New Jersey for Les Mis with a friend of mine. I'd seen two or three Broadway shows prior. And I auditioned for Les Mis and two weeks later, I sat right in that audience in that seat right there, and I made my Broadway debut. And, you know, you asked me before, like, what do you remember from that time? Like, I remember everything. And I loved it so much. I remember saying to my parents after my first performance, I want to do this for the rest of my life. Don't ever tell me to stop. Don't ever let me stop. And they were like, okay, we will support you as long as

is you're happy. And I think that the best part of all of it is that I feel the exact same amount of joy and love now in this show that I did in Le Miz in 1995. I feel, I'm sorry, I know this is like so cheesy to say, but I feel like a kid again. I feel like somewhere along the way and over the years, like the joy sort of comes and goes and as an artist, you feel sometimes fulfilled and other times not, and you see the joy. And, you know, it does. The spark sort of comes and goes and the light goes in and out. But I feel so back in that space of joy and creativity and extreme love for what I do. And I'm the most grateful for that is to have that feeling back. and to, I don't know, if it's this theater or if it's this show or if it's the combination

that has brought it back for me. But I wake up every morning and I'm so excited to come here every single day. I've heard you say this is the happiest I've ever been in my professional life, which is saying a lot because you've done a lot. What do you think it is? Is it this group of people that you're working with? Is it the material? Is it being back on Broadway? What do you think is a combination, I guess, of all those? It's definitely a combination. of all of those things. But I, the first thing that came to me is just the fact that I feel so fulfilled as a mother and as a wife. I think that's always something that I've wanted my entire life was to be a mom and to be married. And, you know, I have the most amazing husband and two, you know, beautiful

children. And so the fact that that part of my life feels so full and grounded, and full of joy to then be able to go and do what I love and to have the space where I work be filled with such support, such creativity, and such joy. It's an amazing combination that putting those two things together has made me feel so incredibly fulfilled. It is an extraordinary show. Thank you. I sat exactly where you just pointed. I think yesterday. I saw you. Did you? Did you? I see everybody. I didn't realize you can see out there. I do. I like to really connect and I really like to, yeah, I like to just make connections and especially

the words that I'm singing in a lot of the songs, but in nobody's side in particular. And the words that I'm saying and the energy behind it, I really feel like I have to look everyone in the eye and in the face. And maybe you'll resonate with what I'm saying or not, but you'll just. you know, feel what I'm feeling. And so yeah, so the other day I was looking, I saw Jane Lynch. And I texted her. I was like, you're here? She's like, how do you do that? But even when I was in Les Mis at eight years old, my mother always used to call me Eagle Eye because I could find them anywhere in the theater. It's a connection. But yes, I saw you. That's so funny because I thought

maybe that I saw you too, but I thought, what a narcissist to think. The star of the show is singing to you and it turns out you were. I saw you. But the show, it's, I mean, there's so much In it, there's history, there's comedy, there's drama, obviously, all of it. What was it about this story and this music and this book and all of it that drew you back to Broadway? Because people were saying, okay, what's her next move after, you know, you did so well in your last time out and Funny Girl? What was it about this show? Well, Funny Girl was extraordinary, and I wanted to play Fannie Rice for as long as I could remember. And there was something a little daunting about the things.

thought of, will I ever find anything that, you know, would make me feel the way that Fannie Bryce did? It was just so sort of impossible to think that I would be able to find another role that I would feel as inspired and fulfilled by. But during Funny Girl, Michael Mayer, who I'd met originally at Spring Awakening when I was 14 years old, we then collaborated again on Funny Girl, and he called me and said that he was working on chess. And I didn't really know anything about Chess, I had heard the song Heaven Help My Heart, which I sing every night. But that was really it. And Michael called me. It was very late at night after, you know, maybe a two-show day. It was probably like 11.30. And I'm at home in my apartment. Everyone else is sleeping. And he said, listen to this song. And if this song

resonates with you, I think you'll want to do this show. And it was Adina Mansell singing Nobody's Side from the London concert version of Chess that they did. I think in 2016 it was. And he knows me. He knows me very well. Because I just became addicted to it. I could have said yes, having just listened to that song. But then I read the script, which Danny Strong has created such a wonderful, you know,

version and retelling of this story. and the minute, it was the first scene between Florence and Freddie that I just felt was so complex and complicated and messy. And I immediately saw her strength combined with her vulnerability. And I said, I want to play this woman. And that's the thing, she's a woman. This is the first real adult that I've ever played before. You know, even in Funny Girl, I start out. in the show in pigtails and I think she's maybe 16 when the show first starts and then it ends where she's married and is a mother. But I wanted to play this character that just felt so mature, but there's such a complexity to her in her history and the trauma that she's been through

and these relationships that she's now emmeshed in. And there's also something that I find so interesting where I feel as though I've always had something to kind of use as a shield in my performances. Often that's with comedy or my physical comedy and stuff like that. But she doesn't have that. And we don't have a lot of anything to hide behind on this stage. We don't have a set. We're not doing multiple costume changes. So it's very raw and it's very vulnerable. And I felt that that was a challenge. So between the unbelievable challenge of what this score is, which is a whole other conversation, I felt that she would really challenge me. And I love her and I am obsessed with her. And I can't wait to get up every day. I can't wait to get on this stage and be Florence and to feel that

strength and that confidence. And she's living in this world of men. And she's living in this world of men and what does that mean? And I just love it. You said something a minute ago and we were talking in our conversation that will be longer than the interview itself. But you said this is, you know, work always feels like work, for all of us, even those of us who love our jobs, it's work, you wake up, and you were saying like you wake up in the morning, you cannot wait to get to this theater. Yeah, I mean, look, some days are harder than others. And especially some days if you're not feeling well and what that means vocally for you. But I, always used to say to Jonathan, like, you mean you like my friend Jonathan Groff. You always,

you know, you mean you're like, you could do it again? You finish a show at 10 and if I said you had to do it again, could you do it again? He's always like, yeah. It's hard leaving my kids. Like, that's the hardest part. You know, I think that the balance of that and figuring that out. And sometimes there's, you know, tears and some days are easier than others. But I think what I mean by that more is I don't, as challenging as the show is, I don't wake up and feel like I'm looking at a mountain that I have to climb. I feel like I'm, if it is a mountain, then I'm like ready to go. I feel ready to attack it. And I'm not afraid. You know, if I'm not always like so super happy, which more often than not I am, but I don't feel like I have any fear. And that's definitely

something I've battled and I've struggled with throughout my life is having, you know, anxiety or stage fright, which I still, you know, oh my gosh, yeah, all the time. And I just, I live with it now. And there are nights where I don't feel it at all, and those nights are incredible. And then there are nights where I feel it. And I'm just like, okay, this is just a part of me now. I'm not going to let it really control me. So I think for me, I feel like there's just such growth and joy in the fact that when I wake up, I'm not, the first thing I don't think is that I'm afraid. I think that I'm really excited and that I just can't wait to do it. What does it feel like to walk out? I think you come out this way, right? Your first appearance on stage. A couple minutes in, your name is on the marquee. A lot of

people are here to see you when you get the reception you get when you walk out. What does that feel like? It's really wonderful. Yeah, they've structured it in a way that we all get a really wonderful acknowledgement when we come on. And I love that that is shared not only for myself, but for so many of the other cast members, for Nick and Aaron and Bradley and Hannah, it's a really special thing that Michael has done. And I think as performers, it's really nice to kind of come out and, you know, have that moment and then say, okay, now we're going to put on a show for you. But, you know, I know that I've wanted to come back to the stage for such a long time and returning to Funny Girl was so wonderful. And being back now, I think that people were really excited about me

returning, but I was also so excited. So I'm happy to stand up there and be like, I'm just as excited to do this right now. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Leah Michelle right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Leah Michelle. Well, you were talking about when you've started here, so now going back to when you're eight years old and Les Mis, that you truly had no training, nothing.

And I think people go, come on. But going back and reading through your story, you're growing up across the river in Tennessee. Shout out to Brooklyn County. Born in the Bronx. Born in the Bronx. Born in the Bronx. Growing up in Jersey after you, you're going up in New Jersey.

after you move from the Bronx. And you hear about this audition, basically. Your mom's a nurse. Your dad owns a deli. It's not like there's... These aren't like stage parents pushing out, you know? So where did that confidence come from? And an eight-year-old to say, I'm going to go audition for Les Mis.

I know. I think that a lot of it has to do with, like, Rachel Berry. I think people often confuse me with her. And there are certainly similarities there. But I think that people think I came out. of the womb singing Barbara Streisand and, you know, demanding, putting gold stars on everything and, you know, just waiting for my moment. And that was not the case. I grew up really loving like Jim Carrey and like comedy. And I wanted to be funny. And that was definitely something

that I liked. I was, I wouldn't say I was the most outgoing kid, but I certainly. wasn't sitting quiet in the corner. But I wasn't performing for my family. I wasn't doing any of that. And it was because of a friend of mine, Chloe, who her family would take me to go and see Broadway shows. And I saw one or two. And I didn't feel the connection. I didn't really know what I was seeing. It didn't connect. And then I saw the Phantom of the opera. And that's when it just something shifted. I asked for my mom to buy me the CD and I sat in my room and I listened to it over and over again. And then there was the open call for Les Mis in our hometown a few weeks later. And I didn't even want to go. My friend's father had a heart attack the night before and she was going to audition. And then her mother said to my mom, can you please

take her on the audition? And then I said, well, I'm going to go too. And I don't know where that came from. But I had the most wonderful upbringing with the two most amazing parents that had a home that was filled with such joy. And I grew up with a very big Italian family that a lot of confidence underneath a very small roof of about 50 Italian people sitting around one table. You know, no one was shy. Everyone talked really loud and with their hands. And even my father's, you know, side of the family who's Sephardic. Also very, you know, vibrant households where we grew up feeling like we could be ourselves. And that's the greatest gift any parent can give their child. So I think that's where the confidence came. I was like, I'm from the Bronx. I can do anything.

Like, that's how my parents raised me. So it wasn't like, I'm the best singer in this room. I'm going to get this part. It was, I can do this. And that's what my parents taught me. And so I went in the room. I sang Angel of Music, both Christine and Meg's parts. It was a duet that I just made into one. Wow. Bold. It was like, where in the world have you been hiding? And then Christine, you must have been dreaming.

I was doing both parts. Oh, my gosh. Some sort of split personality performance. They were probably like, who is this can? No sheet music, no headshot, nothing. They asked me what my name was. And I said, Leah Michelle, because that was one thing. I was always a little insecure of my last name, which is Sarfadi.

That's my, you know, real last name. And I was, you know, everyone always growing up had a bad nickname that they would say. And so I quickly just said, Leah Michelle. And that's how it stuck. And yeah. And then when I left the room, the casting agent went up to my mom. And they're like, we're going to call you in a few weeks. we want to see her again. And my mom was like, okay. And when we left, I was like, I think I'm

going to get this. And she was like, things like that don't happen to people like us. And and it did. And here we are. And I brought my children here the other day. My son was, he's a little like second show. You know, he was around for funny girl. And my daughter was just running around here with this confidence that I was like, okay, I see you. But I looked at my mom. And my mom was like, I can't believe I'm here with your children. And I used to walk you through that door. You know, my son is going to be six, so it's only two years younger than I was. So it's a real incredible moment for my family. And I'm just so grateful for my mom and dad. That's beautiful. I love, too, it seems to me that you did your best along with your parents

to keep your life as normal as you could. You go to the high school in your town. Yeah. You got into college. Considered whether you did you. that was the right move. So you were, you know, you're on Broadway. That's part not normal for a kid, but you tried to like be a teenager, right? In some ways. They tried. And, you know, even on like two show days, I would, that would be the one day that I would miss school. So I would miss school on Wednesdays. But, you know, like on a Thursday, I was in school in the morning and then doing a show at night. And my friends at school, they understood. Like, there was an okay level of respect.

But it wasn't the easiest, but they really, you know, tried. And when I finished, I did Le Miz, and then I did a show called Rack Time, which was an amazing show to have been a part of, the original cast of that show, one of the greatest, greatest musicals to ever. Which is back. Yeah. After that, I was like, I just want to be a normal kid. And I just want to be in school and, you know, be on the volleyball team and be on the debate team.

And then Spring Awakening came along. So, you know, but I did have really wonderful pockets of, you know, having a normal high school experience that I'm super grateful for. I think a lot, you know, normal sort of left the building when I went to California and when I started working on Glee. That's when, you know, everything really changed. Yeah. But spring awakening, you were how old when you started that? So I did the original workshop of Spring Awakening when I was 14 years old. 14. Okay. And then it got to Broadway by the time I was 19. So from 14 to 19, I did all of the

workshops, right. Um, different casts, different, you know, workings of the show for all of those years. And then we got our, you know, Broadway stage in 2006. Jonathan Graff comes into your life. The great. Uncle Jonathan. People if you don't know, look them up. He's the king in Hamilton among many other things. So Spring Awakening is a launch. And then you. mentioned, then glee comes along. Yeah. Which is something completely different in some ways, although the show obviously felt familiar

to you based on the material, but going to L.A. and doing television. Yeah. Was that like a whole new kind of uncomfortable for you? Or did it feel like a good fit? I sort of dove into it the same way like I did with this. Like, I had no reason to be confident. I had zero experience. I'd never been on television before in my life.

But I was just like, no, I'm going to do this. I'm going to play Rachel Berry. And something in me in the same way that it did when I was eight years old was just like, you're meant to be here. You can do this. And that sort of confidence in me led the way. I remember Ryan Murphy on the first day of filming. I didn't know where to look. I didn't know where to stand. I didn't know what to stand. I didn't know what to do. And he was like, you would have thought that you've been doing this for years. And that was another wild story that that was. wasn't even supposed to happen. I was out there to do Les Mis at the Hollywood Bowl. I'd always wanted to play up in Neen. So that's why I went out to L.A. And then Ryan had seen Spring Awakening, and he wrote Glee for myself and Jonathan. I didn't know that. Jonathan kept telling me, he's writing us this show for the two of us. And I was like, that is never going to happen.

I could never get cast in TV my whole life. I was always told that I looked to ethnic and, you know, how many times I was told to get a nose job. And so I just figured that that was never going to work out for me. And then, you know, I came out to L.A. for Les, and I auditioned for Glee, not knowing I was the only person they were seeing for the part, got into a car crash on the way. Is that a true story? That is such a true story that even I can't believe it happened. That you actually walked into your audition with, like, glass in your hair and blood? Yeah, I was turning.

I don't mean to laugh, but that's wild. There was a closed lane on the right side, so I was making a right turn from the center lane, but someone snuck into that right lane and hit me. And my car spun. And the car stopped, and I was like, do I pretend like I'm dead? Like, I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe this happened. Like, what do I do?

And then I was like, well, if I'm dead, I can't. I'll just ship for Glee, so I revived myself. And I ran up to the security gate and I was like, I have to go. Like, I have to get this job. They're like, lady. This is the part where the similarities to Rachel Berry start to. This is where it starts to kick it. And I did.

And I came inside and I pulled chunks of glass out of my hair and wiped. They were like, you can go home. And I was like, I am not going home. What did they say? Was Ryan like, hey, what am I looking at here? I was talking to more of like the casting directors. By the time I got into the room to see Ryan, it was like pretend like none of this happened and do your job. That's wild. Yeah. And then I, they told me in the room that I got the part. Wow. Wow. Which was unbelievable. And you knew Ryan Murphy, it's going to be good. The material was good. The music was good. But you couldn't. I've anticipated what it became.

No. Spring Awakening was a was if I, if there could have been any preparation for glee, spring away. Spring Awakening. was the best you could have asked for because it was similar in the sense of like this thing that I cared so much about that I wasn't sure if people would understand that then became in its own right a real Broadway phenomenon. Glee was sort of the I mean 50 billion times what that was but still we did not ever think it would become what it did. And how did you deal with the side of from your point of view it's I want to be an artist. I like doing this. Then the world says, oh, we get to know everything about you now. And we get to have people chase you around and take pictures of you, know who you're dating and all that stuff. How did you handle that?

Luckily, I think like, so right during, I remember in the middle of glee, we were all like, oh, there's this thing called Instagram and there's this thing called Twitter. It was all just starting. Right. So, but there was like one little window right at the beginning when we first started where, of course, I learned very quickly, like, what paparazzi was. Like, that was not a big part of my world here in New York. So that was a very quick education. And then social media started to come about more. And so, but it was this really interesting time where it's at such a peak right now. But we came, like, maybe like right in a little bit of a sweet spot. But of course, course still, there was so many eyes on us, a real obsession with who we were and outside of the show. And we were so young, like really very young. I didn't even know that until now I'm going to be 40. And I think about that 22-year-old girl who went out to L.A. I said goodbye to my parents. I never planned on even staying there. You know, New Yorker through and through. I, I, And then 13 years later, you know, I was still there. So it was a real change that I never expected. I'm so grateful for. But it's funny the way the universe works that I've found my way back. I never plan to leave theater. And to be back here now, though, having taken all of those life experiences with me, and I wouldn't change, you know, I wouldn't take any of them back. But I'm

really so happy to be home. I really am. How did your parents cope with what was happening in your life with Glee when they were watching their daughter be on the cover of magazines and people talking about and all that kind of stuff? Did they help keep you grounded? Yeah, I think that my parents really kind of, we've always tried to keep our world very small. Yeah. They protect me a lot as well. Like they never let sort of if there was anyone in our world feeling sort of the, fanatical or that like hyper energy like they really kind of calm that and I could always go home and I did and I would just be sitting at the same table with my family in the Bronx like and that's what I would do I would go home as much as I could our life here never changed and so I tried to

keep myself as rooted to my family as I could and my parents did an amazing job of doing their absolute best to make me feel like that might have been happening there. But when we were together and when we were home, like, that was always the same. So I really never, you know, my mom always used to say, like, I would go to the, we performed at the Staples Center, which is like one of the largest arenas in the world doing Glee. And then we came home and my mom and I were just like alone in my house in California. And she was like, it's a real shift. Like, how are you feeling right now? It's like, I'm okay, but if I didn't have you to talk to right now, I might not be okay. But to be able to just be like, wow, that's kind of crazy, right?

That I just did that. But now we're home, and it's like quiet. And it's a lot of things like that that I'm so grateful to have had the people that I had to really kind of like latch on to to help just make me remember that like everything is okay and who I really am and having great people that I could trust around me. Stick around for more of my conversation with Leah Michelle right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Leah Michelle. We've kind of talked around funny girl, but funny girl, come on.

I mean, and there is that thread from Glee where there's a storyline for Rachel, right? She comes to New York. Yeah. When you heard that was even a possibility, what did you think? Well, it all started during Spring Awakening. Michael Mayer was the first person to tell me to watch Funny Girl. Because I was experiencing my first sort of heartbreaks during Spring Awakening of, you know, having boyfriends and having my heartbroken and trying to sort of manage and balance what I wanted to do professionally, but also really wanting love and having it not working out and picking the wrong people. And Michael was like, you need to watch Funny Girl. And I went home and I bought those little like water crackers from the market. Oh, yeah.

And little cream cheese and champagne. Oh, wow. And grapes. And I sat in my living room and I started Funny Girl. And it ended and I started it right over again from the beginning. And I just was like. And I loved Barbara growing up and my mother always had Barbara Stry. I had music playing.

And I didn't know her that well, but when I was first told to get a nose job at 15 years old, which is very sad that anyone would ever, I mean, everyone should make whatever choice they want to make, but to be told by someone else what you should do to your body at such a young age, was very hard. And luckily, my, you know, parents helped to sort of shut out those voices and opinions for me. But my mom always said, Barbara Streisand never got a nose job and you're not getting a knows job. So I heard her name a lot growing up. And then I saw a funny girl. And I was like, oh, this is, this is my everything. It's my favorite movie. It's my favorite music. She is my favorite.

It's all of that. And then I started doing, you know, Glee and I sang, Don't Ran on my parade. And, you know, I remember, like, not a lot of the kids, like, people really knew, like, even Corey was like, what is who is that? Is she your favorite? Like, you love, you like her? I'm. I was like, do I like her? Let me tell you about Barbara Streisand. Let me tell you about Funny Girl. And my version of Don't Run on My Parade went to like number three on the charts. Yeah. And people were like learning about Funny Girl and learning about these songs that, you know, who may not have known about it. And I got to, you know, do more of her songs from the movie.

So then around 2014, I think it was, Ryan Murphy had the rights, and he wanted to bring it to Broadway. But I was coming off of, you know, one of the most challenging years of my life. And I would have had to fit it in within the Glee schedule, which was unbelievably challenging. And I was playing Fannie a lot on Glee. I mean, we were basically, I had one season where I was in Funny Girl on Broadway. So it didn't feel like it was the right time for multiple reasons. And then it was around now we're into 20, I don't know, 19, I think it was. And I spoke to Michael Mayer and he was bringing it to Broadway. And we talked about it for a little while, but I really wanted to have a baby. And I got pregnant and I was so excited. It had, you know, took me a while to get pregnant. So when I did, I was so happy. And I figured, okay, that's, that's it. That's the story of Funny Girl for me.

I'm so happy that it's going to be on Broadway, that people are going to get to hear the music. And I was very comfortable with the story ending right there. And in 2020, my husband and I moved back to New York because during the pandemic, we felt so isolated from our families who are both here on the East Coast. So we decided to move back home. Both of our families were very happy, but no one was happy. But no one was happier than my husband because he's from Philly and he didn't want to be in California. He just went there for me.

And I didn't really know what was ahead for me. I really didn't know, you know, where my career would take me next. I was just so happy to be married and to have our son. I had a super traumatic pregnancy. So the fact that we had a healthy baby was like really all I cared about. And then Michael called and asked if I would consider a coming. and joining the company. And I don't know, again, how or what made me think I could do it.

I was, you know, maybe only a year postpartum. And I hadn't done Broadway in over 15 years. But I said yes. And I jumped right into it. I think I rehearsed for six weeks. And then I came on stage as Fannie. And it's just like, So crazy. I just was so grateful to be back to play that part. Yeah. And people were so happy to see you in that role.

You were so embraced by audiences by Broadway. You were back on Broadway. I mean, that had to feel amazing because it did feel like a leap for you. You weren't sure how it was going to go, maybe. I knew that it was super important for me to make sure that the experience was, I couldn't just knock it out of the park as Fannie. It meant so much more than that. I needed to make sure that it was a joyful experience 360 onstage, backstage for my family. I wanted to make sure that it was everything that I thought and dreamed it could be in my mind. And so, that was very important to me. But yeah, I mean, I just, everything that I thought that it could be in my mind of all the years of dreaming of what I could do if I was given the chance to play fanny,

I felt like I achieved that, and I'm very grateful. I mean, I learned how to tap, and I'm a terrible dancer. And the next thing you know, I was tapping. You convinced us. You like that? Does Barbara know the way you feel about her? I mean, I don't know if she knows 100%, but I believe she knows that I admire her deeply.

And when I was doing Funny Girl, my dresser came to me. I was sitting on my couch, and she handed me a gold envelope, like Willy Wonka style. And she handed me this envelope, and she just looked at me. And I don't know how or why, like, I'm getting the chills. And I just looked at her and I was like, is this what I think it is? I don't even know what made me even think in what world it could be what I was thinking it was.

And she just was like, it is. And I opened it. And it was a letter from Barber. Oh my God. No, I got the chills. And it just said, it said it feels good to have your dreams come true, doesn't it? Love Barbara. And it was so true because it did. It felt so good. I keep it in my safe now, next to the first haircut that my son got. I have a very creepy little envelope of his hair. And a note from Barbara Strikes End.

And a note from Barber Strikes. Yeah, casual stuff. That's what it is. Honestly, that's in there. How amazing, though, to have the person you dreamed of as a child. That was all I needed. Everyone kept being like, is she going to come? Is she going to come?

And I was just like, that is for her to, you know, I was so grateful to have this support from afar. I felt that she, I felt that she approved of what I was doing. I knew I was doing the version of Funny Girl that she created, that was from her core. I made it my own, but I wanted to honor the performance that I saw. And so I hope that she knew that and appreciated or approved of that at all. I have a feeling she did. I have a feeling she did. You have a show in a few hours, so I'm not going to make you use your voice anymore.

Thank you so much. for doing this. Congratulations on this triumph. Thank you. You're getting so much love for it. I appreciate it. I suspect there's more love coming. Thank you so much. Right? This is Wood, right? I think so. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. After our sit-down conversation on stage at the Imperial Theater, Leah gave me a little backstage tour, shown me around the wings and up into her dressing room and the dressing room she used back when she was in Les Mis, all those years ago. I did the Spring Awakening reunion here. We did a 15-year concert reunion of Spring Awakening also here on this stage. This really is home. I know. So I found a picture of me

from 1995 when I was in Les Mis. And it was me. And right behind me was a chess playbill. And so I was like, oh my God, how crazy that here's this photo of me from when I was in Les Mis. And yet, Chess was right there behind me. But I didn't know where the photo was taken. I didn't know if that wall had been like taken down, whatever. And then the first time I walked into this theater with Chess, Nicholas and I came to scope out like dressing rooms and stuff. And the minute we walked through the stage door,

I looked right here and here is where I took that picture. And there it is. And so then I sat down. I've seen it. It's the same picture 30. I did. I know, except I wasn't sitting when I was eight. I was standing. But here it is. Isn't that incredible? I know. And this playbill was behind me the whole time. Incredible. And so now I'm looking and I'm like, okay, is this my future? Am I just like checking? Okay, so I've been in this. Yep. Check. Could be in that. Sure. Did this. Did that one. Yep.

Gotta do this. I need you in cabaret. Yeah. Could do this. I think. this is a lot of dancing. You've established that stuff. I'm not going to work out. But it's have covered. It is. No, even though that's the sign.

Yeah. And then Jess. So. That's incredible. I don't know. I don't know if we're supposed to follow the board. My other takeaway is no one has redecorated in 30 years. It's still lined up very nicely.

Well, they add. So they added. So this was added. Okay. That's new. I think this was added to. This was added. So they add like,

You know, I think over there is like, you know, as they come through. And then obviously this wasn't here because they put them up once the show closes. Oh, when it closes. Yeah. That's so cool. Isn't that so wild? I love it. That's part of what I love about these theaters, don't you?

I just can't believe this was behind me. Like, that's so crazy to me. It's also interesting because that was here for such a short time. I know. And this is such a success, you know? It's just. It just is about the time. I mean, there's so many, there's a lot of reasons, if you know sort of the lore of the history of what chess was in the 80s.

It makes a lot of sense as to why it was, you know, coming right towards the end of the Cold War. And I think people were a little, it was like an oversaturation. I don't think that they wanted to maybe live in it. Whereas like now with having the time and the, and then the connection to what we're experiencing in our world right now, it just was about the right time and place, I think. Did you see, where is he? Jonathan and Sarah Highland. Oh, wow.

They created, this is so funny. They dressed up like me and Nick and Aaron and made their own little chess logo. These are all of our happy opening letters from our friends and other performances, which is so nice. Very cool. So what's the run now? Do we know?

We are currently here until June. Sean Allen Krill, who I love so much, who is fabulous in our show, has allowed us to enter his dressing room, which is so gorgeous, by the way, Sean, oh my God. Nice day, poor, Sean. Sean, you got this, like, built and couch. This is like a nice studio apartment. This is. I could do this. This is amazing, by the way.

Sean, oh, my God. Well, this was my dressing room when I was in lame miss. Oh, my God. Sean left you a note. Meanwhile, if you come and see chess, all we do is fight. And I cry and I hate him so much. But I really love him, John. I'm keeping this.

So this was when you were in Les Mis, so we're talking 30 years ago. 30 years ago, I was in this dressing room. We had a desk that went all the way across, and I shared this room with two other girls. In Les Mis, I played either Young Cosette or Young Eponine, or I would be the cover for the night. So it rotated. But the girl's dressing room was here, and the boys' dressing room was right next door. And again, this was the room where I heard, you know, Broadway songs for the first time. And, I mean, it seems also so small, which is crazy.

Like, in my memory, it's this, like, big room. And we had our shelves. They don't have it anymore, but you used to write under the desk. You would write your name before you would leave the show. And this was mine right here. I was here and I had a little Castle on a Cloud figurine above and this was my room. I am struck by how much you remember. Everything.

For an eight-year-old. Yeah, I would go across the street and my favorite pre-show snack at this little, you know, place I would get a pickle and a croissant at the, you know, whatever, the Edison Hotel Cafe. And Dean and DeLuca was across the street. I remember everything. We would go to Sardis. next door was how to succeed in business, which originally was Matthew Broderick. And then he left. And who replaced him was Uncle Jesse from Full House, who is a dear friend of mine, John Stamos.

And that's when I met Stamos for the first time at Sardes one day, in between shows. Yeah. And for a kid, what a thrill just to be living in this world, you know, moving around. I loved, like, this theater community and everything that came with it and all of the special spaces and the people and, like, getting to, you know, even then, like, leaving Les Mis and going into Ragtime and working with, like, Audra McDonald and Marin Mazie and hearing these women sing and, like, learning so much from them was, like, the most incredible educational experience than any, you know, but I would sit in this room and I would play, like, Phantom of the Opera over and over again and try to. sing the high note that Christine would sing at the end. And, you know, it's really extraordinary to be back here. In a lot of ways, this is where it all began for you. This is where it began. The love was born in this room for the thing you're doing today still. And so many of the words and the things that I say in this show, you know, when I sing someone else's story, it's like I say, and if that girl I knew should ask my advice, I wouldn't hesitate. She needed to ask me twice. Go now. I tell her

that for free. Like, I mean, I don't even know if that means anything, but to me it means, like, I think of that young girl. And I just think that, like, you're where you're supposed to be and you will always, you know, be brought back to what is meant to be. That's beautiful. I wanted my dressing room at funny girl to feel very much like, you know, sort of, I don't know, like a Ziegfeld dressing room. I wanted it to feel a little darker. And for my dressing room here, I just wanted it to feel like home. Yeah.

And so I worked with a dear friend of mine, Krista Rodriguez, who I was in Spring Awakening with. And I asked her to help me decorate this room, which she did so well. And I like to say that I have to do a Broadway show in order to get any quiet mommy time. And so here is where I get to take a break. Oh, wow. I know. Oh, this is beautiful. This is all thanks to Hugh Jackman, because when I was in La Miz, this was the wig room,

and it was two rooms. And then he apparently came and did Boy from Oz here and made this a two room a little. I mean, this is like my mom getaway. This is, I wouldn't live. I'd come here on off hours. As a parent, you're just like, oh, wait. This is amazing. Yeah, I have a little picture of me and Jonathan Groff over here. Look at that. And then here. Even smells good in here. Thank you. You can take that down if you want.

This is me in Le Miz right outside of the theater. It's a little dusty. With the T-shirt. But yeah, that's right outside of my uncle Shelley behind me. So I look at this picture every day before I go out there. And I'm like, I think she would be. so happy and she would be so grateful that I listened to her when she said, don't ever let me stop doing this. And so we're still doing it. She's also had a lot of guts over the years to do that audition, to do the Glee audition. There's like a theme here. Isn't there where you funny girl, where you just kind of dive in and do it? Despite you said you've got some anxiety about it sometime. I know. I just go. It's not always easy, but I try. But yeah, this is my little. It's beautiful.

Cozy little space. I can see why they like to kind of tuck in in here. Oh, my gosh. It's nice. And I have some drawings here of my, oh, sorry. Krista asked me, she was like, do you want to have, like, chest up? I was like, not really. I just wanted to feel like home.

I want to feel. But she just snuck in one little. Okay. But I have all toys here for my kids. They come and, like, they have books for my children and all of these shelves. And they come in between shows sometimes and they play. and then I have drawings from my kids behind the door that I get to have a little peek at every day before I go out there and just, yeah. And when you're just doing the night show, you get dinner, tuck them in, and then come over?

I get them as close to, yeah. I mean, my day is like waking up at 6 a.m. and get my son ready to go to school. And then I take my daughter to a little mommy and me class that we go to together. Come home. I put her down for her nap. And while she's napping, I get things done. And then she wakes up and get my son from school. And then that's around when I start getting ready for the show.

My mom often comes and helps out with, you know, our kids. And I'll start getting ready. I have what used to be a very long process of getting ready, which I've now condensed because I just simply can't spend my entire day. You know, I have to be with my kids. But this is vocally the hardest show. I mean, and that's saying a lot, having played Fannie Bryce, but shifting the gears of the different genres that I sing throughout. So I have to get in a really good warm up. So that takes me like 45 minutes usually.

Does it really? It's that long. Wow. And try to warm up my body as much as I can. And then I make them dinner. We sit down. We have our dinner. And if I have time, I can give my daughter a bath. And then I come, I come here. You're not missing much for a working mom. Like, you're there. I mean, I did. keep my son home from school today so that I could spend the morning with him because I knew I was coming here. So we, you know, we do weekend. But it is. The theater schedule is really, you know, missing bedtime is really hard. Yeah. But you get a lot of time during the day, which is really great. Weekends are hard too because, you know, you miss out on a lot. But it is a, it is a okay schedule. It's not like when you're on TV and you're sort of like, I don't know what my day is going to be. I don't know when I'm going to be home. There's a lot more structure here, which I think for children is helpful. Right. On TV, you're sitting in the trailer going, I don't know. I could be home with my kid right now. Or like, it might be an hour. I don't know if we're going to get to this scene. It's a little bit more unpredictable. And I think that they do well with structure and being able to say, like, you know my schedule. You know that I have two shows on Wednesday and one show Thursday. So it's a little easier for them to. You're doing it all. You're amazing.

Trying. Thank you so much for showing us around. Thanks. Thanks. My big thanks to Leah for a great conversation. You can see her in chess. on Broadway now through June. And my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear my conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today

every weekend on NBC to see these interviews with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.