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Join G-Rex and Dirty Skittles as we venture deep into the stories and musings of our special guest, Broadway, in this candid episode of "Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads." We delve into growing up with the freedom to be ourselves, reminisce over classic pride parades, chuckle at our quirks, and sashay through the transformative world of theater and the LGBTQ+ community. Pop those headphones in – you’re in for an insightful ride layered with laughter, nostalgia, and some Broadway magic!
**Key Points & Insights:**
- **The Power of Acceptance:** Learn how supportive environments during childhood can lead to a healthier self-identity with G-Rex, Broadway, and Dirty Skittles sharing their experiences.
- **A Toast to Old Times:** Ever heard of buying beer at 18? G-Rex takes us back to Colorado's drinking laws, while Broadway gets "grandfathered" into Florida's age laws.
- **Performance & Identity:** From high school musicals to casting and tech, Broadway's journey underscores the importance of following your passions while remaining adaptable.
- **The Pulse of Pride:** Our hosts and guest revel in the joys of pride parades, sharing heartfelt experiences and the sense of community they foster.
- **The Evolution of Gay Culture:** Engage in a dialogue about how social media has reshaped the gay community and the significance of maintaining connections beyond the digital realm.
- **Artistic Pursuits:** Broadway's expansive theater experience, from appreciating Sondheim to evaluating the current theater scene in Atlanta, provides a rich backdrop for discussions on artistic growth and passion.
- **Polly Pocket and Pop Icons:** Discover the lighter side as we banter about nostalgic toys, Madonna's towering influence, and skincare regimens.
- **Tech & Creativity:** How does a background in maths interconnect with casting and modern technology? Broadway demystifies this for us.
**Reminder To Our Beloved Listeners:**
Your feedback is the show's heartbeat! If you've felt the pulse of today's episode, take a moment to **subscribe, rate, and review "Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads."** Share which part resonated with you in a review or on social media – your insights fuel our journey and keep the conversations alive!
#GrowingUpGay #PrideParadeMemories #TheaterLife #GayCommunity #AcceptanceMatters #ChildhoodStories #PrideMonthReflections #DrinkResponsibly #PerformanceArts #LGBTQIAPlusSupport #SocialMediaImpact #SupportTheArts #MadonnaLegacy #BroadwayMusings #PodcastLove #SubscribeRateReview #ShitThatGoesOnInOurHeads
S02E11 Growing Up Gay: Pride, Theater, & Beyond with Guest Host: Broadway
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Hey.
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Dirty skittles. It's finally it's great. It's great to
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actually see what you look like after hearing you
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for, like, three months.
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Yeah, I need to get myself, like, a Mexican
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wrestling mask. That way I could just wear it
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anytime. We have a guest.
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I hear you're a Georgia girl now.
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I am. I am actually reporting from the basement
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in Marietta, Georgia.
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Oh, I'm in the city of Decatur.
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Nice. I love your wall. Oh, Marilyn. No, that's
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not Marilyn. That's Madonna who's behind you.
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It's a very gay office. Oh, I love it
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because I'm a huge Madonna fan.
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Love.
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Love, because he's super gay.
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Listen. G rex.
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Are you ready?
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One no countdown, bro. Okay, 13210.
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Sorry.
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Has it been that long?
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Okay, I'm on sabbatical, man. Don't give me shit.
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All right. Three, two, one. Welcome back to another
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episode of Shit that goes on in Our Heads.
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We are season two, episode nine, and today we
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have a very special guest. Broadway. Hey, Broadway, you
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want to tell us a little bit about yourself?
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Hey, everybody, I'm Broadway. I am one of G
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Rex's longtime ex coworkers, live in Georgia, been all
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around, love theater, love everything, and probably one of
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the gayest people that grex knows.
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I don't know. I'm pretty gay myself. But you
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stand out.
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Because I'm tall. Yeah, your four foot Tennessee and
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my six foot fourness is a very interesting thing
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when we're standing next to each other with cocktails,
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preferably.
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She is tiny.
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You know what? But for my tininess, my heart
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makes up for a lot of that tininess, so
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it's all good.
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It does. But you're still my pocket gay.
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That's sweet. And endearing.
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Every now and then I pop out of the
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pocket wave.
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You're like polypocket, but a little different.
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The hell is polypocket?
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You don't know what polypocket is?
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I don't have any kids.
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Growing up, you never well, maybe you didn't. polypocket
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was like a little tiny it looked like a
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wallet, and you can open it up. And there
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was this little tiny doll. Her name was Polly,
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and she fit in your pocket. And then that
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little wallet that would open up could be like
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an ice cream shop or a hair salon or.
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A castle, and you could play dirty skittles. She's
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a lesbian. She played with hammers and knot and
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nails and stuff like that. Let's get real. Her
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Home Depot kit was what she played with. I
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know polypocket, even though I'm near G. Rex's age
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group, but I do have kids around not my
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own.
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I loved polypocket. Okay, sorry.
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I'm going to find you a polypocket with a
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gay flag. I don't think they exist.
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I mean, we can make one OOH merch.
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It's on etsy somewhere.
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Yeah, I love that.
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This is why I can't drink with you guys.
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I know. I was going to let you finish
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before making another joke.
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So, Broadway, tell us a little bit about your
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life and kind of coming out. And I'll tell
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you guys my coming out story. It's crazy.
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So I have a weird coming out story is
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that I never did do you guys know what
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the term platinum gay is?
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No.
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No.
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Have you really never heard platinum gay? Okay, so
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platinum gay, that means you've never been around it.
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And by it, I mean female lady parts. I
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was actually Caesarean born. The only time I've ever
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kissed a girl was during stage work in theater.
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I remember in the early 70s, around 75, 76,
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when Wonder Woman was on TV, I used to
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pretend to be her in the pool. Like, I
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would spin around and take off my clothes and
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try to change into Wonder Woman's outfit. I never
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had that whole coming out experience. I never experienced
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that. I had a boyfriend in their late 80s,
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early 90s, in high school, dating around, stuff like
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that, but I never really came out. It was
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always me, and everybody always knew it was interesting
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because I was six foot tall by the time
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I was up about 1011. So I was always
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like, Are you playing basketball this? And I'm like,
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no, I'm going to Jute and do some Broadway
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musicals. It was that. So, yeah. For me, I
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was very fortunate. My parents were much older when
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they had me, almost 40, which back then, being
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born in 73, that was, like, very uncommon, very
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different. I likened them to be Cuban hippies who
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were raised Victorian. My mom's never worn jeans. My
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mom's never pumped gas in her car, type of
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thing. But my parents were always about their kids
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and never had any question, any inkling, any concerns.
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It was always like, you do you and be
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safe, get good grades, do what you got to
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do, and just don't be a dick. Pretty much.
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So, yeah, for me, coming out was like, it
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never really happened.
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Wow, that's pretty cool, though. You were safe, you
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felt good, you could just be you.
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Yeah, I was very fortunate growing up in I
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grew up in Miami, born in Miami Beach, raised
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in a suburb of Miami called Hayalia, shout out
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to Hayalia. And again, I was in theater world
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and music world my entire life, so I kind
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of had that safe space. I had some great
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teachers. I had a lot of gay teachers, which
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was interesting because at the time kind of understood
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they were gay, but didn't know. I had a
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lot of lesbian teachers, specifically music art teachers, people
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that I gravitated towards because they were just kind
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of like, cool and artsy fartsy. So it was
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kind of fun.
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I love that. So you did plays in high
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school, mostly musicals, yeah. Okay. Was there one that
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transformed who you would be one day? Did something
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make such an impact that you played?
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Everything. Steven Sondheim. The first time I heard anything
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by Steven Sondheim, I want to say the first
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one I ever heard was Sweeney Todd, which is
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the darkest, bloodiest, gorriest musical out there. It was
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me. I got it. The whole lyricism, the whole
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storytelling, the whole pitter patter, fuck you type stuff.
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Everything like that.
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Nice. What about you? G rex. Any musicals for
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you?
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Well, now that we live in upstate New York,
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I should probably be going into the city a
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little bit more often. There were two that I
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wanted to see and didn't get to see. I
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wanted to see Pinky Boots, but I can see
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that online now. And wicked love.
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When I was little, I would sneak out of
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my bedroom at night and there were two things
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I would watch. It was either old black and
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white movies, like while my parents were asleep. Like
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I would just sit there with my ear on
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the speaker and watch it. Or it was like
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Broadway musicals or plays or anything. That was what
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I did. Nothing fun. I didn't get into trouble
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other than sneaking out and watching old movies and
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plays.
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Yeah, I missed a pre pandemic life. I was
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living in New York when the pandemic hit, actually
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living on 54th street next to Studio 54. So
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I was in the middle of theater district. My
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husband and I would see, God, three to four
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shows a week. Like we were going to everything.
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There's a reading of this at this small theater
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in the middle of Soho. And it's like at
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02:00 a.m.. But you've got to get there. And
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you've got to bring a can of, like, red
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beans to get in the door. We would be
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there watching it. It was just so much fun
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and so much fun traveling around to see all
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the shows. It's interesting. I can't get into fantasy.
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Don't give me Harry Potter. I know I'm going
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to get some shit for this. Don't give me
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any of that that Twilight crap. But I can
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totally believe that people will all of a sudden
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start singing and dancing in eight part harmony and
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full choreography at the drop of a hat. It
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just happens. But I can't get into fantasy. Don't
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give me witchcraft and all that.
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Crazy stuff from the I'm one of the Harry
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Potter people and Twilight people. Like, I keep trying
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to get my son to get into Harry Potter
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too, because I just want to have a Harry
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Potter party. That's it. I'm like, if I can
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get him into it one birthday, I'm going to
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decorate the house like Harry Potter. But no such
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luck. I think we're going to have to.
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Get Bizzle to do that for your birthday.
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Make everybody dress up. And I'm the only one
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having the time in my life. I love that.
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So you did musicals in high school, which is
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pretty cool. Did you carry on into doing it
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after school?
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After high school, yeah, I did it professionally. I
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went to school for it. Musical theater. And jazz
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voice. Kind of gave it up at one point
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because I was like I wanted to get on
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the creative side, where the performance side, I think,
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is creative, but you're doing other people's work. I
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wanted to get on the casting side, of all
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places. I had visions of wanting to like, oh,
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you're a perfect person to play Alphabet. You're a
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perfect person to play Jean Valjean. I wanted that
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side of the house. So I took some time
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off. I traveled a bit, and then ended up
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because I do speak Spanish, English and French, I
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ended up with Cigna Healthcare working as a kind
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of presenter. I would go to all of their
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different facilities to present benefits to all these different
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clients. And it was like benefit fairs and things
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like that. So it was like acting, but not
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really. And it was making much more money than
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it was making acting. So I kind of got
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bitten to that. I got pulled into being asked
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to move to Lawrenceville, Kansas, which, if you know
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me and know that I've never lived in a
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country, I've always lived in a city, I've never
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lived anywhere in the suburbs, nothing like that. I
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was like, Hell no. And then a friend of
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mine was at a recruiting firm and brought me
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on and I was like, oh my God, this
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is a perfect kind of segue into casting, recruiting,
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learning all about that and all the rules. Little
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by little, I learned all that. I got into
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payroll because I'm a math nerd. Don't ask me
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why. Music and math are very close. I went
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to a school that was very music and math
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forward, and from there I got recruited by the
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company we all have worked for at some point
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because of my recruiting background and my math background.
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So I ended up going to this company for
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about eleven years and ended up in technology for
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the past almost 2022 years.
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Which is not like a musical at all.
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At all. But you know what the difference is?
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When I was in theater, when I was doing
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all that, I was only able to see or
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create or do things that were already done. I
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never had the opportunity to go and, oh, there's
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a new play happening in Connecticut. That's a tryout.
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There's a new one in Atlanta. I could never
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travel to see these because I was always working
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while these shows were happening. So the fun part
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of the last 20 years is that I've been
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able to go everywhere. I mean, I've gone to
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Puerto Rico to see Lin Manuel do the charity.
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Raise up Hamilton freaking way, dude.
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I saw Hamilton the second night. It was on
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Broadway. The last ten years, I would say my
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husband and I have probably seen, I would say,
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close to 1000 shows in the last ten years.
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Wow. Because we were literally going every night to
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everything. And it was fun. We were seeing horrible
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shows like flying to Chicago to see Devil Wars,
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Prada that Elton John decided to do. And it
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was one of the worst things we've seen in
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our lives. But it was fun.
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Do you save things from when you go to
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the show?
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My husband saves all the play bills, all the
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tickets. I'm not a saver. I've moved around too
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much of my life and lost too many things.
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But I'm like, I'll take a picture of it
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and digitally upload it and have that memory. But,
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yeah, I'm not a saver. Not a hoarder.
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Kidding. I like that. We went from saver to
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hoarder really quick.
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To me, it's one and the same, man.
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Scrapbook hoarder. Dude, that's so cool. I can't believe
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you got to do all those fun things. That's
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awesome. I love that. So can I ask a
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random question? Kind of random. All the Madonna photos.
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Why Madonna? Why?
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Madonna is my from day one, Madonna and Michael
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Jackson were my two favorite performers. Madonna, because it
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was the first time that a woman was like,
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Fuck you. I want to do what I want
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to do. And it was creative. It wasn't just
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in your face. We go back and think of
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early Madonna up to the Music album. To me,
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all of that was so creative, so different, so
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fun. Choreography. It was unabashedly in your face and
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gay as fuck. I mean, let's get real. When
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Vogue came out, I'll never forget that first time
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I heard Vogue, I was a junior in high
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school, 1990, and that song came out, I was
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like, oh, my God. Revolutionary. So, yeah, I've never
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missed her in concert. I've seen her in every
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single concert tour. She's done her in about two
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months here in Atlanta for her last tour, her
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latest tour. Yeah, she's it.
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Do you remember, like, my mom is a huge
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Madonna fan, and she used to make me, when
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I was little, watch a movie. I feel like
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it was like Seeking Susan or something. Yes, I
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remember. Okay, so I was a little girl watching
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this movie, and I remember thinking, like, she dresses
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so fucking cool. I was like, I want to
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dress like Madonna mom.
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Madonna and Rosanna arquette. Rosanna Arquette was answering law
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ads for a woman desperately.
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It was such, you know what? I need to
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go watch that movie, because I remember it being
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like, good. I think she had, like, an awesome
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jacket in that fucking movie. Yeah, I wanted the
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jacket.
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Trying to think, is it anywhere on my walls?
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No, she's not. She might be on there. I
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have quite a few pictures of Madonna in my
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office.
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Dude, that's awesome. Okay, sorry. Thanks for entertaining me.
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And for the listeners, it's because behind him is
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just a bunch of pictures of Madonna. So I
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had to ask, I was like, what is it?
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What's about Madonna?
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There's a lot more than you can.
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Actually see there's a whole collage. I love that.
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Every gay man's fantasy right there.
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Madonna.
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Yes.
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Nice.
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Gay man of a certain age. Because I will
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say this was a banner year for me. I
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just turned 50, which is, wow. What the heck?
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Like, how did that happen?
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Right?
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You're still a baby.
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Yeah.
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I've got almost ten years on you, G Rex.
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Yeah. You'll need to drop your skincare routine after
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because you do not look 50 at all.
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Well, my husband, who is a few years younger,
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which we won't get into, and we've been together
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for it'll be nine years now, laughs because everybody
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always asks, what the hell is your skincare routine?
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And when I answer, it's Irish spring soap.
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Oh, I knew you were going to say some
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of that as soon as you started telling the
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story. I'm like, it's going to be like a
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bar of soap and like cold water or something.
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Yeah, and he's like, 20,000 creams and lotions and
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potions and all this. And he's the Cuban blood.
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Yeah. Genetics. What about you? G rex. What's your
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skincare routine?
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Absolutely nothing. Okay. Absolutely nothing. I wash my face.
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Okay.
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But G Rex, you look like you're 22. How
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is this possible?
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You know what's crazy is I'm going to be
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60 in the end of next month.
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No way. So then you're totally doing vampire blood.
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We know. Just tell us.
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Out there playing with the squirrels, man. That's how
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I do it.
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There's something up there in that upstate New York
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world that she's doing.
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Fresh air.
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It's called no stretch.
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What are you drinking?
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No stretch water.
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No, not you, bro. I know. I see your
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smart water.
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Yeah, I had to indulge today. So again, it's
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Pride month. I'm gay as fuck. Sarah Jessica has
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a new line of cosmos that are actually vodka.
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Nice. Bizzle, if you would be so kind. I
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think there is a cotton fridge. Just kidding. You
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don't have to get it, babe. Nice. I was
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going to make a mixed drink. Instead, I opted
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for water like ducks because honestly, I totally forgot
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what time it was. And Bizzle was like, what
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are you doing? You get downstairs. I'm like okay.
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Sorry.
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Yeah, I was under the impression it was a
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cocktail with this.
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Yeah, it normally is, to be honest, but sabbatical
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life. I forget what day it is. I think
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today's, Saturday, is Saturday because we record on Saturdays,
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but I forget what day it is. So, Broadway,
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I do have another question for you. Growing up
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and being gay and everything, do you think that
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we were more or less fortunate than the kids
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are today because we didn't have all the media
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related around it.
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100%? I won't even go back to when we
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were teenagers or when we were like in in
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that college era today. Like I see I lived
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in Atlanta in 2006 to 2014 when I first
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moved to atlanta. Atlanta had, like, 83 gay bars
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and clubs and restaurants and everything. That was like
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a whole gay community. Cut to now, where you
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have all these social media apps, all these dating
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apps, all these hookup apps. There are maybe ten
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places to go to meet people, and it's not
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even meeting people for dating reasons. It's just community.
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It feels like there's none of that anymore. It
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feels like it's disappeared for me. Like, I sit
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back and driving in the car, I'll have the
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satellite on, and the 80s channel or the new
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Wave channel comes on, and I'm like, God, I
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remember going to the bars when I was 16.
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Shouldn't have been going when I was 16. I
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know, but 1618 years old with some older friends
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and listening to this music, and it was community.
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It was hanging out and meeting people and finding
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people that you had similar interests to. Now it's
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all like, okay, I see this picture. I kind
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of like this person. Let me meet them. And
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it's very different. You go to a bar now,
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and people are literally, instead of talking to each
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other or hanging out, they're literally looking at their
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phone, at the hookup apps. And it's like, I
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don't get that culture. I don't understand that.
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It's like they forgot how to interact with each
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other and be present. So crazy.
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Yeah, and that's what I missed, too. I mean,
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growing up in the 80s in Denver, tons of
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gay bars, right? And now I live just outside
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of Ithaca, which is a lot of gay people.
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It's like one of the hubs for upstate New
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York. And there aren't any gay bars, there isn't
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a community. And I feel bad for them because
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that was part of my coming out story, right,
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is that I had this core group of friends.
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We're all gay, we all came out around the
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same time, and we can always depend on each
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other. And I think that the social media aspect
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of everything now makes it harder to group together
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and band together, especially today. There's so much going
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on in the trans world that me, Broadway, dirty
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skills. There's so much more we could do, and
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if we could just get our community to get
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their shit together, we could really help change what's
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going on, because right now, it's terrifying. It's to
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the point now where they declared they declared a
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state of emergency for the LGBT Ya community because
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of all these stupid laws that are going into
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effect.
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Yeah, it is disheartening seeing everything that's going on.
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I am a little hopeful in seeing all of
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these rulings that are coming out, showing that they're
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unconstitutional. And I think one of the things we
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have to do is really my biggest fear when
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Trump was elected was the change in our Supreme
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Court. I don't care about anything else. I think
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that's one of the most important things in all
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the different judiciary levels that he would change. That
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scares me because that changes laws locally. So that's
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one of the things that I think not only
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do we have to be supportive and get out
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there and help our community grow and go forward,
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but we also have to look at that voting
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policies and those voting records locally. We got to
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change it. I mean, we've done this. You and
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I grew up in the era of AIDS, and
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look how that turned out. It changed our way
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of thinking and our way of kind of behaving
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compared to some of our older gay friends that
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were in the things like that. But the only
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way that we're going to do it is we
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have to do that change, and we have to
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do that work. And I'm fearful, and I'm hopeful
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at the same time. It's like I go back
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and forth, back and forth every single day when
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I see things, and it's just, what can I
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do today? Support drag shows. That's my number one
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thing right now. If there's a drag show happening,
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if there's a drag bingo, if there's a charity
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thing, I'm going to it, because I'm not going
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to let people say this is unconstitutional. Rather, this
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is something that shouldn't be happening or shouldn't be
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shown. I'm going to support that, and those are
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the small things that I can do and try
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to get my community to go there. So I
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totally understand where you're coming from.
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Yeah. And for me, I'm totally supporting Wheaton, and
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because of all the work they do with the
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kids, there are kids that are coming out in
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schools today and that are getting bullied, and we
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didn't have that growing up. I know I didn't.
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Basically, my coming out story was I took my
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mom to a gay bar, and I'm like, hey,
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I'm gay. And she's like, hey, I know.
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Were you ever bullied in school as a kid?
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In high school, anything because of your sexuality?
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No. I played softball my entire high school life.
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I had a good group of girlfriends, no bowling.
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I was who I was. I was a lot
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older than the kids in my class, so I
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could always buy them beer. Right. I was everybody's
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friend. I taught everybody how to drive, bought everybody
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beer, so I didn't feel those pressures. And my
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parents were amazing. I couldn't have asked for better
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parents. They only wanted me to be safe. They
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wanted me to find love, and they wanted me
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to be happy. And I was one of the
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lucky ones that I had that in my life.
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And today, a lot of these kids that are
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coming out, they don't have that, and so I'm
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really fighting for the kids because they're our future.
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I saw a total meme this morning that got
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me. It was a picture of a little kid
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with kind of the gay pride flag as wings,
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and it was a parents with a set of
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scissors and it was saying, don't be your kid's
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first bully. And I was like, wow. It made
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an impact to me because I was again fortunate
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to have parents similar to yours that were just
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like, be you, be happy, be safe, don't be
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a dick. I had those parents, so I was
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very fortunate for that. You did say something that
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makes me question, and I think Dirty Skittles is
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going to freak out when she understands this. Next
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topic. You were able to buy beer. Were you
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one of those that was grandfathered into being 18
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years old and buying liquor?
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Yeah. So I was born and raised in Colorado,
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so the drinking laws were 18 and so I
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could buy beer. I couldn't buy wine, but I
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could buy beer. And I was everybody's best friend.
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So they wouldn't let you buy wine, but they
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would let you buy beer?
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Yeah, you can buy beer. Okay. It was 3.2%,
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so it was probably.
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Like a Bud Light water. I don't know.
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Yeah, it tasted like water with a little bit
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of hops in it. Yeah.
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So you got shafted in Colorado because in Florida,
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if you were to say 86, if you were
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18 before 1986, you were grandfathered into the 21
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and overlaw. So you can buy liquor.
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Yeah.
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So you were like legal at 18 to buy
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liquor, everything like that. And you didn't have to
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wait till you were 21. It was 86.
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Damn.
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Wow. I totally missed out on that boat. But
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that's okay because I still made a lot of
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people happy, had a lot of good parties.
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That's all Gretchen wants to do is make people
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happy and drunk. Yeah, sort of drunk on that
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beer.
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Depends on how many you had. Drink a lot
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of them and overcome the bloat. Wow. So that
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listening to both of you having supportive parents is
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hopeful because I think Bizzle and I try really
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hard to just let our son feel safe and
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who knows what. He's only five. Right? But knowing
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that you guys both came from that and you
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were just totally confident and safe to share who
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you were with your parents and not be too
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afraid at what they would think is kind of
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where we are with him. I love watching drag
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shows and dude, we don't hide anything from my
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son. Nugget almost at his name. Yeah, we don't
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hide anything from Nugget. So I'm hoping when he
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gets old enough or at any point in his
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journey, if there's anything he wants to share about
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who he is, that he feels safe to share
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that with us and know that we're not going
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to judge him for it because it's a little
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wild. Right. It's just a right to love somebody.
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And so it's a little crazy that we live
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in this day and age where it's still like
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an issue for people. Fucking blows my mind.
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Blows my mind it keeps becoming an issue. Yeah,
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because it's a hot topic. The right that's doing
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this right now has a great marketing machine, and
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they just know how to plug at fear. And
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I think we as a society are fearful of
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so much crap that we don't understand or we
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don't make a point to understand. I don't know.
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To me, just get the fuck over yourself. Pretty
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much, yeah.
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Why do you just get over yourself?
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Exactly.
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And it's not going to stop me. I'm going
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to be loud and proud every day. I don't
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hide behind my gayness. I'm a lesbian. Surrender. And
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if you don't like me, I don't fucking care
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anymore. And I'll be 60 in a month.
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Yeah, you're a lesbian, gretchen yeah.
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Imagine that.
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Oh, my God. I didn't know that. All this
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time I thought you kind of like girls.
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That's hilarious.
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Grex and I have always had this loving jokey
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relationship where I've always made fun of her. She
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makes fun of me, too. And that's how we
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got along. I will never forget the time that
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I was telling you, you just got to get
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up here. I can't hear you from down there.
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I just can't hear you. And you got up
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on a table a little bit drunk and were
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yelling at me on top of the table, and
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you were just my height. I don't know if
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you remember this. I want to say it was
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in Las Vegas at a convention of some sort.
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Yeah, I remember that.
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Is this me drunk?
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I don't know what you're talking about. I don't
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drink.
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Oh, my word. Is this the night that you,
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like, were gambling all night? Is that the same
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year at this convention?
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No.
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Okay.
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There were so many of these conventions that they
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all blur.
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Every single one of them a gigantic blur. Unless
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I was winning money, and then those are the
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dates I remember.
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That's so funny, dude.
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But I also use Broadway for my New York
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connection. So when we decided to go to Pride,
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I'm like, hey, where should we stay? Where can
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we see the parade? What can we do, dude?
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He gave me this long laundry list of places
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to stay, things to do, so I'm super excited
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about it. And we actually got custom Pride shirts
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made for the Pride parade and business cards that
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I'm going to hand out with the QR code
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on them. So hopefully it'll boost our listenership.
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I love that.
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That's so much fun. Handing out stuff at Pride
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parades is a blast. I did it here in
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Atlanta one year. Got to walk the parade and
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hand out stuff. It is so much fun. People
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just get, like, all happy. You start meeting people,
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they start looking you up on Instagram, on social
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media. So you start following each other, of course.
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Never talk again, but you follow each other for
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years. But it's so much fun. And New York
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pride. Same thing when I was in New York,
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started the ERG for the company that I was
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working with, and we started having pride brunches with
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the pride parade as a thing. One year I
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had a group of team members that were very
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I'm going to say on the shy side. They
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were newer to New York. They were from California,
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a couple of them. So I bought these long
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rolls of like thousands and thousands of heart pride
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stickers and I started like, okay, you all are
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going to give these out. The Southern thing just
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came out because I was born in the real
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south, miami beach, blanche Devereaux, and I started giving
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these out. And it's so interesting to see how
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people change and kind of come out. It's so
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weird for such an extrovert like me to be
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around introverts because it's like, what do you mean?
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You don't just talk to people or can do
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something or can get in front of a stage
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of 10,000 people. What's wrong with you? So doing
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things like that, it was so much fun to
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see them come out of their shells and really
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kind of gravitate and do things and enjoy kind
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of the group of people that they're around and
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start opening themselves up.
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Yeah, the greatest part about being short is like,
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when I go to the parade, people are going
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to actually let me get in front so I
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can see the parade. So all you tall people
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behind me, I'm like, I don't care, but I
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want to see the parade.
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And you probably get a lot of swag because
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they think you're a kid.
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They're like, look at this sweet little child. Here
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you go.
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She deserves a fan.
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I don't know how many ten year olds have
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a size 44 Cripple Beach?
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Well, if you watch that Natalia Grace controversy and
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documentary that's out right now, you might question that.
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Sorry, I'm a total TV nerd. Everything new I've
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got to watch. I've got everything entertainment. I shouldn't
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say TV. Everything entertainment.
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What are you watching now?
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Just started. Never have I ever the final season
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today just started. The current season of Yellowstone. Finished
Speaker:
so many things. Like Ted Lasso's done all my
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succession, which, oh, my God, one of the best
Speaker:
shows in the world. What else did we finish?
Speaker:
Recently? I've been watching a lot of stuff without
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my husband because he hates all these crazy documentaries
Speaker:
like House of Hammer, the Army Hammer one, which
Speaker:
is crazy. The trash selling sunset Housewives, of course.
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Jersey, Atlanta. I got to watch those.
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Did you watch?
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I don't sleep much.
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Sorry.
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We just started watching the succession. We're in like,
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season two now.
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Oh, that show so good.
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I can't stop watching it now that I'm not
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working. I could watch it all day. But you
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know what?
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You kind of remind me of Roman. Kind of
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the same dialogue there between the two of you
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every other word is fuck. Every other word is
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sarcastic. Yeah, it's kind of you.
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You know what? I have some morals, though, so
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not really.
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What kind of morally dirty skittles? Notice how she
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said some?
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Just some morals.
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I'm with you on that bandwagon too, sister. Some
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morals.
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Some morals. And I do have some integrity. And
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I'm not a complete asshole.
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I can be. I'm kidding.
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You were going to ask Broadway a question.
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It was random about a show. If you watched
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Vanderpump Rules.
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I have never seen that.
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Okay. Yeah, I mean, I haven't watched it either,
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but I was just telling Bizzle about how it's
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all over social media and like the reunion and
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all this drama. And I'm like, Should I watch
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this? I don't know.
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Yeah, there's some shows that might be too gay
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for me, if that makes sense to me. It's
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like, I don't want to know the drama between
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Tom and whatever her name is and whatever her
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name is. To me, it's so fabricated to the
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point I'd rather see I don't know, I'd rather
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see these crazy documentaries. Some of these documentaries. I'm
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telling you, Natalia Grace, you got to watch it.
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It leaves you like, finished six episodes. Six episode.
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And I'm like, what is this story even about?
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Who am I seeing? And then all of a
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sudden it ends and you see the credits. She's
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doing the next documentary, so it's going to be
Speaker:
the documentary, the story from her point of view.
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So I'm like, if anything can be gayer, it's
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this. It's like this story of these parents who
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adopt this kid who supposedly is a kid, but
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no actually is 22 years old, but may not
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be. Maybe. It's like this crazy story. It's so
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out there.
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I'm going to have to watch that. So do
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you think, Broadway, after you're done with your current
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career, that you might go back into the theater
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world?
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So I would love to. I haven't done anything
Speaker:
professionally in well over ten years. I do every
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so often a recording session or something like that
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here and there. I recently popped a vocal cord,
Speaker:
which is really interesting because I'm speaking and all
Speaker:
of a sudden my voice just says this. So
Speaker:
I become like I turn into what's her name
Speaker:
from The Exorcist. It just pops out. Or by
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the end of the day, after a couple of
Speaker:
meetings at work, my voice is just gone. So
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it's really weird. The shower singing has been difficult
Speaker:
lately. So who knows, maybe if I retire in
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the next few years, I'll go back and become
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one of those 80 year olds who wins an
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Oscar or Tony or something.
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Do you want to move back to New York
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City?
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So New York is not the New York. The
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pandemic destroyed us. It was tough over there. My
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husband and I moved in 2021 back to Georgia
Speaker:
because it was just impossible living over there. We
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were also an 800 square foot apartment, which is
Speaker:
pretty big for New York standards. But both of
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us working at home for the same company, it
Speaker:
was tough. It was just tough overall. So that's
Speaker:
part of the reason we decided to come to
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Georgia. I can see us getting buying property and
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having some sort of rental property that we come
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up and stay a little bit and go because
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it's tough to get hotels in New York and
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stay there. But as a full timer, I can't
Speaker:
see it in the near future. And by near,
Speaker:
I mean like ten years. It's not the New
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York that we were in and we were having
Speaker:
fun in. It's a different world right now.
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Yeah. Is there anywhere else you would go or
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are you settled here?
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I would move to London in a heartbeat. I
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would move to Paris in a heartbeat. I will
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never go to Florida. In fact, my mom's the
Speaker:
only one that's really left in my family, my
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sibling and have some cousins and family. But once
Speaker:
my mom passes, if Florida would just slide off
Speaker:
the map and into the ocean.
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I hear you.
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I'm good with that. There's not many places in
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the US. That I would want to live in.
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I'm really about the culture. I'm really about the
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whole art scene. And outside of New York, there
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really isn't that anywhere in the United States. Georgia
Speaker:
has some of it, which is fun. There's also
Speaker:
so much to do here when it comes to
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hiking and festivals and things like that. And that's
Speaker:
why I do like it here in Georgia. But
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I could see myself living in London in a
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heartbeat. Talk about another very gay city where there's
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a lot of theater and stuff like that to
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do. Because, you know, it's all about chasing that
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gay theater, that gay performance, concerts and things like
Speaker:
that. That's what I live for. I mean, that's
Speaker:
my happy point. I jokingly always say when the
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curtain goes down and the lights dim, that's my
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Sunday service. Like that's. Literally when it's coming up.
Speaker:
Steven sondheim being my God. Audra McDonald being my
Speaker:
goddess.
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Who.
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If you don't know her, please look her up.
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Biggest ally for our community. One of the most
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amazing singers. Had the pleasure of meeting her. And
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I've seen her in many things, just amazing overall.
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Human.
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I love that. So what's your next show that
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you're going to see?
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So we are in the process of making plans
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to go to New York to see some shows
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that have just opened. Of course, the Britney Spears
Speaker:
musical, because.
Speaker:
I didn't even know they had one.
Speaker:
Oh, Britney Spears has told through all the princesses
Speaker:
eyes. So like Cinderella, all the princesses using Britney's
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music. It's called one more time. Something one more
Speaker:
time. Hit me again. One more time or something
Speaker:
like that. But it's like really cool. You should
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see some videos. Justin Gorini from american Idol stars
Speaker:
in it, which is pretty interesting. But that I've
Speaker:
got to get up and see the Sweeney Todd.
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We're recording on Tony Eve, which is one of
Speaker:
the gayest days of the year. Tomorrow Sunday.
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Tony's.
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Tony's.
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Tony's.
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So there's a lot of new theater that's coming
Speaker:
in and things that are just different. There's a
Speaker:
musical about corn, I kid you not, and it's
Speaker:
one of the funniest things.
Speaker:
Not like the rock band Corn, like the veteran.
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No, like actual corn. Looking at theater and how
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theater has changed and how theater has evolved over
Speaker:
the past six to seven years. Theater always is
Speaker:
the leader of the change. So we talk about
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trans artists in theater. Alex Newell is up for
Speaker:
a Tony tomorrow in the Corn musical, which is
Speaker:
kind of funny. It's literally called shocked. I can't
Speaker:
make it up, guys. But you talk about trans
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artists, and theater has always led the way. Gay
Speaker:
plays, gay storylines, lesbian storylines. Theater has always led
Speaker:
the way. There's a big musical about the artist
Speaker:
limpica that's coming up, who's one of the biggest
Speaker:
artists of the 20s art Deco movement. And here
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it is, this lesbian storyline that's coming up. So
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all these stories are coming up. And again, Broadway
Speaker:
always leads that way. Inclusive bathrooms. Like, every single
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Broadway theater has a sign that says, use the
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bathroom. You're most comfortable with shit like that. That's
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where it starts. So it's always been it's kind
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of my nerd happy place because it has all
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that, you know what I mean? It's using every
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faculty you can think of to express yourself. Very
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cool. It's my happy place.
Speaker:
Oh, I love that. I love that we get
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to know what your happy place is. Now, I
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need to make a list or have you send
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me a list of things to watch and look
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at.
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Because there's a ton of stuff locally that I
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can send you that's also coming up. That's great.
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We're lucky to have the Alliance Theater here in
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Atlanta, who every year has a pre Broadway tryout
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of something that's going to Broadway. Some stuff makes
Speaker:
it, some stuff doesn't, but it's fun to watch
Speaker:
them and kind of see it from its infancy
Speaker:
up to when it actually makes it to Broadway
Speaker:
and like, wow, that changed. And sometimes if you're
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lucky enough, you get to go to London and
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see it there, and it's like, oh, wow, it
Speaker:
changed for that audience. So it's just cool to
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see that metamorphosis.
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Very cool. Yeah, for sure. I need to get
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a list together.
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I love you so much, Broadway. Thank you so
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much for coming on.
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Yes, definitely.
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I love your story.
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It was a blast, ladies, and I enjoyed this.
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It's fun.
Speaker:
Yeah, it's fun. Thank you. It's okay to be