-Welcome back! -I mean, what's happening?
-This is very exciting. -It's very exciting.
-You guys know each other from the Broadway community.
Have you ever worked together? -No.
-We have never worked together. She called me once.
-Okay.
-You called me when I was doing "The Book of Mormon."
She left me a very sweet, very supportive voicemail.
We didn't really know each other at all.
-I just needed him to know how great he was.
-But you've got my phone number.
I saved that voicemail for like three years
until it was lost in a phone-update accident.
-Oh, no. -So it was gone forever.
But I kept that forever. And I also --
Full disclosure -- I kept your phone number.
So I still have your phone number in my phone
just so, like, I can look at it and be like, "Oh, look,
I have Kristin Chenoweth's phone number."
[ Laughter ]
Like, I might need to call you at some point.
-Call me later tonight. -Okay.
[ Laughter ]
There's something I should tell you.
[ Laughter ]
-Ah, story of my life. -I'm not wearing socks.
[ Laughter ]
-Do you have her saved in your phone as Kristin Chenoweth?
-Oh, yeah, duh. -Okay, that's a risk,
'cause then if your phone gets stolen --
-No, that's the whole point! -Oh, I see.
-They're like, "God, this guy's fancy.
What's happening?"
-This is very exciting.
This is the 50th anniversary... -50th anniversary.
-...of a very famous play, "The Boys in the Band."
-Yeah. -And it's a revival of it.
And even though it's 50 years old,
it seems, like, very current.
Is that something you sensed going into it?
-Yeah, we were not concerned,
but we were curious to see how a lot of it was going to land.
It was first produced on Broadway in 1968.
So it was like a year before Stonewall.
It was two months before
Martin Luther King was assassinated.
So a lot was changing that year.
So the play sort of got -- it was almost immediately dated,
in some ways, because it was pre-gay-rights movement.
And so we were curious to see how it was gonna land.
And much to our relief and surprise, it's really --
I think audiences are finding it surprisingly relevant
and also surprisingly funny.
I think it has sort of a reputation of being --
I mean, this picture makes it look like...
...we're all going to a funeral. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
You're either going to a funeral, or, like,
a turtleneck convention. -I know, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
It's sort of -- It's really --
It's not indicative of what happens on that stage.
'Cause it's a party.
It's like nine guys at this birthday party.
-And it's a party that kind of comes a little unhinged.
-Yes. It definitely comes unhinged.
Well, a little too much of this,
and then, they start playing games.
-Now, have you ever been at a party where nine gay men
have had too much to drink?
-I call that a Tuesday.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-That's correct. That is correct.
That's backstage right now at the show.
[ Laughter ]
-Do you -- I mean, has this been a --
Do you feel any personal connection?
-Absolutely, yeah.
-Because it is old friends who drink too much.
-Yeah. And as soon as you -- My best friend, Susannah,
we went through this really rough phase
where she would insist on playing Truth or Dare
or prank calling people.
I'm surprised they didn't prank call you, actually,
now that I think about it. [ Laughter ]
Since I have your number! But we would prank call people
that we knew and just, you know, try to loop them into, like,
really humiliating conversations with us.
And it worked a lot of times.
But it did often end in, like, hurt feelings
and, like, sadness.
So I can really relate to this play.
It's really -- -There's a landline in the play.
That is the one thing that maybe 1968s it the most.
-I have heard that, yes. And it's a rotary.
So you have to like -- that took --
It was a little practice, I think, for all of us
in rehearsals to be like, "It takes a long time
to dial a phone. Goddamn."
It's a lot of work.
-You guys, you're doing a special performance.
-We are, for The Actors Fund.
-In a midnight show. -Midnight, yes.
-And will it be any different than other performances
when you guys do it at midnight?
-I mean, I think it will probably be a little rowdier.
It's a great organization --
The Actors Fund is a wonderful organization,
and they raise money for all sorts of great causes,
as you know.
So, a lot of shows will do these added performances.
We're just choosing to do ours at midnight,
which will be exciting.
And I think there'll probably be a lot of this.
And because there's a lot of drinking in the show, Jim --
Some of the guys that I have been discussing, like,
"Should we drink onstage?"
-Absolutely! -Should we try it?
-Yes. -I mean, we couldn't possibly
drink as much as we -- because we would just be,
like, blacked out if we actually drank that much that quickly.
But I could probably work in a drink, right?
-Yes, honey! -It's not a safety issue.
-No, no! -What could go wrong?
[ Laughter ]
What could go wrong?
-"I was at a midnight performance of
'The Boys in the Band,' and during the show,
Andrew Rannells prank-called me!"
[ Laughter ]
-"Punched Zach Quinto. It was a nightmare!"
-"He kept yelling at all of us
that he had Kristin Chenoweth's number."
[ Laughter ]
-It's gonna happen.
-You were just on "RuPaul's Drag Race."
You filmed it with Billy Eichner.
Our friend Billy Eichner. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yes.
Sort of a Broadway episode.
They were doing a musical.
So I got to go on and be a judge, and it was --
You know, it's so weird to do that show.
-You were fabulous. You gave great critiques.
-Well, it's weird 'cause you don't know
any of the contestants, and you're just sort of
dropped in the middle of this thing.
So you don't know any of them, but very sweetly,
after they did their sort of, you know, their final walks
and all of that --
By the way, the best lighting on that show, ever.
You're like, "I look like a fetus.
This is incredible." [ Laughter ]
But I -- This -- It was Monét X Change.
Very sweetly, he was like, "I just want to say,
I'm from New York, and when I was a kid,
I saw you in Broadway shows, and I used to get rush tickets
to see you in "Spring Awakening."
And I wasn't in "Spring Awakening."
[ Laughter ]
And goes on and on and on about, like, how nice I was,
and I would, like, bring coffee
and snacks to the kids waiting in line.
I was like, "Well, first of all, I never would've done that."
[ Laughter ]
But -- Certainly never gave anything away to children.
And then, he finished the whole speech, and I said,
"That's Jonathan Groff."
[ Laughter ]
-He's the best.
-And he was like, "Oh, no, no, no!
I meant -- I meant 'Book of Mormon.'
I was like, "Too late!" [ Laughter ]
"Sashay away!"
[ Laughter ]
"Get the hell off the stage!"
-Well, you know what?
If there's anyone you can tell to sashay away,
the perfect place to do it, perfect situation.
-It would've happened.
-And then you -- So you go to August 11th.
-August 11th. Yeah.
-Like you said, it's such an incredible cast.
-It is. I mean, these limited runs are super fun
because you really have to be very present
and, yeah, really sort of dig in.
But August 11th, it's coming, coming quick.
-And is the midnight show this week or is it...?
-It's a week from this Thursday. -Okay, great.
-I don't know what that date is. -That's all right.
-But it's a week from Thursday. -And it's such a great --
Like you said, Actors Fund is a great organization.
And, you guys, thank you for sticking around.
-Of course! I love him.
-And maybe leave him a voicemail backstage.
-I'll call him!
-Andrew Rannells, everybody!
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