Donna knows best! We are joined by actor and singer Donna Murphy. You Might Know Her From The Gilded Age, Tangled, Center Stage, Spiderman 2, and Broadway productions of Wonderful Town, The King & I, Passion, and Hello, Dolly! We were in long pursuit of Donna and were pleased as punch to chat with her about finding her dancer posture for Center Stage, the Joni Mitchell mishap that almost stood in the way of Mother Gothel, and how Mrs. Asher is the Mort Guffman of The Gilded Age. All that, plus how she covered for Audrey in Little Shop for one night only, dying every night on stage for Passion, and the incredible highs and lows of playing Dolly Levi as the alternate to Bette Midler in the recent Hello, Dolly! revival. Wonderful woman!

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Discussed this week

Burt Bacharach and Raquel Welch died this month

Dick Van Dyke was on The Masked Singer

Nicole Scherzinger sings with multiple Phantoms of the Opera

NJ's version of Punxatawney Phil (Mel) died

Warren Beatty doing Dick Tracy on TCM this past week ("IP squatting"

Parker Posey onstage in new play The Seagull/Woodstock, NY

Foo Fighters "Everlong"

Drag queen Orion Story

SPICE GIRLS IN ORDER OF BEST SINGERS: 1) Sporty 2) Baby 3) Scary 4) Ginger 5) Posh

We love "I Wanna Be Like You" by Louis Prima

Damian's mom slept in a bald cap as Mini-Me for a work Halloween party

Donna Murphy will be starring in Dear World in March 2023

Plays Mrs. Astor in The Gilded Age

Starred in 2003 Broadway revival of Wonderful Town

Watch Donna sing: "100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man"

Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the song

Has big song as Mother Gothel in Tangled, "Mother Knows Best"

Auditioned with "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods

Auditioned for the Witch in the OBC and then as a Baker's Wife replacement

Finally performed The Witch at the Delacorte in Central Park 2012

Played many age transitions in The People in the Picture

Fosca's first song in Stephen Sondheim's Passion, "I Read"

Played Tuesday nights only for the Bette Midler Hello Dolly in 2017 in the wake of her own husband's death

Was in negotiations to play Elizabeth Arden in War Paint (opposite Patti LuPone) while her husband, Shawn Elliott was dying (2017). She was simultaneously acting in PBS' Mercy Street

Was up for the mother role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (played by Marin Hinkle)

Scott Rudin, the producer of Hello Dolly, did not treat Donna well.

Scott Rudin scandal

YMKHF interview with Broadway's original Minnie Fay, Sondra Lee (Episode #38)

Played ballet teacher, Juliette Simone in Center Stage (directed by Nicholas Hytner)

Stella Adler was more terrifying than Stephen Sondheim

Brooke Shields got a re-recording of the Wonderful Town Broadway revival

The Sondheim 80th Birthday Celebration Concert (directed by Lonny Price)

Donna doing "Could I Leave You?" from Follies with other divas onstage: Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch

David Hyde Pierce doing "Beautiful Girls" intro

Donna approached Mandy Patinkin after the 80th Birthday Concert to tell him how much he meant to her

Died a great death in Spiderman 2 (@4:54 mark)

Donna telling the Little Shop story to Alan Menken

Barbra directing Daisy Ridley and Anne Hathaway in her Malibu home studio

Barbra's autobio is going to be over 1000 pages, thank god

Lainie Kazan full interview (Episode #29)

Lainie Kazan/Fanny Brice on The Barbra Archives (scroll halfway down the page to find)