Broadway star Ilana Levine returns to The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul to discuss all things kindness during awards season, an amazing Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews story and much more. Ilana is a Broadway star best known for playing “Lucy Van Pelt” in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown. She has also starred in the Broadway productions of Jake’s Women, Wrong Mountain and The Last Night Of Ballyhoo. In addition, she has appeared in many TV shows and films including: Tanner ’88, Law and Or...
Mar 06, 2023•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 29
Katie won a Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2002 for her role as Brooke Ashton in the Broadway revival of Noises Off. She played a "lovely but dim fashion model" in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's Proposals in 1997–98, Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret (from November 21, 2000 to January 18, 2001), and call girl Cora in the 1999 Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh, opposite Kevin Spacey. She also has appeared in My F...
Feb 17, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 28
“Please let me standing here be a little sign to you from the universe to make the weird art.” Deirdre O'Connell has worked extensively on stage, screen, and television. She began her career at Stage One, an experimental theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. She made her Broadway debut in the 1986 revival of The Front Page, and was nominated for the 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in the off-Broadway production Love and Anger. She is the ...
Feb 02, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Harvey Fierstein is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy and Hairspray and movie roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in Mulan and Mulan II. Fierstein won two Tony Awards, Best Actor in a Play and Best Play, for Torch Song Trilogy. He received his third Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical, for the musical La Cage aux Folles and his fourth, the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for playing Ed...
Jan 19, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 26
In a career spanning three decades, Allison Janney is known for her performances across multiple genres of screen and stage. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award (the subject of this episode now!), a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and seven Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards. Janney made her professional stage debut with the Off-Broadway production Ladies (1989) before making her Broadway debut with the 1996 revival ...
Jan 13, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Known for his work in musical theater, Matt Doyle made his Broadway debut in 2007 in Spring Awakening as replacement for the role of Hanschen, and later had supporting roles in the Broadway productions of Bye Bye Birdie in 2009 and War Horse in 2011. He joined The Book of Mormon in 2012, replacing Nic Rouleau as Elder Price. Following a period of performing Off-Broadway and regionally, he joined the Broadway transfer of the gender-swapped production of Company in 2021 playing the role originated...
Dec 22, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Joaquina is best known for playing Nelly O'Brien in the Broadway musical Paradise Square, for which she won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for Best Actress in a Play in 2020 for portraying Kaneisha in Slave Play. In addition to her theatre work, Kalukango has appeared in One Night in Miami and When They See Us. Hosted by Ilana Levine, Produced by Alan Seales, part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...
Dec 15, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Andrea Martin is an actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series SCTV and Great News. She has appeared in films such as Black Christmas (1974), Wag the Dog (1997), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016), and Little Italy (2018). She has also lent her voice to the animated films Anastasia (1997), The Rugrats Movie (1998), and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001). Andrea has been equally prolific in the wo...
Dec 08, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Julie Taymor made history being the first female director to win a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. One of the most iconic directors of our generation, Julie is also a writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best Director and Costume Designer. Her film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 21
James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim wrote three shows together - Sunday In The Park with George , Into The Woods and Passion. In this episode of And The Award Goes To, Lapine shared what made working with Sondheim so incredible. He admits that when he first met Sondheim he was relatively new to the theater and he describes Sondheim as the person who schooled him in musical theater . "Working with Steve was fun. He is smart, fun, droll and keeps you on your toes but.. he is the most loyal friend yo...
Nov 29, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 20
“I consider myself the luckiest person in the world because my avocation is my occupation” is how Charlotte St. Martin describes what it means to be President of The Broadway League. When Charlotte St. Martin was in high school she went to see her boyfriend in the King and I and that was the beginning of her lifelong love of theater. Even in her previous job in the hospitality business in Dallas she was known as “Broadway Charlotte.” The combination of her having chaired three major trade associ...
May 11, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Tony Award winner Cady Huffman had just driven across the country to come back east after performing with Dame Edna. She has no agent and wasn’t sure what was next and then she got a phone call from a casting director asking her to do a reading for producers of a musical adaptation of the Mel Brooks film , “The Producers.” They rehearsed for just a few days and then did the reading with the glorious Ann Bancroft sitting in the front row. After they did a second reading Mel Brooks told Cady “ Kid...
May 04, 2021•44 min•Season 2Ep. 18
“Everyone needs a good mole joke” is how five time nominee and two time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy made the audience howl with laughter during her acceptance speech for her stunning portrayal of Fosca in the Sondheim/Lapine musical, Passion. According to Mr. Sondheim when he heard Donna sing at her audition he felt she could have performed in front of an audience immediately - that is how deeply connected and breathtaking she was in the role. In this episode Ms. Murphy takes listeners behind...
Apr 27, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 17
On the night John Lloyd Young won his Tony the stars who announced his category were Harry Belafonte and Glenn Close! During his emotional speech where he disclosed that his mother had died when he was only two years old, Mr. Young went on to dedicate his award to his father and spoke of the struggles they had gone through together. As a Commander in the United States military John's father was not encouraging of his son pursuing a life in the arts but after graduating from Brown University John...
Apr 20, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 16
The first Tony Awards ceremony took place on Easter Sunday in 1947. It was a small affair where awards were handed out to notable artists of the day. Some of the winners that evening included actress, Patricia Neal and playwright, Arthur Miller. The ceremony was not televised and took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The first awards handed out were a money clip for the men and a make up compact for the women. It took many years until it took the form of an actual award and t...
Apr 13, 2021•39 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Tonya Pinkins had a very complicated journey with the musical Jelly's Last Jam. From the very beginning she felt she was up against a cast that was not happy that she was replacing the original Anita in the show, she was away from home with her nine month old baby and in rehearsal she found herself holding back. But at night she would dream of what the role could be. She wanted to bring the power and vulnerability she remembered so well about her grandmother to the role but it wasn't until the f...
Apr 06, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Stephanie J. Block was no stranger to playing real people on Broadway having portrayed Liza Minnelli in The Boy From Oz so when director Jason Moore asked her to take on the role of Cher in the Broadway musical The Cher Show, she was quite trepidatious. A long meal with Jason and an unexpected nudge from her Priest changed her mind. Once rehearsals began Stephanie found herself connecting deeply and easily with the role and Cher’s life but the real test came when Cher arrived at the workshop pre...
Mar 30, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Ruben Santiago-Hudson had dreamed of being in an August Wilson from the first time he was in the audience of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He found himself crying during the play and realized he was not just deeply moved by the play and the actors in it but the tears were connected to this feeling that for the first time in his life he was seeing people on stage who were so familiar to him and he wanted to be a part of that kind of storytelling. It took a few tries but finally he was cast in Wilson’...
Mar 23, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Kristin Chenoweth first auditioned for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, having no idea which character she was reading for. It wasn’t until she got to the first day of rehearsal and she looked at the place card by her seat and it read “Kristin Chenoweth as Sally Brown.” That was the beginning of a journey that took Kristin from working actress to global star. The reaction by audiences and press alike was unprecedented. Her uniquely operatic voice, her comedic timing, her ability to portray a ch...
Mar 16, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Laura Benanti dreamed of one thing and one thing only- performing on Broadway so winning a Tony Award for her role in Gypsy was the most amazing dream come true and one of the happiest moments of her life. What people may not know is that early on in the rehearsal process she walked out feeling unsupported by the process and it wasn't until she had a deeply honest conversation with it's director, Arthur Laurents, that she returned and from that moment on it was the most joyous professional exper...
Sep 22, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 10
When BD Wong asked his parents to lend him money to fly to New York for an audition for M. Butterfly he told them he was certain he would not get the job but he could not pass up the opportunity to meet the creative team. Well we know how that story went! Having no Broadway credits he was the first actor cast in the play and was actually involved in the casting process for his co star. All these years later the now very famous actor shares intimate truths about the difficulties he had in the pro...
Sep 15, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 9
When Ilana, host of AND THE AWARD GOES TO.. had the privilege of talking to John Benjamin Hickey - the winner of The Tony Award for The Normal Heart- it was the day after Larry Kramer had died so it was so timely and beautiful to have this conversation while John was still processing this news. John first came to the role of Felix Turner in a reading for charity directed by Joel Grey. The reading was so successful that very quickly a production was mounted this time directed by George C. Wolfe. ...
Sep 08, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 8
A self described “theater junkie” Cynthia Nixon has been in love with the theater for her entire life, She was cast in her first Broadway role at the age of 14- the play was The Philadelphia Story. Her ability to inhabit a role and bring us into the world of the characters she plays with such humanity and integrity makes her one of the most celebrated actresses of her generation. In this episode of And The Award Goes To.. Cynthia takes us through what it was to take on the role of a grieving mot...
Sep 01, 2020•45 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Growing up in the midwest the seventh of eleven children- Norbert Leo Butz was surprisingly unaware of The Tony Awards. If he had practiced any speech in his bathroom mirror it most likely would have been for the Academy Awards or Grammy Awards yet here he is - a two time Tony Award winner. The win for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was such a joyous win and joyous night for Mr. Butz. It was while Norbert were starring in The Last Five Years that David Yazbek came to him and said he was writing the mus...
Aug 25, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 6
When Nikki M. James was in kindergarten her teacher invited her to sing in a school performance. It was obvious to everyone that she was exceptionally talented but what became clear to Nikki, even at this young age, was that she found her passion. That love of performing a song became her obsession and then she found Broadway! She dreamed of being a professional actress and of one day winning a Tony Award. Sure- lots of people practice their speech in the bathroom mirror but Nikki is one of thos...
Aug 18, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In 2019 Judith Light, one of the most beloved members of the Broadway community, was awarded the Isabelle Stevenson special Tony Award for her fierce advocacy on behalf of those affected by HIV AIDS and the LGBTQ+ community. Her passion for the causes she believes in , her fierce loyalty to the community she loves and her incredible passion for the arts has made her an inspiration for so many. Her ability to portray roles with her singular talent has made her an actress that every director is ho...
Aug 11, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 4
“This is a story about love” is how Arthur Laurents- writer and director of West Side Story- described the show to Karen Olivo who was cast as Anita. He went on to say “You fight because you love. The hate you feel is because you fear the thing you love will go.” On this episode of “ And The Tony Goes To…” Karen shares details about her complex and close relationship with director Arthur Laurents, with whom she connected deeply and Karen shares how she felt overwhelmed by the expectations of pla...
Aug 04, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 3
James Monroe Iglehart grew up obsessed with Disney and Robin Williams ( the Genie in the film Aladdin) was his childhood hero. At 17 his graduation gift from his mother was going to see Aladdin so clearly the role of the Genie was his destiny but there were many hurdles along the way. In this episode James describes how he fought for the role that made him a household name and a Tony Award winner plus he shares with Ilana the most amazing story of performing at The White House for Barack and Mic...
Jul 28, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In 2008 Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award. She has been nominated a total of seven times. Join host Ilana Levine and Patti as they listen to Patti’s 2008 acceptance speech and Patti takes listeners on a trip down memory lane, recounting that evening and all that led up to her second Tony win -- 28 years after her first! As an actress Patti has devoted most of her career to Broadway and with Ilana she is astonishingly candid in conversation. In this premiere episode of “ And The Tony Goes To...
Jul 20, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1
