On this edition of SNAPSHOTS, I am joined by my co-host Victoria E for another round of interviews. Our next guest needs no introduction. She will be performing songs from her Broadway career, as well as from the hit show “Glee”, and will throw in a few surprises when she comes to our nation’s capital at the Warner Theatre on June 25th at 8pm.
My friends, we have award-winning actress, singer, and New York Times best-selling author Lea Michele!
Wow. That was an incredible introduction. Thank you so much.
DR: Well, it’s so wonderful to have you, especially since you’re bringing your eight-city tour to our nation’s capital. In fact, this is your very first tour since 2022 what can the audiences expect? And how do you prepare to go back on the road once again?
You know, I had my daughter in August of this past year. I took some time off prior to that, after finishing “Funny Girl”. I just felt it was really time to kind of get back on the stage and singing and performing again. I’m really excited to bring my tour to some of my favorite cities. We sing a lot of songs and tell some really great stories along the way.
I sort of go through my life in chronological order in my concert, starting with Broadway, which
I made my debut when I was eight years old. And I do songs from the Broadway shows that I
was in. I do a very big “Glee” section of some of the favorites. I’m doing a little new section in
my concert called “What would Rachel Berry do now? And I’m singing some songs that are
current, that never made it onto “Glee”, but that if it was in the air that I think Rachel Berry
would sing now. Some songs from my albums, and it’s a really fun, fun night.
I think that touring for me is the best opportunity for me to have a really intimate experience
with my audience and give them a real insight as to who I am and my personality. I want
everyone to feel like we’re at my house and we’re just singing songs together.
VE: Just saying, you look amazing!
Thank you. I really appreciate it. I have a lot of help. My mom is with my daughter right now,
and my son is at school, but, I basically haven’t slept since the summer of 2024 so it’s all good.
VE: That’s how it goes. I want to say it’s a lot better, but, it kind of ebbs and flows because I’m a mom of three, myself.
So incredible. How’s three?
VE: It goes by fast. I have one that is graduating high school, going to college.
Mazel Tov, that’s incredible.
VE: It goes by very fast. Enjoy it. Someone just said that again, “enjoy the little moments.”
I totally every time for yourself. I was giving my daughter a bath last night, who’s so happy, splashing in the tub. And I was like, “Oh, wow, she’s going to be in high school before I know it and here I am having this sweet moment with her. I really try to stop as much as I can and just soak it all in.
VE: Okay, question from one mom to another. How do you balance such a heavy workload, being in the spotlight and being a mom of multiple kids. Welcome to The Club, by the way. It’s a whole different club.
Yeah, totally different situation. First of all, I have such great support from not only my family
but my husband, and so I feel very blessed in that sense. But for me, when I choose, I’m very
specific about when I work and what I’m doing, and every single choice that I make revolves
around my children. Once I had my son, every single choice I make from the choices I make for
myself and the choices that I make professionally, they all have to do with my children.
So, if I’m doing a show, I try to make sure that it’s in an amount of time that feels doable for my
family. If I’m touring, I always like to pick cities that I think would be fun for my family. You
know, being able to be in Florida. I took my whole family to Disney World, which was so much
fun. I got to perform on a Thursday night. Then, I was in the Magic Kingdom with my kids the
next day, which is such a gift.
Going to DC and being able to show my children the world. So everything that I do, they are my
number one priority. And, it helps to keep the balance, and it makes work a lot more fun.
VE: It does, especially when you’re able to go and see a lot of different things. You could spend a long time here and still not see everything. The Smithsonian museums is great place to go, too.
I know my son will love that. That’s totally right up his alley.
VE: If you look up on the events pages, you can see they have events.
Oh, like for kids?
VE & DR: Mm, hmm, yeah, absolutely.
That’s so nice. That would be awesome. Thank you for that.
VE: So you got two tour guides right here.
I love it. Thank you!
DR: And speaking of DC, is this your first time performing in DC? And since you mentioned earlier that DC is one of your favorite cities, what will you be doing, aside from going to the Smithsonian?
For me, I just always love walking around & exploring and just waking up in the morning and
getting to kind of feeling like I live there and just be a part of the city. I think I was there last
time with Darren Criss. I’m pretty sure that we brought our tour to DC. I live in New York now,
so it’s not that far, and feels just like sort of an extension of home. I’m really excited to take my
family and be back on the stage there. It’s really just so special to be able to go to places that
are meaningful to me and that I really enjoy being at.
DR: Absolutely! Speaking of Darren Criss, its mind blowing that it’s been over 10 years since we last seen the great cast of “Glee” on our TV sets. And not only is Darren on Broadway, but we also have Jonathan Groff. So how does it feel to have all three of you performing on the Great White Way at various times?
Yes, it’s first of all, I am so proud of both Jonathan and Darren. I have seen both of their shows
two times. I truly, genuinely love their shows so much, despite the fact that they are both
incredible, but they’re they also happen to be both in some really, really incredible and special
shows.
I am so happy to have Darren in New York. He was in California for a while with his family, and
he’s one of my closest friends, and so to now have him on the East Coast is so great. And to
have our kids get to be together is really special. And then, you know, Jonathan is my best
friend in the entire world, and he is just crushing it again on Broadway. He is the Meryl Streep
of Broadway. He just goes from like one winning role to the next. If you have not seen “Just in
Time,” if you want to have the most fun Broadway experience, that is the show to go to. And
I’m so proud of the both of them. I love knowing that they are just a few streets away doing
what they love and doing it just so incredibly well, and they’re both nominated for Tony’s this
year in the same category. So, it’s very exciting!
VE: So, you were talking about having been in doing what you do since you were a kid, which is incredible, probably one of the longest acting careers I know about. It’s not very common that you start out that young and go all the way through. How has that like had an impact on you? Also, if you had to pick any other career or had an additional time to have another career. What would it be and why?
Well, I considered for a while. I mean, I’ve done this since I’m eight years old. I just celebrated
30 years of working professionally. I did my first Broadway show in Les Mis when I was eight,
which was incredible. There was really never a time for me, where I ever was, “you know, I
want to do something else”. This is just always what I’ve known that I wanted to do from the
minute I stepped foot on the stage.
But I really love to cook. I would love to be like a chef. I’m not the greatest cook, but I love it.
It’s sort of a fun form of meditation for me. I just think it would be so fun to have just a huge
kitchen that’s not my home that I can make as messy as I want to make, and get to experiment
and try different things and flavors and travel. You know, pick up from the things that I learn
around the world.
That’s something that’s just more of a personal hobby for me. I don’t know if I could actually
turn it into a career, but I feel very blessed that I’ve been able to do what I love for so long. I
know that is a great gift, to be able to do that and to have this opportunity in this world that I
love so very much. I’m very, very grateful.
VE: That’s awesome. I was listening back to some of the work from a while ago, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, your range, your ability, you could tell that you just live in it.” I can’t quite explain it, but it’s like when you just get lost in what you’re doing. We can all see that you love what you do, and it’s a deep part of who you are. But I know that’s not all who a person is.
You know, I really do. I love it so much. It is a gift that I feel like I’ve been given. I don’t take that lightly. I take very good care of myself. I know that this is a very it’s something that a lot of
people dream of doing, and I have the opportunity to do it, so I really cherish that. But it does
feel like it’s something that has been with me for so long. I kind of just fell into this business
sort of unexpectedly. And all of these stories are things that I talk about in my tour.
I talk about the first audition that I went on, and that I got the job two weeks later, and how it
was such a like a truly like a sliding doors moment in in life. And so again, I love having the
opportunity in these shows to connect with the audience and to give them insight of things,
especially also with “Glee”, because we did so many musical numbers – 800 songs on that show.
And to have the opportunity to say, “well, this is what we were feeling that day, and this is what
was going on.” It’s a great way to kind of open up that experience, and share those stories with
everyone as well.
VE: Oh, I love that. It’s funny because actually going to ask, what do you do for self-care?
As much as I can. I do all the things I think it’s so important as a working mom, whatever the
case. As women, we take as good care of ourselves as we can, whether it’s drinking as much
water as possible, eating well. I always believe it starts from within. So, to eat good food and
cook things myself, that’s what I love to do. And to get as much rest as possible, which isn’t that
possible these days, but I my biggest self-care is just doing things that make me happy and that
bring me joy.
I’m a very driven and determined person, but for so long, I think my career was always at the
forefront of my brain. Now that I’m a mom and a wife, I’m so happy to really prioritize
experiences that just bring joy into my life, and that really just fills my soul and makes me so
incredibly happy.
See Lea at the Warner Theatre for her show Lea Michele Live! June 25th at 8pm. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Click HERE to purchase them! To see if Lea’s show is coming to a town near you, go to LeaMichelle.com
Until we meet again, See you… Out There!
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