00:00So excited to talk about this new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus special, Mickey's Country Farm.
00:05You were saying you got to watch the music video that's featured in the end of the special.
00:10What was it like hearing your voice alongside the voices of these iconic characters like Mickey, Minnie, Daisy?
00:16Okay, it was a little more overwhelming than I thought it was going to be.
00:19I don't know what I expected, but when I went in to record my vocals,
00:24I put on my headphones and everybody else had already recorded their parts.
00:29So all of my heroes, like Mickey and Minnie and Daisy, were all in my ears and I started crying
00:36immediately
00:37because I've loved them my entire life and this specific show I raised my kids on, you know?
00:44So to be a part of that is something so very special that's very, very unique to Disney
00:50and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus, like, specifically.
00:54Completely. And as a mom of two kids, will you be showing them this special?
00:58Oh, these kids will not be able to escape this special, but they're not going to fight me on it.
01:04They love cartoons.
01:05And from a very early age, I mean, they were raised on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and all things Disney Junior.
01:14And I've done so many voices on Disney Junior that, and they were very aware of that from a very
01:19early age.
01:20So even when they were really young, they would try to pick me out of all the characters.
01:26And I would also play games with them saying, okay, so who does this character sound like from,
01:31like, do they sound like anybody else from a different show?
01:33So they're very, very aware that there are humans behind all of these animated characters.
01:39Your character, Lasso Lucy, gets to sing the Hoedown Throwdown.
01:42Do the hoedown.
01:44Throwdown.
01:45Do the hoedown.
01:46Throwdown.
01:47Do the hoedown.
01:49Throwdown.
01:49Throw it all together.
01:50That's how we roll.
01:51As a Hannah Montana fan, this was just absolutely iconic for me.
01:55You just said many amazing things in that sentence.
01:58Yes.
02:00Uh-huh.
02:01Yeah, sorry.
02:02No, exactly.
02:02And were you familiar with the Hoedown Throwdown before getting this role?
02:07Okay, I'm embarrassed to say that I was not, but hear me out.
02:10I'm just a little bit older than the Hannah Montana demographic when it was so, like, iconic,
02:19you know, when it came out.
02:20I was just a little bit too old for that.
02:23So now, but I'm a huge Miley Cyrus fan.
02:28Like, huge, huge, huge.
02:29So, um, so now I am very, very aware of the Hoedown Throwdown and how famous it is.
02:36Um, and so basically me and Miley are, like, the same.
02:40Now that we've done the same song, yeah.
02:44Completely.
02:45Completely.
02:45I can see a concert special.
02:47Absolutely.
02:47What I saw Lucy and Hannah Montana.
02:49Absolutely, right?
02:51Yeah, I'm glad you see it too.
02:52Do you have a favorite Disney character or Disney princess?
02:55Oh, um, like, in general or one that I've done?
02:59Both.
03:00Um, one of my favorites, uh, is Casey the Koala in Tots.
03:06Um, I loved getting to sing so many of those really excellent songs.
03:12And there was something so, um, so loving about that character, uh, that I love playing.
03:18And just the other day, I was, I was in Orlando doing, um, like, a master class and, like, a
03:24talkback with some theater kids.
03:25And this mom came up to me afterwards with her other daughter who was really little.
03:29And she made me a fly pad and, like, a little walkie-talkie that my character made.
03:34And she was like, this show is really special to us because she was nonverbal before she watched Tots.
03:40And the songs that Casey sang got her to speak.
03:44So, like, that's what these Disney Junior, uh, shows are all about.
03:49Like, they're really connecting to kids in a really deep and impactful way.
03:53So, it's really, really thrilling to be a part of them for that reason as well.
03:59Completely.
04:00That's so beautiful.
04:01Yeah.
04:01And your TV career has included a slew of recent voiceover work, like this special.
04:07Do you have hopes or plans to do more, like, physical on-screen work in the future?
04:11Um, I don't, there's nothing solid for physical on-screen stuff.
04:17But everything right now is about my concerts and cartoons.
04:21Those are my favorite things to do.
04:22So, um, and it's so funny because one of them is very live and very present.
04:27And one of them is very, um, uh, controlled.
04:32And what I love about voiceover stuff is when I get in the booth with the engineer and the director,
04:37and we can get really technical and specific about, like, different vocal qualities
04:42and, like, imagining what these characters are.
04:45Like, some of my favorite things are being a utility character, uh, or utility actor in, in these cartoons
04:52where I get to do, like, little tiny, like, lines and imagine what this character would sound like.
04:59Like, we get to dream up those things together.
05:01So it's really, really artistically fulfilling, too.
05:05So I'm kind of staying on this, like, cartoons and, and concerts path, um, for right now.
05:11And you had such tremendous success with Death Becomes Her.
05:14Are there any other movies that you would like to adapt into a Broadway musical?
05:18Do you know, that was the only one that, that, like, years ago, someone asked me,
05:23if you could make one movie into a musical, what would it be?
05:26And I was like, oh, it would be Death Becomes Her.
05:29And these are the reasons why.
05:30And they were like, oh my gosh.
05:31They just announced they started making it.
05:34And I was like, well, see, I'm not totally crazy.
05:38Um, so, I don't know.
05:40That's one of the few that, like, really come to mind because it's so grand.
05:45And I don't want to say over the top, but the stakes are so high that it makes sense that
05:49they're singing.
05:50You know, you never question it in Death Becomes Her because they're also, like, dead and trying to kill each
05:57other at the same time.
05:57I mean, there's so many, like, wild things that, like, of course they're singing.
06:01Um, yeah.
06:03So I don't know.
06:04That's a long-winded answer for, I don't know.
06:07Because I already did the one that I thought should be made a musical.
06:10All good.
06:11And another one of your iconic roles is Ivy Lynn on Smash.
06:16I guess, where do you see her now?
06:18Have you ever thought about where she might be now?
06:21I think about Ivy Lynn more than I should.
06:23Because it's been a long time since I played her.
06:26But wouldn't it be interesting to pick that show up now, find out if she had her kid, and how
06:32that played in her, like, life of an actress, like a theater actress in New York?
06:38You know, I think that that would be very interesting.
06:41I think it would be very interesting to do a spin-off.
06:45Yeah, I think it would be so interesting to, like, pick up right now, now that, like, we've jumped ahead,
06:50what, 15 years?
06:51Is it 15 years?
06:53I don't know, it's been a long time.
06:54She'd have a, she'd have a kid, like, my daughter's age.
06:58Oh, that's wild.
07:00Yeah.
07:01Yes, I do think about it.
07:02I was going to say, because obviously the show was then adapted into a musical on Broadway.
07:08Do you see it in, like, a movie form, another TV series form?
07:12Um, no, I just very clearly see it as, like, like a smash part two.
07:18Like, same, same girls, 15 years later.
07:22Yeah.
07:22Definitely.
07:23And have you been in touch with any of your co-stars?
07:25Have you remained in contact with any of them?
07:26I have.
07:27Yeah, I love everybody.
07:28We had such a great time on, on that show.
07:30Um, and everybody's gone in such different directions.
07:33Um, yeah, no, I, I do keep in contact with people.
07:37Looking through your career, and this is also in the realm of Disney,
07:40I remembered that you were on an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
07:44Did you see that?
07:45Yes.
07:45Oh my goodness.
07:47Sorry to bother you, but I was thinking since your mother moved out,
07:49you might be needing a nice home-cooked meal.
07:52It's lasagna.
07:53I've layered the cheeses alphabetically.
07:56Asiago, brie, cheddar, duffel-rumschtuffel.
07:58I think that was my first, like, TV job.
08:00It was either that or The Closer.
08:02Uh, two very different shows.
08:04Um, but yes, I loved that job so very much.
08:08I learned so much, because that was a sitcom that was,
08:11and my part was filmed without an audience,
08:14so that was wild to go and do without the audience laughing, you know.
08:21Um, but it was so, they were so wonderful.
08:23They were so kind, and I had the greatest time.
08:26Yeah, I was so nervous.
08:28And back to Mickey's Country Farm.
08:29Is there a lesson that you hope that viewers, young kids,
08:32take away from this special?
08:34I love that, uh, that Lucy is meeting her idol, um, and, uh,
08:40oh no, Daisy is meeting her idol, Lucy, um,
08:44and that she does not disappoint her.
08:46Just like Miss Dolly Parton, if she's your idol,
08:49she does not disappoint when you meet her, you know.
08:51So, I hope, I hope that, um, that it inspires little kids to,
08:58to, like, look up to people and to, um, and to follow their dreams.
09:04That's awesome.
09:05Yeah.
09:05And is there another Disney project that you'd like to work on next,
09:08or that you'd hope to ever work on?
09:10There is a Disney project that I want to work on,
09:12but I'm not going to tell anybody what it is,
09:14because I'm not ready to put it out there right, right now.
09:18But there is, there is a Disney project that I would very much like to be a part of.
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