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[0:00] Cady Huffman: Hi, this is Cady Huffman and you're listening to And The Award Goes To...

[0:23] Ilana Levine: Have you ever dreamed of winning a Tony Award? Did you ever practice your Tony acceptance speech in the bathroom mirror? Did you grow up watching the Tony Awards every year? Do you have a collection of Tony Award shows on VHS tape that you refuse to throw out? Well then this is the podcast for you. Every week I interview your favorite Tony Award winners and together we go down memory lane as my guests share intimate and never before shared details about their Tony experience. By the end of every episode you're going to feel like you just won a Tony. Welcome to And The Tony Goes To... I'm your host Ilana Levine. Welcome today's Tony winner Cady Huffman.

[1:09] Cady Huffman: And the 2001 Tony is awarded to Cady Huffman. There's so many of you. I have been practicing this speech since I was about eight years old now I can't remember what to say. God, Mel Brooks, genius. Susan Stroman, the genius. Nathan Lane and my sweet Leo Matthew Broderick. It's such a privilege and a pleasure every single night. My husband for having foresight and loving me and the entire cast is so wonderful and our designers and our collaborators and oh it's just great. This is great. I have to thank Laura and Cindy for getting me through it every night. The faculty of GATA, my mother and my brothers and and I'm going to sing Fiddy Lif for remembering me and I just love everybody. Thank you so much. Cady Huffman. Oh what a dork. But you're my dork. I'm all yours, girl.

[2:21] Ilana Levine: Can you just share whatever came through your mind while you were listening to that incredible speech?

[2:28] Cady Huffman: Yeah, it made me a little sweaty.

[2:30] Ilana Levine: Is the heat on in your house right now?

[2:34] Cady Huffman: Yeah, it's a little, that's very interesting to hear that again. Yeah, and to think about not being married anymore. You know, I remembered, um, you know, and my name was Cole. I remember a lot of things, but I remember, you know, if you go up there, you don't forget to kiss your husband. And I literally like stood up, sat down, kissed my husband and got up again, you know, because you just don't want to forget the right protocol.

[3:01] Ilana Levine: Right. It's interesting because I've only ever seen it. So listening to it is different. But yeah, I mean, it brings back so much stuff. My short platinum blonde hair, my $1.2 million worth of Harry Winston jewels. Pamela Dennis made me a gown and asked if she could dress me that night.

[3:25] Cady Huffman: Wow. Yeah, sure. You know, doing a matinee that day, having 45 minutes to get ready and get over to Radio City. Yeah, there's a lot that comes back. Shoot.

[3:43] Ilana Levine: Well, I want to just for the one listener who may not know, Cady won for a show called The Producers. That was the role of Ula. Her co-stars were Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, among a host of other incredibly talented people. And, you know, for those of us who were lucky enough to be in New York at the time, The Producers was an incredible Broadway sensation and it was impossible to get a ticket for. And it was the who's who. Like the night I went, Julia Roberts was to my right and someone even more famous was to my left. And that was just what it was every night. And I guess what I'd love to know, because I have so many questions for you, especially about your look. If anyone hasn't seen the show and goes online and looks at photographs of Cady in this play, so much of Ula is also my memory is of that incredible white dress, all of the things that went into creating this long lasting iconic woman that you won an award for playing and creating.

[5:00] Cady Huffman: Well, I tell you, I mean, it's yeah, it was quite it was really fun. It was super, super fun. And of course, you start rehearsing a new musical before you meet with designers, right? They sort of need to see what you're doing. So when it came to the particularly the dress, William Ivey Long could see that I'm well, I'm doing a back walk over off of the desk and landing in the splits. So it's not just a dress, you know, it needs to be something to do gymnastics in, right? And it needs to look like a dress. So he got a bathing suit, like a wrap bathing suit. And as a as the pattern, and that seemed to be best for the look of the dress, you know, it could still look like a dress. And then he just wrapped the skirt part and knotted it. You know, the great thing working with designers is you can just stand there in front of a mirror. And they just make it look exactly right for my body, right? Which is so that was a two piece costume.

[6:16] Ilana Levine: No, it was a one piece costume that they created with two pieces.

[6:21] Cady Huffman: Got it. Got it. Because they built a whole new, you know, they that the bathing suit and the wrap were just the mockup event. And then they go build the real thing. Okay. And then of course, there's Paul Huntley, who did my wigs. And he taught me a lot about what color platinum blonde works for me. You know, like you just think platinum blonde is platinum blonde. But for me, he built like, my god, I can't I don't even know how expensive those wigs were. They are so beautiful and long and luxuriant. And but I looked so real, so real, like so many people because my hair was quite short back then. And, you know, I would almost get in trouble for being places after the show, except it'd be somebody else who had long hair, you know, it was like, wasn't there.

[7:04] Ilana Levine: Unrecognizable.

[7:05] Cady Huffman: Yeah, I could walk out. I could walk out the stage door and most people didn't know who I was. But so he created an ashy. My, my skin tone requires an ashy blonde as opposed to like a yellow blonde. So this started out, I would imagine the way most new Broadway musicals I mean, obviously, this had been a film that you're creating with the director, Susan Stroman, and Mel Brooks, the the musical first stage and, and you, it began as a reading or a workshop. Is that right?

[8:00] Cady Huffman: Oh, my gosh, um, it began, I got a phone call at a time in my life when I had just driven across the country to move back to New York with my husband at the time, I had just been an understudy in Steel Pier. And that had closed. And now I was a performer. I just finished performing with Dame Edna. I was one of her Edna Ettes. So and I didn't have an agent, I didn't have anything we I was on strike for commercials, like, it was just like, all right, here, I live in Jersey City, where we bought a house because that was the only place we could afford to buy. And I get a phone call from Vinnie Liff, may he rest in peace. And he says, Hey, Cady, you know, Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman are wondering if you would consider reading the role of Ula for just a just a reading for backers of, you know, musical based on the producers.

And in my head, I'm thinking, Oh, dancing around in a bikini, because by this time, I'm in my 30s. And instead of saying that to Vinnie, I say, yes. So back then, in those days, he said, Well, bring me all of your press stuff from the Will Rogers Follies. So I had to go across the river, hand him things in Manhattan, because there was no internet at that time. And he was the casting director, and he's going to show all of this to Susan Stroman and Mel Brooks and the team.

[9:11] Ilana Levine: Exactly. And he did. And they said, Okay, yeah, you're going to do this reading. So we spent four or five days rehearsing, you know, everything was brand spanking new. Of course, Mel had been thinking about his Academy Award winning movie for the past, you know, 50 years, whatever it was, right. And it was in the 60s. And this was the early 2000s, right?

[9:36] Cady Huffman: Yes. It was 2000. It was April 9 2000 was our readings. And he had set the whole thing back a decade. So now we're doing it more 50s and 60s. So it was very, my role particularly was very different than the role in the movie. Thank God, because she was 19 years old when she did. Yes. Lee Meredith. Yes. And of course, I got to meet her during this whole thing. And she's still just perfection. You know, yeah. But yeah, so we rehearsed a few days. And, and then we did in this in a crappy studio that doesn't even exist anymore. We had all the chairs lined up with all the grumpy looking suits and Anne Bancroft was about three feet off my left knee. And we did this the first reading and the audience is just blue in the face.

They're so they're laughing so hard, which never happens, you know, they can be a tough audience. Yeah. And after that first reading, actually, what I heard later from Mel was that Rocco Landesman came up to him after that first reading and said, it offered him the St. James theater on the spot. And then after the second reading, Mel came up to me and said, kid, when it goes, you're in. And he meant it. And he meant it.

[11:01] Ilana Levine: Oh, my God. Well, let's go back because you're walking into a room with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, the the, you know, quintessential Broadway comedy couple. And I can't recall now, if that was the beginning of their comedy partnership, or, or one of many that had already happened. Can you recall where that marriage that acting marriage had begun?

[11:28] Cady Huffman: I think that was the beginning. But Matthew was not involved in that first reading.

[11:33] Ilana Levine: Oh, who who did who was who? Do we tell that kind of thing? I don't even know.

[11:39] Cady Huffman: Oh, well, you know, but it was a really lovely actor named Evan Pappas wrote read Leo Bloom. Okay.

[11:48] Ilana Levine: What's that? But Nathan was there.

[11:54] Cady Huffman: Nathan was there. Gary Beach. Was Roger Bart part of that?

[11:56] Cady Huffman: Nope. It was Mario Cantone. And but Jennifer Smith was there. Like there were a few people there who did end up in the Broadway cast. But yeah, it was so that there. That was kind of one of the fun things for me was that I've been involved with it since the very first reading, the very first reading. And when you are at that very first reading, if you can recall, what, how does Susan Stroman, the great Susan Stroman, who directed it, and also was the choreographer, which isn't always the case? What does she say to you guys? Like, what world does she create for you? And how does a Susan Stroman production begin on the first day? So you all know where you are?

[12:42] Cady Huffman: You're talking about the reading or the show? The reading even just the beginning of that process. You know, it's, it's funny, because Mel Brooks creates a Mel Brooks environment. You know, I don't remember ever not understanding that comedy environment. Right. So I think that, you know, the smart thing that the first thing is to cast it well. Yeah, with people who are just willing to live in that world. And then once it was Matthew and Nathan, and I again, I'm sitting in Susan's apartment with me, Susan, Mel, Matthew and Nathan. That's it. That's who's sitting there reading it for the first time with Matthew. Yeah, yeah. And it's and we really it was one of those things where Matthew and Nathan knew

[13:40] Cady Huffman: What it was, and they cast the other principals, I think, very well. And then it just sort of infused all the way through. The smartest thing was, you know, Susan's so smart about how to make something look like a big Broadway musical. How to encourage that. And yeah, I think she just, she stayed out of our way for the most part, and then could just help us make it look spectacular.

[14:15] Ilana Levine: As someone who was obviously spectacularly gifted, but hadn't yet had all the opportunities that Nathan and Matthew had up until that point, did you feel like you could just jump in with your ideas and kind of be spontaneous with them? Were you intimidated? I mean, Ula is such a sexy, confident, intelligent, crafty person. And held her own completely, if not more so, as a trio, the three of you. It felt like singing in the rain, right? Like it had that kind of effortless power when the three of you were together. How did you feel?

[15:02] Cady Huffman: You know, both those fellas, as different as they are, I mean, the polar opposites, you know, Nathan comes in with a clean script. Nothing highlighted, no note-taking, and knows what he's going to do. He has everything memorized, and Matthew, you're not sure if he's ever cracked open the script when he gets there. You know, it's like all very spontaneous. So what happened really, as I think back, is Matthew just delighted Nathan. Like he just was so delighted with the stuff that Matthew would come up with. And I was really so surprised at how funny Matthew was, you know? I knew how funny Nathan was, but I'd never, I'd seen Matthew in movies mostly, but he was super funny before, during, and after rehearsals. You know, it's like he's just super funny. So I remember the sort of delight with Nathan, and the delight they had toward each other. And again, that just loosens the whole room when your stars are that happy.

[16:14] Cady Huffman: Yeah. There was just a real happiness in the room. And again, it was that the world made sense to me. You know, that was a world, I just, I understood the rhythms of that comedy. So I don't remember being nervous about my acting. I was much more nervous about what to say to them between, you know, as people. I love Ferris Bueller, it was really good. You know, all that stuff.

[16:46] Ilana Levine: Yes, singing Hakuna Matata whenever you can.

[16:49] Cady Huffman: Exactly. But obviously, at some point, that goes away, and you become colleagues.

[16:57] Cady Huffman: Yeah, well, really, yeah. And those guys are theater beasts, right? They're just theater beasts. They do not come into a room expecting to be treated with kid gloves or to be kowtowed to. You know, the only time I'd go, I remember driving Nathan a little crazy, because I just kept on, there was a blip in my scene where I was like, what was that line? And he would just sort of twitch whenever I'd be like a beat behind. And I finally said, stop it. He goes, perfect pitch, you know. So he works extremely hard. As long as you're working hard, he's happy.

[17:46] Cady Huffman: The dance that you do, I mean, if you got it, flaunt it. It is, you know, silly, but it's hilarious. The dance that goes with that is hilarious and really sexy. It's all the things. How much of that was a combination of you and Stro working on it together? And how much of it was her creating it and teaching it to you, step by step?

[18:16] Cady Huffman: Oh, I tell you, the whole thing was a collaboration, even when I got to my first rehearsal for the reading with Glenn. Okay, there goes the name. I'm in my 50s, everybody. Oh, boy. Glenn Miller Band. What are you doing? There it is. Anyway, it'll pop in my mind and I'll suddenly yell it out. Okay, that sounds good.

[18:46] Ilana Levine: And I've only worked with him a few times since, you know, that's all.

[18:49] Cady Huffman: Yes, fair enough. This is a lot of pressure, this podcast. I get it.

[18:55] Ilana Levine: I know I should have studied. I should have studied.

[18:58] Cady Huffman: What was his position on the show?

[19:01] Cady Huffman: He was the one writing down all the music for Mel. He was creating the dance numbers. He was, you know, he was helping Mel write down all the songs because Mel wrote all the songs. He would call Glenn and go, hey, Glenn, that face, that face, that wonderful face, you know, and then Glenn would have to write that down. That's a great job.

[19:27] Cady Huffman: Well, I tell you, Glenn Kelly. Yeah, and he's such a beautiful musician and such a sweet man. But the very first time we rehearsed it, he said, no, Katie, don't worry about it. It's a throwaway song. Mel knows it's a throwaway song. So just sing it. And I was like in my head going, no, I don't want to sing a throwaway song. So I had sort of made a whole story in for myself to sing it where, you know, it's her first audition in New York. So she starts out quite shy and quiet and then gains confidence throughout until finally I just opened my mouth and belted the lights out. And then it's like, yeah. And I think it was actually Glenn who came up with now dance. You know, those things were not in there. So firstly, the whole song was a bit of a collaboration just to create the story of it.

[20:29] Cady Huffman: And then Susan and I had worked together, but I was an understudy when I worked with her. So she wasn't setting anything on me. So it was very much collaborative. Like what can I even do? You know, she didn't wasn't that familiar with what I knew. Right. So I'm like, well, I think I can do a flip off the desk and land in the splits, you know. Yeah. So it was she definitely had the shape and she knew what she wanted. And then any great choreographer. And I've been extremely fortunate to work with a few. They make it suit your dancer, your performer, you know, you know, that show the way Hamilton, you know, is in more recent history. I mean, I joked about Julia Roberts to my right and someone more famous to my left, probably a president.

[21:16] Ilana Levine: You must have had a who's who backstage every night. I mean, it was because not only was it so wonderful, it was so joyous and so intoxicating that I'm sure people wanted to come backstage and keep the party going. Were there people who you got to meet at that time that were exciting for you?

[21:37] Cady Huffman: Oh, my God. Constantly. That first year when Nathan and Matthew were still in it. Yeah. Yeah. Like nightly. But again, I my dressing was at the stage door. It was on stage level at the stage door. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I could hear everybody coming in. And then they would usually go upstairs to Nathan and downstairs to Matthew. But I could always, like, pop out my head if I wanted to, you know. So who would you pop your head out for?

[22:11] Cady Huffman: Well, I popped my head out for Harvey Korman was the most, most important because I was certain I was going to marry Harvey Korman growing up. And he's the literally the only celebrity who recognized me as Ula because of my short hair. Like I opened the door because I could hear him and he just opened his arms and said, Ula. And I said, Oh, my God, you know, one of my geeky moments. I was certain I was going to marry. He was like, Jesus, my kids are here. I never keep your wig on a little longer just so that you wouldn't have that moment of being like, I was I was actually was sometimes there was there were a couple of big time directors backstage who were chit chatting. I'm like, Hi, I'm Katie Huffman.

And they're like, I wanted to say, assholes. I just funny thing. I was just in a show tonight. You just saw me in a show five minutes ago. But anyway, and then the really beautiful there were so many beautiful moments. But another time I opened up my door and invited Robin Williams in with his son. Oh, my God. I mean, just the sweetest man and his son is a doppelganger. And, you know, just just to have just be alone. He's, you know, humbly asking questions. His son's like looking around. And I mean, God, I meant to sit in a room with Robin Williams and his son. Greatness. Yeah. Yeah.

[23:53] Ilana Levine: You know, when you're in a show like that, it's so hard to know sometimes which parts are going to be plucked out by Tony nominators. When I saw you in the show, it was such a no brainer to me that that would happen for you. Because you were the most compelling, gorgeous, exciting creature on that stage. The only woman. But, you know, it would have been heartbreaking had you not at least been nominated. I mean, really, you would have felt awful. I mean, that would be I mean, 80 women with walkers standing and they were all fantastic. But did you have that expectation as you were doing it? You know, for those of you who don't know, Katie had been nominated for Will Rogers Follies like 10 years.

Every 10 years you enjoy it. Yeah, I do pretty well. So was there an expectation having been through it before? Did you kind of go, OK, I'm going to wake up this time and kind of well, there was definitely that wake up moment. You're absolutely right, because 10 years earlier, I was in my 20s and utterly oblivious, was not expecting it at all and had had not been nominated for anything else. Right. Whereas when when it happened to all of us in the producers, we were all getting nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, the drama, the drama. What do we get? And you were winning. Yeah, we were getting those nominations and winning, yes. I mean, it was a little crazy. Yeah, it's crazy.

[25:30] Cady Huffman: So and I hired a publicist, you know, I just played it differently than I had 10 years prior. I was a little more present, a little older. You know, it's like, well, this doesn't come around every it comes around maybe once a decade. Right. I'm going to be tired and enjoy it. Yeah. And just be more present. And I tell you, because it was such a crazy hit, it made the whole cast extremely close because we had there was such a hurricane going on, like just a tornado going on around us. And we were just sitting in the eye of it, like what is going on? So it was like the safe place to be was together, you know, as a cast, because once you went out there and started doing interviews and all that stuff, it was like it was just crazy.

So, you know, we were all going through it together and really so quite fortunately, literally everyone who could have been nominated was nominated. Yeah. So there was no one left out. But yeah, it was I guess I have to confess that. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it would have been a huge disappointment to not be nominated because that's how the trajectory was going. Yeah. Right. And did you guys when you say hang out like I feel like I remember seeing you guys out at Angus or wherever people were hanging out post show at the time, were you social with each other or were you too exhausted after work to go out?

[27:10] Cady Huffman: No, absolutely. We were out a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I may be. I mean, I used to force myself to lay down.

[27:19] Cady Huffman: It was such an adrenaline rush to go through that. Yeah. So yeah, definitely. It was a big old love fest, you know, we all were doing our best to hang out as much as we possibly could. And we had friends at other shows. And yeah, I mean, please, I was still young enough. Now I think about Oh, how would I do it? It'd be like grandma would be like, Alright, good night, kids. You know? Yeah, I got to do it again tomorrow. Okay. I need these 15 hours.

[27:59] Ilana Levine: Not only did you become, you know, Broadway famous, you were one of the few actresses who then went on to recreate your play, your role in a show on a TV show, because then you're on Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David, like that's so crazy. How long were you still in the show in New York when that happened?

[28:17] Cady Huffman: I was Yes, I was. How does that work? Yeah. Well, uh, it was interesting. It was a ball. I mean, I've never had an easier, more fun job than Curb Your Enthusiasm, because you don't even have to learn any lines. I love that. Yeah. But you know, I got a couple days off, I went to Los Angeles and shot some scenes and had a frickin ball.

[28:41] Ilana Levine: Was he literally was it did it line up with him doing The Producers in LA? Was that a real thing? Or is that a made up thing?

[28:48] Cady Huffman: Totally made up? Okay, I cannot imagine him doing the show. But boy, oh boy, people wanted tickets to that show. People were coming up and it would sell out. We shot some in Los Angeles where that's where Martin Short and Jason Alexander were playing it. So they shot some of that show and us in that theater or them in that theater. And then we shot again in the St. James with the Broadway cast with Larry and Schwimmer playing the parts, right? That was that was in New York. So we shot in both places. So fun. Yeah. I mean, I can't even tell you how much fun that show is. It's just like those guys, Larry David, Larry Charles, you know, Bob Whitey, all those guys, Jane. What's his name? Good old what's the Glenn Miller band? The Glenn Miller band. We're all there.

[29:49] Ilana Levine: Love him. I love that. They're gonna go places. Let me tell you. I need to just ask you like just Mel Brooks memories like things he said to you while you were creating the role or during rehearsal or obviously what a confident way to start something with like someone go when this goes kid you're going with it like it's what greater stamp of approval could there be but story shared or or things he told you about the part specifically that that resonated for you?

[30:24] Cady Huffman: Well, you know, he really was the writer, you know, he really did take that role. So he's in rehearsal all the time. He and Tom Meehan were in rehearsal, but quietly. You know, there was no reason for them to jump in. He was not directing it. But if something needed to be done, you know, they would absolutely interact with us. The funner part was going out and having meals with him and him telling us about Zero Mostel and, you know, and in ribbing Lee Meredith, you know, yeah, go wake up, go wake up Zero. Yeah. You know, and then Zero chasing Lee around the room. Right. You know, he had the fun, the really fun stories were about people like Madeline Kahn. And Gene. You know, you know, Gene Wilder. Gene Wilder in the Glenn Miller band. He was the lead singer. Thank you. Yeah, you know, that guy. And we also got to meet Gene Wilder backstage.

[31:29] Ilana Levine: Was he very was he very shy? I was picturing him as being or not.

[31:35] Cady Huffman: I would not call him shy at all. I would call him quiet. And so generous. You know, and particularly he went down to Matthew's room and Matthew relayed to us his conversation with Gene Wilder and just how incredibly sweet and special it was. But I wouldn't call him shy. No. Okay. Okay. Um, yeah. And was Ann Bancroft around from all the time?

[32:08] Cady Huffman: You know, sometimes I felt like because I was the only woman, you know, I, you know, amongst the boys, I would hear it through the grapevine that Ann would be like, Katie should do blah, blah, blah, you know, so there were like, two or three times where I got notes. And I heard that it was through Annie. So I, you know, she became kind of my angel. And she found out that I was half Italian, you know, so you're half Italian. That's the talented part, you know. Wow. Yeah. And she told the story of how she fell in love with Mel. And, you know, please, it was just like a constant. I met through I met Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and Angus, you know, through them. It was just amazing. I'm getting exhausted just remembering everything that went on. Yeah.

[33:09] Ilana Levine: So constant. Yeah. Well, Katie Huffman, that is a performance that when I and right now there are many days where I'm not feeling as cheerful as I have in the past, just putting on that original Broadway cast album and hearing you on it. I mean, there are so many things I could share with our listeners about what you have meant to me in my personal life and ways in which you got me through so many dancing things.

[33:37] Cady Huffman: Alana Levine, I wish this was that podcast. All I want to talk about is Velvet Elvis and you teaching me to be the best stripper I could be.

[34:11] Cady Huffman: My husband.

[34:14] Ilana Levine: That's it.

[34:15] Cady Huffman: I don't think they gave us a whole lot of tickets.

[34:19] Ilana Levine: Now you'd be like, I need 25.

[34:21] Cady Huffman: Yeah, but they're, they're pretty stingy. I remember, you know, a lot of these things, they were like, only the only the award nominee gets a ticket. And we were like, well, then we're not coming. You know, I'm not gonna sit here by myself.

[34:34] Ilana Levine: That seems awful. Okay, so you brought your husband at the time. Who gave you your Tony? Who was the presenter?

[34:43] Cady Huffman: Doris Roberts.

[34:46] Ilana Levine: Doris Roberts.

[34:47] Cady Huffman: Yeah, everybody loves Raymond's Doris Roberts. Everybody loves Raymond's Doris Roberts. How sweet is that?

[34:50] Ilana Levine: Before we go, I just have to ask you a couple of questions. It's something that you will know the answers to every one of that, I am sure. But are you ready? Are you ready for this lightning round? Okay. Who was with you? Who did you give your Tony tickets to on Tony night?

[34:53] Ilana Levine: That's really sweet. She's so beloved.

[34:57] Cady Huffman: Beloved and again, a theater beast, you know, an actual theater beast.

[35:03] Ilana Levine: Yeah, people will write in so angry with me that the credit I use was everybody loves Raymond instead of her 40 Broadway credits.

[35:11] Cady Huffman: Truly, like what do people know?

[35:14] Ilana Levine: Exactly. Now, you mentioned it earlier, the idea of the diamonds in the dress, but tell me a little bit about what you wore and, and how you felt in what you were wearing.

[35:25] Cady Huffman: Yeah, oh, well, I mean, you know, I have this brother who's a writer, and he's, he's a real individual person. He is just a unique person. And I said, you know, I have to go the Tonys like, call Pamela Dennis, like, okay, was that specific? It was that specific. He's like, that's who you're gonna go with. That's who's gonna make your dress. Wow. Okay, I'll call Pamela Dennis. Um, yeah, then she made me this super sexy, plunging neckline, plunging back.

[35:59] Ilana Levine: Would you feel sure?

[36:03] Cady Huffman: Oh, my God, it was. You know, I was in such great shape at that time, you know, doing eight shows a week, really, it's the eight a week diet too. You just are losing dancing, dancing, ballet classes, just like a constant, you know, so I guess I felt great. Because I didn't have any time to think about it. But yeah, and then Harry Winston, you know, these guys coming in with handcuffs to their briefcases. And did you have a bodyguard all night?

[36:40] Cady Huffman: I had a bodyguard, John, who we lost when I won. And then I had to perform right after I won. So apparently he was wandering around and my dresser and I are looking, you know, I have to take off $1.2 million or $1.4 million worth of diamonds, we just stare at them, and she just scoops them up and puts them in her apron.

[37:04] Ilana Levine: And finds his way. Yeah, what was it like? This is this was not meant to be in the lightning round question. But it's so rare that I talked to someone who won and then performed versus vice versa. What was that like to win your Tony? Get out of the Pamela Dennis get into the William I be wrong. Like a winning Tony winner.

[37:23] Cady Huffman: It was hilarious. Because, okay, here's the thing. We won every single Tony Award we could possibly win. Right? I think it's 12. Yeah. So we had already just won everything. So everybody's coming backstage to you know, we were seeing the ensemble members and their costumes. We're all you know, Nathan and Matthew and Gary and Roger and, you know, Brad, we're all getting into costume and just like giddy, right? That's like, what just happened? Just want everything. Yeah. Come to talk to people. After that, like wasn't that the greatest Tony Awards ever? And everybody else was like, No, you won everything. It was no fun for anybody.

[38:11] Ilana Levine: Oh, right.

[38:13] Cady Huffman: If you're not in The Producers, not as much fun. Got it. Notice.

[38:19] Ilana Levine: Yeah, I'll just shut up now. Thanks. Yes. And then you get back into your Pamela Dennis and you put the diamonds back on and you're going to more parties and you end up you know, getting home. You know, I mean, I gave back the jewels I believe after the first party, you know, the formal party I was like, please just take these away. I cannot have this responsibility hanging around my ears and my and then I and then we all went to like Scotty and Mark's loft got into jeans and t shirts at home at like seven o'clock.

[38:50] Cady Huffman: Scott Whitman. Yes. And yes. And Mark Shaman.

[38:56] Ilana Levine: So, so where's your Tony?

[39:00] Cady Huffman: Yeah, she's currently on my mantle.

[39:04] Ilana Levine: Nice. So you can see her every day you can you can visit with her.

[39:06] Cady Huffman: Yeah, funny. You should say it because I didn't always have her out. And then something really crappy happened in this business. Imagine that. Imagine something. I never heard a story like that. I know. I couldn't believe it. Weird. I was like, I'm getting that girl out. And I'm gonna look at her every single day because you know what that happened.

[39:27] Ilana Levine: Yeah. And no one can take that away from you. Ever. Heck no. Wow. Katie Huffman. You are one of my heroes. I am in awe of everything you do. And I am so so thankful to have had you on the show today. And here's to future episodes where we celebrate more wonderful performances and accolades and, and your heart, which is equal to your incredible talent.

[39:55] Cady Huffman: Ilana, I love you so much. And I am just awed at you and what you're doing with your two podcasts. And just everything is just amazing. I'd love your have your gorgeous kids and husband your life is. I don't know. I just love you. And I miss you.

[40:13] Ilana Levine: I miss you too. Well, here's to seeing each other soon. And thank you for being on the pod today. Thank you.

[40:22] Ilana Levine: And the Tony goes to is produced by Alan Seales for the Broadway Podcast Network. The music and lyrics for the theme song were written by Georgia Famosa. Theme song orchestration by Alexander Sage Oyen. Episodes are edited by Derek Gunther. Thank you to Parody Bill for the graphics. And please don't forget to go to the iTunes show page and rate and review the show. Thanks for listening. Excerpt from the Tony Awards used with permission of Tony Awards productions.