Listen: Lisa Howard Opens Up About Her Broadway Career On WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT Podcast

With Women's History Month in full swing, Lisa Howard (It Shoulda Been You, 9 to 5) joins Why I'll Never Make It and host Patrick Oliver Jones to talk about her first show on Broadway, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and how it's compared to those that have come after. They also discuss how both of them met in the recent production of 42nd Street at Goodspeed Opera House, which has aspirations of coming to Broadway.

The conversation primarily focuses on three stories Howard brought to the interview. The first covers 9 to 5, which she calls one of the roughest rehearsal periods she's ever gone through. During their stint at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, for example, "there was one time when [the creatives] couldn't agree on this one number, yet we had a show...so we went out, stood still and sang, and then left stage." Nonetheless, Howard says it was a dream working with the iconic Dolly Parton, whose infectious joy and homemade fudge were a highlight of the production.

The next story zeros in on Escape to Margaritaville, an admittedly fun show for the cast and of course Jimmy Buffett fans. Based on the exuberant audiences during its numerous out of town performances, Howard thought it could be the next Mamma Mia. But then it came to Broadway, where Margaritaville was roundly dismissed by critics like Jesse Green from The New York Times who said, "If ever there were a time to be drunk in the theater, this is it."

For her third story, Howard ends with a discussion of a topic that she says comes up in every interview - her size. It's even been central to her characters onstage in shows like It Shoulda Been You and Margaritaville. For this podcast interview, though, she wanted to talk about it on her own terms, saying that there has often been a need to justify why a plus-sized actor is in a leading role, but that it is slowly getting better. "Now you see more and more people of all shapes and sizes, and it doesn't have to be talked about. They're just people."

Listen to Lisa Howard's episode on Why I'll Never Make It, here:

Lisa Howard was most recently on the national tour of Wicked playing Madame Morrible. She was last on Broadway as Tammy in Escape to Margaritaville. Before that was her Drama Desk Nominated role of Jenny Steinberg in It Shoulda Been You directed by David Hyde Pierce, Diva 1 in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Head Nurse in Lincoln Center's revival of South Pacific and Rona Lisa Peretti in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which she won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Film/TV credits include: The Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Decay Ugly Betty, Power, Madame Secretary, The Good Fight, and The Gilded Age. In 2021 Lisa released a Christmas album titled The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. You can find it on all streaming platforms along with her solo CD, Songs of Innocence and Experience.

WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT is one of Feedspot's "Best Theater Podcasts to Follow" and received a 2022 Communicator Award of Distinction. This podcast comes out every other week and is hosted and produced by Off-Broadway and National Touring actor Patrick Oliver Jones (The Addams Family, Evita). WINMI Podcast has featured other amazing female artists, including actress Kate Baldwin (Big Fish, Hello Dolly), composer Georgia Stitt (Snow Child, Big Red Sun), performing artist Misty Rosas (The Mandalorian), and actress Meredith Aleigha Wells (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).