I had my dress rehearsal with the company that afternoon. Many members of the Hairspray cast came to cheer me on. I remember seeing Bruce Vilanch sitting dead center, first row of that huge, empty auditorium. Bruce had played Edna in the road company and was now doing a stint playing her on Broadway. I’m sure he was there to support me, but it was intimidating to speak my first line, one of the most famous in all of theater, directly to someone I knew so well. Still, I somehow spat it out: “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no?”
