Interview: Ilana Levine Previews a New Season of AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

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?

"AND THE TONY GOES TO..." is the podcast for you. Every week actress and podcast host Ilana Levine interviews your favorite Tony Award winners and together they go down memory lane as guests share intimate and never before shared details about their Tony experience.

You will hear their reactions as they listen to their Tony speech again and feel like you are reliving the experience with them. Tears are shed- laughs are shared and it is a rare glimpse into what it really is to sit in Radio City and hear your name called and all the emotion and relief that comes with that rare moment where fantasy and reality come together and the thing you have wished for your whole life has just come true and suddenly you have to walk down an aisle and step up on that stage and try to put into words how much this award means to you.

By the end of each episode listeners will feel like THEY have just won a Tony!

The second season premieres tomorrow, March 17, with Kristin Chenoweth, and before it does, we're checking in with Ilana for the inside scoop on what's to come!

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You're already well-known in the podcast world, having created well over 200 episodes of Little Known Facts- what was your initial inspiration to tap into this new subject matter?

And The Award Goes To... is my love letter to the Broadway community and the Broadway fans.

The Tony Awards are a magical and special moment for the theater community, but also for fans. So many listeners of my Little Known Facts podcast were revisiting my episodes with former Tony Award winners around the time that the Tonys were cancelled last year. It reminded me of how much the awards mean to Broadway fans all over the world and how they depend on The Tony Award to see their favorite Broadway stars perform and to be a part of that incredible moment when the winners accept their awards and they get to see these beautiful creatives at their most vulnerable and unscripted selves.

Winning the Tony brings every artist back to their own origin story and it is a beautiful thing to bear witness to their vulnerability and raw emotions exposed in front of their community when they give their acceptance speech, and so I decided to start every episode with my guest listening to their speech from their winning night, most of whom have not heard it since the night they gave it. It's been a perfect way to launch into every conversation on the podcast.

Do have a favorite story or moment from Season 1?

When Patti LuPone takes me through the night she won for Gypsy- she tells never before heard stories about performing that night with a broken toe and the magical shoe they made for her and she also goes into great detail about her history with Arthur Laurents and reveals some really painful years between the two of them and how it all got resolved around Gypsy- it's all pretty extraordinary. I don't want to say any more because you have to hear Patti tell it but it's an incredible story!

Can you tease any favorite moments so far from Season 2?

Okay, so as you know I was in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown with Kristin Chenoweth and had a front row seat to the whole experience of her going from "working actress" to "global star" but hearing so much of it from her perspective all these years later and her worry that the cast would be upset by what was happening rather than her being wrapped up in her star making turn - well, it just made me fall even more deeply in love with her.

Then there was my getting to hear stories from my hero, James Lapine, about what it was like working on Into The Woods and Passion and Sunday In The Park with George with Stephen Sondheim and he shares so much about their process and relationship as artists and friends I mean that was just the most incredible!

I also didn't know that another guest on the show, Tonya Pinkins, who won for her extraordinary performance in Jelly's Last Jam had almost been fired multiple times from the show. So many of my guests stories will just floor you - it is just never what you think it is!

Do you have a personal favorite Tonys acceptance speech or performance?

Oh that is so hard. There are so many but the one that just popped into my head (so I will go with that for now) is Audra McDonald when she won for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. Even though she had already won before, this speech is so deeply moving. She talks what it meant to her to play Billie Holliday and all the women who inspired her and without whom she would not be standing on that stage accepting her award. If you aren't familiar with that speech, go watch it. She is so raw and emotional and beautiful and as always - so incredibly articulate.

What's one thing that you think the average theatre lover doesn't know or understand about the Tony Awards?

I don't think people realize that while we are watching the glorious, energized and brilliant performances on the awards show we are looking at all these actors who make it seem effortless and they are all coming off an eight show week, plus the early morning Tony Award rehearsals they went to before doing their Sunday matinee... and yet there they are on Tony night, giving everything they have to the performance and making it look so easy. It's just amazing what they put their bodies through for the love of Broadway.

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Click here to listen to past episodes ahead of the Season 2 premiere!