LISTEN: Tonya Pinkins Talks JELLY'S LAST JAM & More on 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?

This 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.

Welcome to "AND THE TONY GOES TO..." By the end of each episode listeners will feel like THEY have just won a Tony!

Tonya Pinkins had a very complicated journey with the musical Jelly's Last Jam. From the very beginning she felt she was up against a cast that was not happy that she was replacing the original Anita in the show, she was away from home with her nine month old baby and in rehearsal she found herself holding back. But at night she would dream of what the role could be. She wanted to bring the power and vulnerability she remembered so well about her grandmother to the role but it wasn't until the final run thru that she was able to bring all her ideas and show the cast and creative team what she could really do. Tonya shares that she was almost fired multiple times- even when she was in rehearsal for the Broadway production- but somehow she persevered and she won a Tony Award for her portrayal of this raw, powerful and vulnerable woman.