Hey guys, Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood backstage at the Ahmanson Theater in Downtown LA. Cinderella has come to town with some major star power. I am one on one with Fran Drescher, plus Cinderella and her prince. Andy and Paige, thanks for having us here.

Yeah, we're happy to be here.

Two-time Emmy Award winner, Golden Globe nominee, Broadway star, bringing the role from Broadway to LA.

Yes, I'm very excited about that.

All the characters you play, especially our beloved, the nanny. Everyone is so kind and lovely and funny and here you are in Cinderella playing Madame who's mean.

The girl sits by the cinders of the fire and her name is Ella. So, I call her Cinderella.

It's hard because she's playing the evil stepmother, but you love her. She's so not evil.

No, no, no. You know, she's the one that defined the Wicked Stepmother. Oh, I do have a flat for it, don't I? You have to see the show.

We're in the show. Fran is magic. She's magic. Watch and learn. It's so exciting to step into those glass slippers every night. It's really been a thrill.

Cinderella is having a moment.

This is my moment.

You, one of my favorite stories. You were the understudy for the prince on Broadway.

I was. I locked out because our Prince on Broadway was Santino Fontana who was flying out to LA to record the role of Hans in Frozen. You know, the little indie movie that Disney put out a couple of years ago. Um, so I benefited from him being out of town working on that and the producers saw me go on and that's how I got this job, so.

I didn't think that I would ever have an opportunity to wear those gorgeous gowns again and then they called and said that the girl got sick, the show must go on. Will you help us out and it was like Okay. I took a deep breath and dove in.

Well your moment, you did this on Broadway.

Yes. Yes. And you know what? It has been just as exciting being on tour. You know, Broadway obviously has its own magic, but being on tour with this show it's been so exciting to see the entire country relate to this character and love this show.

Impossible. Okay, now that we're backstage, what can you show me?

Do you want to see some magic? Over here is our prop box, which is very important.

I see beautiful vintagey pieces here.

Yeah, so we shopped at Restoration Hardware. Actually, though, we didn't really, but it looks like it. Doesn't it? Yeah, but this is um, these are the four white mice that easily turn to horses in our show. Um, oh, and we have some invitations to the ball which are always really fun and some of them are, you know, ripped up because we dance really hard with them. But it will get you into the ball and that's all that I want to go to the ball.

I want to go to the ball.

Yeah, there you go. So then you get a ball invitation. This is our hand sanitizer for more spoilers, all the kissing. So if Paige is sick, you know, we'll just

I'm the best actor in the world because I have to fall in love with them every night.

Now let's talk I know. Let's talk about the kissing. You have tons of children in the audience. What's the reaction you get from them?

I have a good story. Can I tell the story? I told it last time and I'm so good at it. I told her last time and I'm so good at it.

Is it the proposal?

It's the same one. At the end of the show to get married, I have to propose to Cinderella and I guess this one kid in the audience he had had it and he was ready for us to be married. So I got down on my knee and I said, Cinderella, will you marry me? And before she could say yes, in the clear for the entire audience to hear, this probably eight-year-old boy screams, "Oh, come on!"

You have this Carpe Diem sort of like thing to life, which is so inspiring.

Yeah, well, thank you. It it you know, it's a it's a daily practice quite honestly. You just got to be able to be loose enough to anticipate when something is unexpectedly entering your life, but that you should consider, you know, the tree that bends doesn't break.

Do you know, a Dodger player told me that same quote. Last year I did this whole piece. True story. Give me your inspiring quotes, advice you've been given. Bend but don't break. That was his quote.

Yeah, yeah, well that's the secret to, you know, living life anyway. You know, it's not about the getting there, it's the journey that takes you there. And you never know when there's a side street that you want to park yourself on for a little bit.

I guess we should look at the.

I'll give this back. This is my first time on stage. This is so exciting.

Is it really?

Yeah. This is really great.

Right here on Young Hollywood.

Yes, you saw it here first.

We're happy to be here.

This is now what the show will look like when you buy all the tickets to come see it. The other big thing that's out right now and is, you know, tucked away in the wing. Yes. Is this staircase that kind of unfolds and gets a little bit bigger and she runs away from me on these stairs. I I have to ask, the pumpkin's not here. Or I would show it to everybody.

I know, and the pumpkin is so cool. It's my son's favorite thing on the set is every time he comes in, he goes, pumpkin. Pumpkin, pumpkin. I'm like.

Cut to a clip of the pumpkin. We have that. Okay, good. Now they saw it. There we go. Okay. There it is. It's amazing, right? Yeah. You are a newlywed. Got married in the fall. Congratulations. I see this stunning. I mean. Your husband, the inventor of email.

Yes, he is. Dr. Shiva. I adore him.

Who says that? The inventor of email?

Yeah, when he was 14, he invented email and copyrighted it and also coined the name email and the whole system as we know it. And he says I'm the smartest woman he ever met, so that goes for a public education in Queens. I think that and we've been here what, 10, 15 minutes already. But let's go look at the costumes.

You know, everyone has all of these different um, fabrics and, you know, in 10,000 layers and William Ivey Long, who created these costumes, really took time to hand pick every fabric that you see. You know, there's a reason he won a Tony Award for these costumes. I mean, this really elevates our show to another level.

I start off the show in a suit of armor and that's really cool.

That's really cool. These are pretty amazing.

Yes, these are the stepsisters which I believe William Ivey Long wanted them to be as gaudy as possible. These are my favorite part of my costume. These are the glass slippers themselves.

Wow.

And uh, and they're made just for us. No one else has these. Um, just so fun.

I'm sorry. We need to see what size they are.

They are a size seven.

Guess what size your reporter is. Are you a size seven? Size seven? Oh my gosh. Now, do you need like a prenum for something because if you have to marry Andy, if you, you know, if he's fit, you know, and I don't know. Are you from a good family?

I am and I think that I'm quite funny. Wait, I'm all nervous now. No, it's going to work. Uh huh. Uh huh. You're the princess. Oh, I'm sorry. What? I found you. I'm going on.

So, this is the William Ivey Long designed ball gown for Cinderella and it is an honor to wear every night. I want to say it is 14 layers.

Wow.

Um, of fabrics and and different things to make it have the perfect shape. It has that that princess shape you want, you know, with the little bit of bustle in the back, very small waist, all the things. It's it's awesome.

I went into my dressing room and I got my armor. So, if you put your thumb through there like that.

Okay. So, the prince is usually this the just this archetype who who hangs out with Cinderella and she falls in love because he's the prince. Okay, so what I'm doing is with this on and then the glass slippers on you'll just play both of us tonight. You'll just play out the whole love story without us there.

Yeah, your armor is really cool. Can I keep Fran though?

Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Okay. Fran and I, done.

What about the choreography? You guys have stunning dance moves. It's like you're at the ball 24/7. Andy take it from here.

Come see us at the Ahmanson.