Big Loss, Big Love and a Broadway Baby with Elizabeth Earley

Elizabeth Earley is a New York City-based actress, singer, dancer, and performing arts teacher. She is passionate about storytelling to empower others, as well as empowering others to tell stories, whether in a classroom or on a Broadway stage.

Elizabeth served as dance captain and swing in the revival of Broadway’s “Hello Dolly!” with Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Donna Murphy. Her previous adventure was a two-year run in Broadway’s “Something Rotten!” She has spent many years on the road with Broadway national tours, including “Mary Poppins,” “Whistle Down the Wind,” American regional theaters, summer stock theatres, and cruise ships. She attended The Classical Studio, The Experimental Theater Wing, and CAP21 at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned her BFA in Drama.

Elizabeth has a strong belief that, no matter who we are, it is never too late to bloom or bear fruit. Using the inspiration from the symbol of the oak tree, which takes 20-30 years to bear acorns and peak in production 50-80 years, Elizabeth started “Project Oak” as her forum to teach dance to performers of all backgrounds.

Current and upcoming projects include California Music Theater, an appearance on Amazon’s “Modern Love,” and becoming a parent in the fall of 2019 with her husband, Emilio.

Episode Highlights

• 1:02 - Getting to know Elizabeth
• 4:13 - Elizabeth's life on Broadway
• 8:52 - The skills required to reach Broadway and succeed
• 12:01 - Daily practices to maintain as a professional actor
• 18:17 - The ecosystem of a Broadway play (How does a swing do it?)
• 19:42 - Elizabeth looks deep on her difficult life experiences
• 24:25 - Supporting your professional relationships while dealing with personal tragedy
• 27:46 - What is a plasma-rich, platelet injection? How can it help?
• 32:59 - The stillness (and surprises) that come when your play closes
• 38:20 - The power of meditating together
• 42:06 - How the conversation changes after the loss of a parent
• 51:22 - Would you trade the most painful experience of your life for an easier day?
• 53:02 - Advice for aspiring actors and dancers to keep your body at its peak

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (00:00.034)
Yeah, and we spend so much time focusing on ourselves and nurturing ourselves. And we can take so much time in isolation and it's all about being in the sandbox together. I mean, this dialogue right now, it's about just playing and learning and growing. And it's all about expansion of ourselves. We're so much more together than we are as individuals. And I think we're pretty mighty as individuals once we allow ourselves to be that way.

Welcome to the Beautifully Broken podcast brought to you by AmpCoil. I'm your host, Freddie Kimmel, and on this show, we discuss the common thread survivors share after walking through the fire, the practitioners making a difference, and the treatment modalities that deliver healing back into the hands of the people who need it most. Witness the inspiration we gain by navigating the human experience with grace, humility, and a healthy dose of mistakes. Because part of being human is being beautifully broken.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (01:02.83)
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the beautifully broken podcast. am here with our guest today, Elizabeth Early. Hello, Freddie. How are doing? I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. So we're going to jump right in and I want to just give the audience at home, if you could frame for them what you do for a living. Well, I am a singer, dancer, actress. I also love to teach dance. I feel like that is something that helps balance me as a person.

So I'm a storyteller and I love to play with different mediums of telling stories. Most recently in the last few years, I found myself working on Broadway. I've worked in a couple of shows where I was swinging. A lot of people probably won't know what swinging means. So basically swinging involves learning all of the ensemble tracks. As a female, you will cover only the female ensemble members.

and, so I would cover anywhere from, you know, six to 10 women, and be able to jump in for them in any moment in time, in the middle of a show sometimes. And, and then also I've been a dance captain, which means it involves a bunch of different, skill sets, but, primarily it means, during the rehearsal process, you end up creating a way to, to log.

the choreography in terms of the show using the director and the choreographers original vision and intention for a piece. And then you are involved in maintaining their original intention throughout the run of a show and also involved with teaching the new people who come in. So you have to bottle up that moment in the beginning of your process with your direction and choreographer and continue instilling that.

and also enlivening a show as it's a live entity, an organism that keeps changing through time. And as new people come into the show, the show begins to move about. And also there should be some sort of an evolution in the show that feels organic. But if it starts to stray from the original intention behind telling this specific story, you're involved with the interpersonal relationships.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (03:25.904)
and making sure that you maintain that intention. also, you are one other aspect of what you do is that you are the liaison between human beings as this organism is breathing and changing and moving. You are the one singular person who relays between people if there's a situation on stage and maybe someone's adjusting their space in quite a bit.

or even a very subtle bit, but it has an effect on the spacing of the show. You are the one person who will be involved in getting that back to what was originally set, which is when you go back to your notes that you had created or your Bible created in the beginning of show. I want to jump back for a second. So you are a Broadway performer. Yes, I am. You're a Broadway performer. So that's exciting. I know

Many people out in the world, whether they're working in finance or medicine or hospitals, many people have had experience doing shows in high school or community theater. And I think for a big part of the audience out there, it's probably one of the most special experiences of their lives. And now you get to do it at the highest level in the world, in New York City.

And what were a few of the Broadway shows that you actually worked in? Well, the last two shows that I worked on here in New York City was Hello Dolly with Bette Midler and also Bernadette Peters. And then prior to that was an original piece, a brand new musical, Something Rotten, which was a very, very funny, funny show to be involved with. Had a lot of versatile performers involved. so, you know, it's

kind of two opposite extremes. One is a very new piece of theater being created on a cast. then during the rehearsal process, changed, even that act two changed about seven times, was rewritten drastically changing during the course of previews. And then you have Hello Dolly on the opposite spectrum, which is something that's been around for a long time that people know and have grown to love and hold dear in the musical theater canon.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (05:40.935)
Yeah, and I'm sure between all those experiences that you just mentioned, you know, we have on one end a brand new show, which is being formed around the performers, right? You're actually in that process of creation. It's set on your body. That choreography is likely going to change and alter based on how Elizabeth moves or how Danny moves or somebody in that cast. So I know that's one experience. And then, and then another unique part of Hello Dolly, which I know

everybody in the audience might not realize, but you did that show. And what Hello Dolly became in this last incarnation was a star vehicle. And we had one of the biggest stars in television, film, and theater leading the ship. So I'm sure that was an experience in and of itself to see how that moves and how it's different from just a normal show. Yeah, I was actually very fortunate in being a dance captain. You have specific duties and

And during the course of a run, know, if we have, especially in this particular piece with Hello Dolly, was, as you said, you had a massive start vehicle. And so I would end up taking care of the principals as well as the ensemble members. And with that, Bette Midler originally had it asked that she would have a female assistant to teach her the show and then a female to guide her through.

So we had two dance captains, one who was very, very busy with the men's choreography because the men do a great deal more than the women in the ensemble. So we had Michael John Slinger as our male dance captain. But I had the ultimate pleasure of guiding as best as I could, Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters over the course of the run. yeah, I had soundcheck every single day with Bette Midler.

prior to every show with our conductor. And we would just go through bits and pieces of choreography as she would sing and warm up. And during that time, I would get to run around and be all of the people that came across her path. we would go through the opening number. Oftentimes, it's how we would begin our session together. And I would run around and be all of the men that touched her and all of the females around her that she touched. And yeah, there was just so many moments in time where

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (08:06.706)
I would run in that stage door just as the show is coming back in. We were getting ready at half hour and I would stand on the stage and Bette would be there. She would always be freezing cold. So she'd have her duck vest on and her hat on and these slippers on and her little leg warmers. I would just think to myself, this is wild. There's an army of human beings out there who cannot wait to see this woman step out on stage under these spotlights with this

gorgeous wig and dress on. And here I am standing on stage with her, walking through this stuff, experiencing her in her very own human raw form. It was thrilling. It's something I will never forget. Never forget. Once in a lifetime experience. jumping back to the fact that you are a swing and that's something that it's a skill set that it's a very unique set of qualities that a human being has to be able to do

not only one role in a Broadway show, but maybe cover eight tracks, nine tracks, 10 different roles. And I know that has to do with a different part of the brain. That has to do with someone who is very adept to managing their nervous system, to staying calm in a pressure situation. So if you couldn't just speak to some of those skills that it takes to be a swing in a Broadway show where people are paying a

huge premium to be able to see you, especially in the last two shows that you worked on. And tell me, tell me about some of the skills that it takes to be able to achieve that on that high of a level. you're correct. There's, are a lot of skills that you need to acquire for yourself. And then there are others that you just learn trial by fire. you create, I would say one of the most important things about a swing is to, detach from, your own expectation of perfection.

So I think that is something that is really difficult for a lot of performers because here throughout your life, have nurtured this experience of being in a classroom setting, being told what you're doing right and wrong and reacting highly. Every time you get criticism of any sort, whether it be from a teacher who is very positive in how they reinforce their criticism, or if you have a teacher who's very negative, I've had teachers of all that entire gamut.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (10:31.41)
But that being said, having been nurtured in an environment where I have been almost groomed to be a perfectionist, I have had to divorce myself from my own expectation of being perfect in that moment. And also being very comfortable with being in that wonky space where you have those moments where you're like, I know this isn't quite right, but I'm just going to go for it by the seat of my pants. I'm flying.

so that's been a really interesting, aspect of being a swing over time. love that, you know, detachment from result is, is, is a great principle for a swing or for a human being trying to make a better journey through this human experience on earth. You know, it's, it's, it's something that I, I often ask people to examine what that looks like to them. What does it look like if we

We jump into this thing that we might be scared of something we know we need to do. Maybe it's a, it's a new job or it's a new relationship. Maybe it's moving into a new work setting, but how do we release attachment from result and stay in the present moment and be, and we just use the individual skillset that we have within us is we don't have to go outside for anything. And I think that's, you know, yes, that's a quality of a Broadway swing.

That's a quality of a high level functioning human being. And they both, they both live in the same world. I know from my performing background that, that one of the hardest things for me specifically coming from somebody who, you know, going through chronic disease, I'm going through cancer and Lyme disease was, maintaining my performance level as an athlete, as a professional athlete every day, eight shows a week. And knowing that when I did call out it.

somebody did have to jump in like a swing who didn't necessarily do my track every day. and I tried really, there's a handful of times that I ever did, but there was a lot of pushing through and there was a lot of formulating plans on how I was going to get through that eight show week. So you must have your bag of tricks that you go to for performing and maintaining this high level of an elite athlete. Like, do you have, do you have, what's your, what's your go-to daily practice look like?

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (12:55.73)
Well, especially when I'm doing a show that is physically exhausting, I always want to maintain a sense of health and fitness outside. I have oftentimes looked to yoga. I have also, you know, it's when you are in rehearsal quite a bit and you're in Manhattan, sometimes you just need to cut away from the scene around yourself and maybe you just need to get to the park. I know I'm actually

very much to someone who wants to be in a rural setting. And despite the fact that I've been in New York for 20 years, I love going to Central Park to kind of just be with the leaves, the grass, even if it's colder, I can handle that and just have some space to myself. So that being said, I will sometimes go and just be outside and meditate while I'm working out. And that I think kind of spiritually heals me.

because I don't believe that I'm someone who necessarily thrives in a city setting, though I have to be here for a musical theater. So I do meditate as well, and then I try to eat a healthy diet. I do know that when I'm on in a show, if I know ahead of time,

that I'm in the show, will oftentimes have a burst of caffeine of some sort before the show. And you know, it always surprises people when you are, when you're someone who, you know, most people just have their caffeine, you know, maybe in the early afternoon at the latest. And as Broadway performers, you know, you can hit that cup of coffee at eight o'clock and you're like, all right, here I go, you know? Yeah, that's one of my favorite things about theaters across America or the green room is that there's always a pot of coffee brewing.

And of course, I'm an elitist, so I travel with my own coffee and my mycotoxin-free coffee beans. And for those of you listening who aren't aware, coffee beans are one of the most contaminated items of produce. They're very contaminated in the drying process and the fermenting process. It's very easy for the bean to accumulate mold. And that can actually affect how you feel after a cup of coffee, after that two-hour crash and whatnot.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (15:08.238)
But I am a total believer and you've got to do what you've got to do to get up for that performance. And there's a whole group of people, 30 people on stage relying on you, the cast and the crew, and then people who have paid good money to see you that day. And as a swing, you don't necessarily have the experience of living through that track ever. You may just have watched it a couple of times and while you're watching it, you're watching how many other people as well.

because you're never really sure who you're going to be going on for and in what order. It's very fortunate when you have that controlled environment where you say, know, okay, well, Elizabeth, you're going to be going on on this date for this particular track. And if it works out that way, aren't you fortunate? But most of the time it's like, oh, this person got injured and suddenly you have to get out there. Or, you know, they got injured at the end of the show and then you're on tomorrow and it's a track that you never even looked at before. So, so

That being said, you have to stay alert physically when your body is warm. And I do use caffeine as well for that. Yes, I a physical warmup, but also having my mind and my body alert and ready to go. I mean, I am using my periphery, using every type of antenna around my body to just make sure that I am where I should be.

And that being said, know, even if you, especially if you're partnering with people, you've never really touched too much before. It's one thing to partner a segment of choreography on stage prior in isolation. It's another thing to have those costumes on, have the stage lights on, and then have the element of that person kicking into their performance drive that can totally change even the force of which you are thrown about dancing with someone.

So, you know, so whatever you can do to keep yourself alert, it's very important. The other thing we were touching on earlier, I actually, I realized another thing that I have to separate myself from or just learn about it and watch is, you know, as a swing, you are constantly checking with the people around you to make sure that what you're doing is in approval. And so there's a sense of wanting to please the people around yourself.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (17:29.282)
And I'm very much a pleaser mentality. I love to serve people. But then you can also have to watch that sometimes you're opening yourself up for vulnerability and you end up feeling like you're being judged by the people around you. so yeah, you're talking about divorcing yourself from perfectionism. also there's, there's this other wonderful psycho babble that goes on in your head about like, I, am I, am I enough for the people around me?

Yeah, do they accept me? Sure. that's, know that's real. think that's something that every single human being on the world on planet earth struggles with. Am I enough? And there are so many, there's so many wonderful guided meditations. know, Wayne Dyer does an incredible, am I enough meditation? And that's one I've listened to many, many times, you know, so we had, we had staying warm, staying alert, getting in nature. And it's, know, as you're talking about the energy of another human being being in performance mode,

Right? Think about that that cast has developed almost this ecosystem of they have a set version of the show. It happens eight times a week and there is an energetic flow. And even with somebody sick or there's somebody that's a little off as a cast member, you pick up on that immediately. And then to be plugged in as a swing, you're like, it's like a, it's like a new part that's been fashioned to this car that was never there before. And you've got to make it work in real time mode. Yeah. Yeah.

It's a wild trip and it's very exciting when the people around you, because you said it is eight times a week, it can be a wonderful experience for the people that do the show every single day to have someone new thrown in the mix. I love when people want to play with you and they appreciate that there's someone new that they get to play with and the aspect of the show changes for them too. So that is the positive aspect of swinging.

But you know, I think the first couple of times that you do a track, know, people around you are just wanting to trust you as well. But you also have, there's a level of having to prove yourself to them. course, of course. And because I know you personally, I know not only have you worked on these huge, huge, huge Broadway shows, but you've had some amazing and some very heartbreaking life moments.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (19:56.26)
in the last few years and what you can tell us about some of those. right. Well, yeah, it's funny how things, how the weather changes in your life. And sometimes when wonderful things happen to you, you know, there are other trying moments that come in there at the same time. There is a balancing of the scales, I think. I think I've been fortunate lately to have a lot of good things happen to me to balance out some of the stuff that's been tough to weather. But

A few years ago, I'd say three years ago now, my father had been diagnosed with kidney failure. that being said, was also diagnosed with a difficult, basically they thought he had a type of blood cancer, but he was never able to test positive for what they had wanted to see for him. They were thinking amyloidosis was something that he was facing, which is a light chain disease that I didn't even know.

was an actual disease. But so basically, it's when your body creates protein strands incomplete and your organs end up suffering because the protein strands are incomplete within your body. And it causes major imbalance to happen. And I know with kidney failure, they say it's like an electrical circuit problem in your body. So I am an only child, very close with both of my parents.

have had a lot of love and support from them over the years. And that being said, it's been, you know, I picture that triangle. It's been a very tight knit triangle. And, you know, when one person is sick, you know, just, we, my mother and I tried our best to, you know, support him through this. I, that being said, I also felt as an only child, I had to support my mother in a way that I had never had to face.

So, my father actually passed away in April of last year and 2018, which happened to be six weeks before my wedding. He was actually supposed to marry us because he was a minister. was like a prison chaplain, but also had a church for 20 years of his own in Northeast Philadelphia. He wanted his farewell to being a minister to be that moment when he married me.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (22:21.662)
so, I would have loved for that to have happened. we had a beautiful thing happen, which is that there happens to be a second minister in the family. my cousin, he's a five years older than me. he has a church in Tennessee. and he was coming to the wedding with his wife and he stepped up and, and led the service. But what was really spectacular was that he, he, he actually used my father's service.

So I was able to work some things out with my father prior to my father's passing. So in a way it was like my father's words were there to kind of heal us all because there's no way to remove someone's death and passing from a wedding that was going to be six weeks later. So was kind of inextricable. in a way there was something miraculous

about that baton passing to my husband in that format because we were very much aware that we have a finite time on the earth. We're all just passing through. And how do we want to our lives when we make a commitment before one another, before community, before your God, your spirit, whatever it is that you believe in?

when you make that commitment to one another, you're promising a certain level of partnership and you only have so much time to do that. And so I've been very grateful to have that perception of just knowing that I've gone into this marriage with my husband, but I have only a certain amount of time to do the great things that you want to do on the planet and give back in the way that you want to give.

And it is a gift to have one another. So yeah, it's kind of a blessing in a really, really interesting way, not one that I would have designed myself, but I'm grateful for it in the long run. course. I, I, and I know, and I know you're because again, having knowledge of, what a performer does and you being a swing in a Broadway show while your father is going through this experience coming to the end of his life. Um, what I, I want to ask,

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (24:41.747)
What was the biggest challenge for you in staying present and able to work and able to be of service to the cast that you were working with and supporting and your father at the same time? Well, there is a, was trying here and there. I would call my father a lot. I would go home. You know, when you're on a Broadway show, you are very lucky to have work six days a week.

So you really have that seventh day is work of a different kind. It's just trying to do the things you need to do to maintain your life and your family. And I found myself going home on a very, very regular basis. It was like every other weekend that I was going home to Pennsylvania from New York. But I would be on the phone with my father every single day. When you're an empath, which so many of us are,

you do find that it can be very difficult to try to take care of someone or to even just emotionally be a support system for someone without taking on some of that as maybe the fearfulness or the energy of suffering. And I know I had a very interesting thing happen when my father was diagnosed with kidney failure and when we were told he was going on dialysis. I had a neck injury on stage.

Um, and I was doing something that really, you know, I don't think I would have normally have been injured by this at all. I was just doing a turn on stage. I was wearing an Elizabethan collar. My neck was at a certain angle. It was sort of a perfect storm. I was also teaching a lot. Um, uh, I teaching dance privately, um, and in group setting, um, we had a nine show week. So every now and then a producer will add a ninth show. Um, and they can do that.

And then I was also training for a production that the Hello Dolly production having encountered an injury in the pre-production for Hello Dolly. I knew that I had to be in a certain kind of shape. So all this to being said, I was not able to jump while trying to get myself in shape for this upcoming production. So I was doing a lot of hot yoga. So I just did this quick

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (27:02.442)
on stage wearing a heavy costume and I gave myself a whiplash injury. And so that was an injury I struggled with throughout my father's decline. it wasn't, actually, was very blessed to find a program called Regenexx and I was able to have a series of platelet plasma therapy injections in my neck.

which over the course of actually even more than a year, I would say about 18 months, really has healed my neck in a tremendous way. The stories that I could tell you about that. Incredible. I know. And can you explain for people listening, if they don't know what a plasma rich platelet injection entails? Yes. Okay. So when I actually went to have the procedure done, I just showed up one day

And they asked that you have had no NSAIDs your system for at least two weeks. For me, I hadn't been on them. I was- No Advil, no Tylenol, no ibuprofen. None of that, And because that suppresses your own body's immune system and ability to heal itself. So I went in to speak with my doctor and then he brought a nurse in to take blood.

And I was told to go away, have lunch, just chill out, do my thing for about an hour and a half. And during that time, my blood went to a lab where technicians actually cracked open the platelets and fashioned a certain concentration that the doctor had ordered for each and every section of my cervical spine that was going to be injected.

So there's a certain mix depending upon what tissue was being injected, which is really fascinating. I came back an hour and a half later and I laid down on this bed and the doctor, he's such a wonderful person. His name is Dr. Michael Amoroso. He works in Florida now. I actually had flown to Sarasota to make sure that he worked on my neck.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (29:14.851)
But he and there were about four other women in the room and they just assisted him in the process. And he injected from the bottom of my C1 all the way to the top of my T1 in the left and right facet joints, the capsules, the ligaments. And it was a very quick procedure for all of the needles. We had joked about this later because the doctor and I had spoken

And he told me, said, yeah, you probably had about 20 injections. And I had always thought that I had about 20 injections. And then later on, he was laughing to me and he said, no, you actually had about 30, 30 or so or so. But the interesting thing about when you're having your spine injected, you cannot be on any anesthesia of any sort. There's no lidocaine. So they use a cold spray.

And I'm here to say that I'm not someone who loves needles. Personally, this injury definitely got me very comfortable with acupuncture needles and whatnot. but the cold spray really did help so much. And the whole procedure was done, I would say in about 40 minutes. incredible. And how long was it until you started to feel an improvement in your neck and the mobility? I would say honestly, in like two weeks, I felt different, which was remarkable. Prior to the procedure, I

I had been living with the injury for a year. And basically what happened when I had this whiplash injury in a nutshell, the ligaments tore and the muscles tried to act like ligaments. So they would be in spasm constantly 24 seven. My bones, my vertebrae were sliding all around. And mind you, I was doing a Broadway show at that time about to start rehearsing for another Broadway show. And so I had to figure out how to

to make myself get through the day, get through the shows. And I found that being on stage was sort of an oasis for me. It was living my life that it was almost unbearable. Anyone who's ever been in pain, you have those moments where you say, I don't wanna live like this. I don't wanna be in this much pain. So sleeping was awful for me. Yeah, sleeping was terrible. Standing, sitting.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (31:37.625)
I couldn't look down. thought to myself, I'll never be able to go to school again. I'll never be able to read a book again. I'll never be able to write. And you know, they tell you, I had a doctor who I had been sent to through a worker's comp and she told me never look down. And that was her. That was, know, that- is your fix. Yeah, your fix is never look down ever again. Ever. And she showed me how she writes because she had some herniations herself and she had a clipboard. She's like, this is how I write.

thought to myself, this is not how I live and you can't tell Broadway stories, but just, you you gotta be able to look down and look up, And so, yeah, so yeah, that was not an option for me. So. Well, that's incredible. You had that experience with your PRP injections and I know they vary greatly across the board. I mean, there are people who really take the science to the next level and

the procedures as far as opening the platelets and actually harvesting the right kind of cells that are going to act like a glue to heal that damaged tissue. And there are people who will just draw some blood, spin it, they put it right back in in 15 minutes. And that, from my experience and what I've heard across the field, that that's where the varying results come in. Yes, that's definitely what Regenexx talks about as well. Yeah. And now, so you did what you had to do to push through this time. You're getting married.

You got engaged, you went through the loss of your father and you push and push and push. then I think you mentioned this to me before you got to the point where Hello Dolly closed. And there was stillness. And tell me about that day. Well, to tell you something that's really fascinating, it's interesting how the world works, how the universe works.

I found out that Hello Dolly was closing on the day of my dad's funeral. Someone at the funeral came up to me and said, I'm so sorry to hear that you guys are closing. my goodness. my goodness. People, people, you can't write this stuff. can't write it. And to make things even more complicated, my beautiful mother, who is mourning the love of her life, was also keeping from me

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (34:01.624)
that she had heard from someone else that the show was closing. It's always the actors and the cast who know last. Yeah. Which has always been such a heartbreaking thing for me. And I've been at about three shows that a lot of contracts, you know, you're like, I'm running to this date. Yeah. And then a long running show, a Broadway tour. You never know. Right. So you might be invited up to a lounge with wine and cake and nice cheese and everybody circles up and you think you're going to be told

that what a wonderful job you're doing when actually, in fact, you'll all be going home in four weeks. And that is the journey. And that is the journey. And I've had quite a few experiences like this. And I was lucky to be, I was on the road with Mary Poppins for four years, two different tours, the first national and then the second national. And I've always, I've gotten the chance to see how people react. And I will say that the morale on tour gets much better.

when people know after a very long run that they have a light at the end of the tunnel. Now, I think they feel better about themselves when they know that the closing of the tour would be months down the road. If you get six months notice or something like that, that's a gorgeous thing. But sometimes you don't get very much notice at all. So I had a little bit of notice and I found out in April again on my dad's funeral and we closed on August 25th.

So for me, it had been such a crazy year. On top of it, we were selling a studio that I had purchased and looking for a place that we could expand our family. so we had real estate as another added element of stress.

You've just named like the four most stressful things that can happen in a human's life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And very quickly to tell you, we were under contract for three different homes in the same year. And one of them was even sold in an auction that we didn't even know was happening right out from underneath us. So, you know, it just had been a bumpy ride in 2018. And so when Dolly closed, I actually quickly went on our honeymoon. And when we came back, it was like...

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (36:17.89)
man, I had to move my home, move out of it and then move into the next one. so we ended up buying a foreclosure so that it was sort of a parallel financial step, but we were able to expand with some space. When you're living in a box with your husband for a couple of years, it's a strange thing. that being said,

that moment of stillness that you were speaking of was actually very much welcomed. I think when you have so much coming at you, there's like a ricocheting effect that happens. so I kind of took a moment for myself and then I said, okay, I can't wait to go start training again and start working on my body and my spirit again. So I started taking a couple of classes and then two classes in, I realized

my knee's not working. Something's not right. It's swelling up like crazy. And, went to the doctor and found out I had a lateral meniscus tear, which probably happened during the duration of my show, but I didn't catch it in time. did you actually have time to feel that injury? I probably didn't Freddie. I probably didn't. Yeah, I probably didn't. Because I know on, on people can often have, you know, herniated discs and tears in their

ACL and MCL and they never feel it. It could have been a tear 18 years before and then it will often parallel an emotional experience in their life. A relationship goes south, a loss in the family and all of a sudden, boom, it's symptomatic. Yeah. Yeah. And I do know that I, you know, I was speaking earlier about being an empath that I do psychosomatically have a relationship with the creation of, of inflammation in my body.

So, know, it's something, it's wonderful to gather knowledge, but you have to live through a lot of experiences in order to gather that knowledge about yourself. And it's such a learning experience, but don't we have a lot to share with one another then? It's incredible, but it's, you know, through all the things you've told me, which someone could have easily said, why me? Why does this happen to me? I'm always hurt. Why did I have to go through this loss? Why did I lose?

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (38:35.75)
out on all these homes that I really wanted to buy. You know, there's lots of opportunities. You could have looked at this as a victim or someone that this was thrust upon an unfortunate event, but you, don't it's, it's there. They're all steps of empowerment. They're all opportunities for growth. And I think that's very inspiring for me to sit here and listen to across the table that, there are, there are human beings out there that really do understand that, that every, every

piece of you that is broken, but putting those pieces back together, that is a beautiful process and that's what you've done. And that's what you're going to continue to do with your life. And I know it's only going to get better. I mean, so you've got this little break here. Yeah, no, I know it. You got this little break here in between shows and the world is absolutely filled with possibilities. You have a brand new husband and you have this wonderful new home and I'm your neighbor. I love it. I love it. What better neighbor to have? I know, honestly.

Cause cause one thing me and Elizabeth have done is, is she can come over to my Oasis and all the biotech and healing devices and hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment that I've acquired over the years to put myself back together. We will often get to jump in and play with and do a little self experimentation on releasing our hip flexors with a percussion massage gun or doing a little red light bio photo bio modulation.

or even my newest toy, is the amp coil. So cool. So cool. Which is a biofeedback, bio resonance device, which broadcasts healing tones through a Tesla coil. And I mean, it's such a neat thing. Me and Elizabeth actually just sat down for a session and we meditated. And we did a journey called Higher Self for 17 and a half minutes. And we did that right before we sat down to drop into the podcast. And instantaneously, you feel different.

you feel the vibration working through you. yeah, it just, feels, you know, even just as soon as we sat down spiritually, it was like, Whoa, it was like a really fast aligning of your chakras. Yeah. And it's interesting just to even sit down and then try to, cause we've, we've, went to the gym, we hung out, we had some coffee and just to drop into this conversation after the higher self journey, it really felt like it was so easy to connect on the things that we had intended.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (40:58.091)
to talk about. And there really wasn't any, I didn't feel like there was any resistance. And for me, I know when I jump off an experience like that or a journey that's between 15 and 30, 33 minutes, I feel so connected with my words and my ideas and what I wanna say and what I wanna ask. And it really does clear away a lot of the garbage and a lot of the chatter. Yeah, and we spent so much time.

focusing on ourselves and nurturing ourselves. And we can take so much time in isolation and be concerned, when we, gosh, when you live in Manhattan, I mean, there is, it's just, there's energy all around you and you do have to figure out how to protect yourself energetically. But that being said, we can also stop ourselves from engaging with other people in a way. I mean, it's all about being in the sandbox together. mean, this dialogue right now, it's about just,

and learning and growing and it's all about expansion of ourselves. We're so much more together than we are as individuals and I think we're pretty mighty as individuals once we allow ourselves to be that way. Yes, bet there's so much truth in that statement. I want to jump back for a minute and I'm just, I'm interested in how we mentioned that you've moved on to a new home.

and you moved on to a new relationship with your husband and you've transitioned relationships with your father. And I wonder how the conversation continues between you and your dad from day to day. Cause I imagine whenever I have a friend lose a parent and I have not lost a parent and I hope it will not be for a long time. But I imagine there must be a conversation that continues.

There is. Day to day to day. There is, there is for sure. And one thing I want to, I want to just touch on is that, so being an only child, was, you know, my mother and I, one of the two of us was going to deliver the eulogy and there was almost no question. We didn't even have a conversation about it. It just, I, I was going to deliver it and my mom, yeah, just was fine with that.

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (43:13.083)
And so I created the eulogy. I created a couple of other conversations. wrote the obituary that I put in the paper, paid a thousand dollars for it. Can you believe that they charge that in a local paper? Insane. But are you going to, are you going to tighten up on your words when you're talking about your legacy of the person who raised you? No, you're not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. So that being said, I also went through all of my pictures that I had of my father went through just

buckets of pictures. And I created boards just trying to create the story of his life through images. And I found it, and I'm not the only one who found this to be absolutely fascinating, was that I realized through illness, my father's light that was in his eyes had dimmed. And it may have seemed like it was subtle, but it really wasn't subtle at all. It was almost very sudden. But

in going through these pictures, I saw his light so brightly in all of these pictures. And with the exception of, know, a couple towards the end when he was definitely ill. And one of the most beautiful gifts about having that moment in time and going through those pictures was I was able to realize that's who my father was, not when he was ill.

That is who he was. So I was almost able to reconstruct the thoughts and feelings that I had recently about my father's decline and was able to almost recreate him in a way that I could isolate and freeze in time that person who was alive and well and full in spirit, who taught me so many things and who had energy for days.

to keep loving me and growing with me in his journey as my father. looking at those pictures, I think was very cathartic. Very quickly, I will say, the day that I found out my father had passed, I was about to go do a second show. I was in New York at the time when my father passed in Pennsylvania. And so my mother said,

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (45:33.481)
My mother had told me that he had passed and my now husband drove me to Pennsylvania. And we first drove to my home, my parents' home, and my uncle was sitting there. And he said, know, Elizabeth, your father's body is at the hospital. I don't recommend that you go to sit with him because I think that that would be a tough thing to remember as your final moment with your father.

I looked at my mom and I looked at my now husband and I said, I have to go. I have to, I have to see him. And I didn't know what that would be like because I had never seen someone who meant so much to me be an empty shell. And I got to go to the hospital. We were in the back of the emergency room with curtains pulled around us. The nurses were so generous to us. Had like,

cookies out and drinks out for us. We wanted them. And I just sat there with my dad and told him what he meant to me and told him of my gratitude for him. And my now husband, who was about to marry me, you know, six weeks later was sitting in there as well. And he spoke to my dad and my mom sat there and she spoke to my father. And it was just like this incredible, incredible, peaceful moment. I don't think I've ever experienced that much.

peace on the planet ever. And people say that when souls pass, that they will oftentimes linger near the body and wait for you. so I got to say goodbye. And it was two hours of just sitting there with my father. And you would think it could be weird. would think that it would be upsetting. I have, Freddie, I have never felt so much peace in my life.

And even my now husband, he sat there and he's a little bit more reserved about his own thoughts and feelings about some of the things that happen spiritually while not shutting the door on anything. And he could not deny this strong sense of peace. And then there was this baton passing that we had thought would happen six weeks later. It was meant to happen six weeks earlier. And in that moment,

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (47:59.005)
My mother and I looked at my husband, Emilio, and we realized that my father was transferring that triangle, including Emilio now. And it was almost like he was giving his blessing in that moment. It was just miraculous. So I had to talk about that. I still speak to my dad probably on a daily basis. I don't cry every day anymore.

which, know, it's only where I guess we're at like the ninth month of him being, gone. but, but I mean, at any moment in time, I can think of him and, know, yeah. And I just, I, I usually just say, thank you. I miss you. I love you. That's my, that's usually my conversation with him. That's absolutely beautiful. And thank you for sharing that story. My pleasure. And I think it's, it's, I think it's something that, that everybody out there can relate to.

And we've all been in a similar situation, maybe not with our immediate parents, but we've been in that experience where it's time to let someone go from our lives. And it is, it's so difficult, but there is a therapy within that time that you're saying goodbye. And that's important. again, I applaud you for your ability to...

to connect with your emotions and to be able to cry and be able to let that go. And I know that's healthy. I don't have that skill. I don't. There's some part of, there's a disconnect where I can't always access those emotions, especially in those situations. It's so weird to me. Everybody else is crying and losing it in those situations and all. I'm so stoic. And I'm just, it's almost like it's an out of body experience. And then I'll be watching Mary Poppins.

or what's another really good one? Any of the old Christmas movies, The Claimation, and I'll bawl, I'll cry, I'll lose it at those stupid old charts. And I don't know if it was, you know, it links some pathway to my inner child where he could have done it and I can't now. wow. Wow. I mean, that's the only thing I can imagine. And I think I lost that going through cancer and all those surgeries and

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (50:23.002)
and just maybe having to shut down to be able to operate, to be able to get through it, to turn off some of the waterworks. And I'm working on getting that back. And I do have moments where I'll spontaneously have some tears, but it's been a long time since I can do that. just hearing you say what your days look like and how you do have that release, I know it's gonna be good.

And I know your body's going to be good. You're going to heal. You're going to do other shows. I know you as a performer and you know, she, but one thing, we haven't had a chance to listen to Elizabeth saying, we won't cause we don't have a piano in the room, but she has a stunning voice and she's just as good of a singer as she is a dancer is she is an actress. And that's very, very rare. You're a true triple threat. And it's going to be, it's going to be an incredible 2019. I'm so glad you, you.

agreed to come on the beautifully broken podcast. And we're going to close with a couple of questions. And so my first question is, would you trade the most painful experience of your life for an easier day? feel like there's so much to learn from that painful day. that, I wouldn't trade, the lessons learned, absolutely I would trade.

I would always want, you know, to have an easier day. But, you know, I think my, the most painful moments of my life have happened as emotional injuries. And with that, there've been a lot of psychosomatic stress involved that has physically, tangibly shown up in dealing with that. yeah, I mean, those moments I think have informed me for the rest of my life.

always having to work on releasing the psych trauma that's happened because of that. yeah, mean, I think personally, I'm grateful if I can get through that moment in time, I'm grateful for that dark night of the soul because it's informed me. also I think the most important thing about my particular dark nights that I've had is

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (52:44.609)
being able to share some light with other people as they walk through their dark nights and being able to be a voice of hope for them, I think is far greater to me than the pain that I experienced while walking through it myself. Now as a performer and as someone working professionally in the field in New York at the highest level, what would be your advice to other

aspiring music theater, Broadway performers coming up with the focus on keeping your body at a high performance level. Okay. Well, personally, even if you're young, just know that your body is going to be able to heal itself now in a way that it won't necessarily be able to heal itself down the road. So you want to treat yourself

well now, you want to respect your body, you want to see it as a temple. I'm not saying eliminate the opportunity to do what kids do or what 20-somethings do, what 30-somethings do. What I'm saying is that you want to remember that this vehicle is the only vehicle that you will have to be able to deliver whatever spiritual presence you want to have in the world. treat yourself well.

rest. If you're someone who drinks alcohol, let's remember that you have one liver, right? Let's remember that. I've personally, I've never been someone who has loved being obliterated by any means at all. Even in my wild and crazy moments, I was the one person who wasn't really that wild and crazy. I think just remembering that it's a journey and then it's not about any

specific destination. It's not about getting to Broadway. For me personally, it took me a little longer than I had hoped to get there. that being said, even once you get there, the journey keeps going. So you have to create it. And I've seen a lot of people really lose a sense of themselves once they've arrived at something too soon. so,

Freddie Kimmel and Elizabeth Earley (55:05.873)
I would also say be positive, as positive as possible. Stop comparing yourself to the people around you. I graduated college with people who stepped out and basically tripped onto a Broadway stage. And you know, I toiled through red tape for many, many years, pounding a lot of pavement and feeling like I would never ever get there. And not really after a while understanding if I had it in me anymore to get there. And yes.

Can I ask? Yes. You came to New York at what age, at what year, and then when did you get your Broadway debut? Here we go. I moved to I know I'm not supposed to ask a lady your age, but I'm going to do it. No, that's all right. It's all right. So I moved to New York. went to NYU. I was at the Tisch School. I was a little younger for my age, so I had just turned 18 coming into college. So I've been in New York since I was 18.

And I had my Broadway debut at 35. So you put in a little time. did a lot of time. Bravo. Yeah. Thank you. That's incredible. very much. Yeah. That's incredible. I survived it, you know, but now I have a story to talk about, you know, I do. It's just beginning. Thank you. I think everybody else on the other end of this podcast knows for Elizabeth.

It's just beginning all these things that she's gone through. I can feel it I feel like there's this fireball in front of me on the other microphone and it's building I think we've just validated that through what we've heard today. I thank you for being a guest. Thank you. We're gonna do it again. I would love it. I would love it. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it. Namaste Namaste This episode of the beautifully broken podcast was brought to you by our lovely sponsor amp coil

Guys, a heartfelt thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's show, if you found yourself moved and inspired, I would ask that your next stop today is to drop a review on iTunes. Nothing helps a movement like sharing, downloading, and spreading this message. You can follow me on freddysetgo on all social platforms and throwing a screenshot and a favorite quote of your episode in your Insta story or on Facebook. That is the extra credit, next level engagement I am manifesting. So like these little ripples in a pond, your action helps connect this inspired information with the people who need it most. Till next time. I'm your host, Freddie Kimmel. This is a beautifully broken podcast. Namaste.