— Coming Home to Lincoln Center
After The Light in the Piazza, I thought I needed a break—from the singing, the intensity, the sheer emotional stamina it demanded. So I stepped away to do a play (The Naked Girl on the Appian Way) and a couple of TV pilots. But not long after, Lincoln Center called me back—this time for the first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific.
It felt like coming home. I was reuniting with my dear friend Kelli O’Hara, and stepping into a story that carried immense historical and emotional weight. Every night, I stood on that stage and sang “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”—a song that still cuts straight to the heart of how prejudice is passed down and how much work we still have to do as a society.
The show was a masterpiece—lush, romantic, and deeply human. I met some wild and wonderful characters along the way, and it was surreal to watch the same stage where I once lived Piazza completely transform into a South Pacific paradise. It reminded me that theater is living, breathing magic—and that the places and people we return to often hold the next chapter of our growth.