Hi, I'm Stage and Stages, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and you're listening to The Hamelcast.

Bootsing, cut, sump, sump, sump.

Hi, friends. Welcome back to The Hamelcast. I'm Jillian.

This week we're picking up right where we left off last week with Rebecca Covington Webber in Episode 290.

If you're not yet caught up, you'll want to start there.

That's where you can hear all about how Rebecca got her start in the performing arts

by picking up the violin at two years old. Why Hamilton didn't make any sense the first time she saw it,

and how she met and later married the fabulous Donald Weber Junior.

But if you're all caught up, let's do this, because Rebecca is right in the middle of telling me

about her very first audition for Hamilton. Okay, enjoy.

It was like that audition was the crossroads of like my artistry, my wifeery,

my desparado of like being like, oh, I need this job. It all like intertwined.

And I was in that audition room and let me tell you what, I had a full nervous breakdown.

I was like, oh, I can't do this. I do not think I can do this. I can't execute this.

There were like alarms going off in my head. I was like, oh, I sound crazy. I feel crazy.

I look crazy. And I was like, I can't do this. And then on top of that, I was like, oh, I'm in

here because at this point, Donald was in the show. And I was like, they all know I'm Donald's wife,

and they're going to think he's crazy. So then I was like, I had a time. I had a time. And

Tommy Kale pulled me aside and he was like, it's okay. This is one day.

There's going to be another day. And it's fine. I'm sure this isn't what you expect it to be.

I was like, absolutely not. And he was like, we're not going anywhere. We're going to be here for a while.

You'll be back in. It's fine. And I was just like, what?

...