I'm Annalee Ashford.

I'm Andrew Keenan Bolcher.

Hi, I'm Eden Espinoza.

Hi, I'm Laura Osnes and you're listening to Theatre People.

Welcome to the Theatre People podcast.

I'm Patrick Hines.

We started getting requests for today's guest, Leslie Margarita, within days of the premiere

of our very first episode.

I didn't know much about her, so I took to the

internet to learn more, and I have to say that I found her persona online to be a bit intimidating,

but also intensely intriguing. This is a lady who most of her fans call The Queen. Her

Twitter handle is Queen Leslie, and her popular one-woman show is called All Hail the Queen.

A Google image search turns up pages and pages

of her in gaudy wigs and corseted gowns and eccentric makeup. She's like Lady Gaga meets

Bet Midler meets those bizarre and gorgeous people from the Capitol and the Hunger Games.

I was intrigued by the fact that she'd won an Olivier for her work in London's West End production

of Zorro. Was she English? I had no

idea? And how, I wondered, had someone with only one Broadway credit, she's played the role of

Mrs. Wormwood and Matilda since it debuted on Broadway last year, amassed such a massive and loyal

following of fans? I had to find out what it was about her that people loved so much.

On the day of the interview,

I really didn't know what I was in for. I was excited and nervous, half expecting a diva with an

...