On Sunday Night, Lea Michele Launched Straight From Chess Into “Dancing Queen”

Michele, a mom of two, has had to contour parenthood around this new part. (While her one-year-old only really cares about Elmo and Miss Rachel right now, her five-year-old has already been to six Broadway shows: “He’s an avid theatergoer. He saw Funny Girl when he was two.”) “Doing Funny Girl was learning by jumping out of a plane—I hadn’t done a Broadway show in 15 years! I had to learn how to take care of myself and my family,” she says. “I heard an actress say on the red carpet once, ‘I live my life red carpet–ready.’ And so that’s what this is for me!”

She goes on: “In the past, everything that I did was just to do a great job at work. Now I go to the gym for me—to take care of myself and my children. Then I am strong enough to perform. I eat well, I meditate, I spend time with my family, then I go to work. It’s a thinking that allows me to be the best mother and then the best performer.”

Michele’s workout routine includes zoning out on the treadmill (she likes to walk on incline while listening to Chess’s London concert recording), doing Melissa Wood’s workout programs and Pilates, and swimming. The late Tony-winning actor Marin Mazzie—Michele’s dear friend and idol—swam every single day before a show. “I think about her always, and that tip stayed with me. Swimming is great practice as a singer,” Michele says.

When she’s off the clock, Michele and her husband will often dine at their friend Mario Carbone’s Nolita Italian Torrisi. On her last visit there, with her former Glee costar Becca Tobin, they saw Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. “I froze! I was just a fan, but I let her enjoy her dinner with her amazing fiancé, who I’m also obsessed with,” says Michele. She’s also making time to enjoy the buzzy Broadway lineup right now; she’s seen Ragtime and Maybe Happy Ending, and gone to Just in Time—starring Jonathan Groff, her best friend of nearly 20 years—several times. At home, she’s binge-watching Task.

For the most part, Michele planned to approach Chess’s opening night on Sunday like she would any other show day: “I wake up at the crack of dawn with my children. I have breakfast. I pack my son’s lunch. I’ll take my son to school and my youngest to a little playgroup, come home, put her down for a nap, and do my own self-care.”

She then planned on an early dinner with her family before heading to the theater, where she’d hand out gifts to cast and crew and enjoy the day’s first stretch of quiet time in her dressing room with a cup of tea. (“Moms will know what a gift those quiet moments are.”) On her dressing room wall is a photo of Michele at eight, during Les Miz. “I just look at that picture every night and I thank God that I am still doing what I love,” she says.

Incredibly, Michele still gets nervous before performing. “People would never expect me to have anxiety or fear of the stage, but it’s something I deal with,” she admits. “I’m going to be 40 this year, and as I get older, I give myself so much more grace and forgiveness. I allow myself to look at the feelings that I have and not feel taken down by them, but to just view them with love. It’s important, though, to differentiate anxiety and excitement sometimes. And to know that a healthy dose of nerves is okay. It means that what you’re doing is important and that you still care! That’s how I feel now. This is a real homecoming.”

Earlier that morning, Groff was over for breakfast. “I’m not a party person, and opening nights are usually overwhelming for me, but I told him: ‘I want to celebrate! I’m so proud of this cast and crew,’” she says. She intended to listen to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” the moment she stepped off the stage. “I told Jonathan: ‘Put your dancing shoes on, because I want to have fun.’”

Below, Lea Michele walks us through her opening night.