Desi Oakley made her Broadway debut in Wicked in 2012, before going on to shows such as the Annie revival (also in 2012), the First National Tour of the revival of Evita!, Les Mis, and even starred as Jenna in the national tour of Waitress. She’s appear on TV in Gotham, and even has a couple albums of her own as a recording artist out there in the world. She could most recently be seen as Roxie Hart in Chicago. In this episode, we dive deep into some of her terrifying stories of learning piano, temporarily moving to Canada as a child, and being incredibly self-aware and not caring what people think while constantly seeking validation. She discusses why she started developing on-stage anxiety while leading the first national tour of Waitress leading to her mantra to maintaining mental health (that we discovered during the episode) called MEPCY... yeah, we made that up, but it works! She even officiated Kyrstina Alabado's wedding! Interview content begins at 1:58. A meditation lesson at 31:48 Closing standards begin at 50:45. Connect with Desi: Twitter: @desioakley IG: @desioakley desioakley.com PopRockBroadway.com Connect with The Theatre Podcast: Support us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheTheatrePodcast Twitter & Instagram: @theatre_podcast Facebook.com/OfficialTheatrePodcastTheTheatrePodcast.com Alan's personal Instagram: @alanseales Email me at feedback@thetheatrepodcast.com. I want to know what you think. Thank you to our friends Jukebox The Ghost for our intro and outro music. You can find them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @jukeboxtheghost or via the web via jukeboxtheghost.com. A very special thanks to our patrons who help make this podcast possible! Cheryl Hodges-Selden, Paul Seales, David Seales If you would like to see your name in this show notes or get a shout out on the pod itself, visit ttp.fm/patreon to become a member and show your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices