The zippiest get together of the year for the theater community is the meet and greet of the Drama Desk nominees (for Broadway and off-Broadway), this year held at the Yotel Hotel’s Green Room 42. I gamely set up shop there and chatted with some of the season’s most stellar talents, who told me everything and then some.

Santino Fontana, Drama Desk nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Tootsie

What is your process to turn from Michael into his alter ego, Dorothy?

There are six to eight dressers backstage. They all have flashlights and are yelling. They do my fingers, makeup, hair, corset, dress, and heels. Last night, the corset fell off backstage.

So you went on without it?

No way! It was fixed very quickly.

Do you have more respect for drag queens now?

I have more respect for anybody who deals with this stuff. It is a whole other life.

What’s the emotional switch from Michael to Dorothy?

Dorothy is effortless. She always exists without effort whereas Michael is aggressive. In the show, it’s “Cool down, warm up.” For Dorothy, I think of all the women in my life who take care of everyone in the room and who are always standing up for what’s right.

You hit such great high notes. Is that a falsetto?

Everyone wants to define my voice. My voice teacher Joanne—who taught me in exchange for me babysitting her kid—said when people ask, “Are you a tenor or a baritone?” just say “Yes.”

Are you afraid you’ll only get female roles from now on?

My team and I agree, “This is it.” I’m not gonna do La Cage aux Folles, the To Wong Foo musical, and Mrs. Doubtfire.

No, I mean actual female parts. You know, like King Lear.

[Laughs] I did do a Medea monologue in college. Theater about killing your children to get back at your ex? I want to be there!

Just watch Jerry Springer.

Exactly right.

Stephanie J. Block, nominee for Outstanding Actress in a musical, The Cher Show

You played Liza Minnelli in The Boy From Oz. How is Cher different?

There is a vulnerability to Liza, and Cher comes across much more aggressive. Shoulders are back. She exudes confidence. With Liza, I aged from 19 to her 50s. She’s much more vulnerable, in her mother’s shadow. With Cher, I’m lifted and I try to grab the audience by the balls as quickly as possible so I can take them for the ride. I’d better be a star from the second I enter the stage.

Do you think Cher started out with that confidence or she developed it due to enduring some bad experiences?

I think she had it. Reading her memoir, there was being arrested [for borrowing her friend’s car], leaving home at 16. I don’t know if she knew what her path was going to be, but she certainly had confidence in herself. She says she’s always been fearful, but she never gave in to that.

How do you feel about all the love you’re getting from the community for this performance?

I never thought it was going to come in the embodiment of Cher! But it’s been a beautiful ride. I’ve found much more of me as a 46-year-old woman playing Cher than I ever have. I’m walking with more confidence.

It sounds like everyone should play Cher.

Everyone should play Cher!

Brandon Uranowitz, nominee for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Burn This

I resent when people say your gay character, Larry, is an archetype. This play, by Lanford Wilson, virtually started the archetype.

Yes, I think it’s a lazy criticism, to be honest. He created that trope. You can’t deny the history behind it.

And Larry has a real backbone, not just one-liners.

He has blood running through his veins like everyone else. He’s not just there as a comic object.

Like me.

Or me.

Also, I don’t feel Adam Driver’s character, Pale, is really homophobic.

No, he isn’t. He loved his [gay] brother very deeply. And just like gays used to put on a front to be accepted, Pale does the same thing and puts up a facade.

Heidi Schreck, nominee for Outstanding Play and Actress, What the Constitution Means to Me

It’s nice of you to give the young girl in your show the winning argument at the end.

We actually switch sides, and she beats me no matter what I do!

You are going to tour this play.

Yes. And somebody might be playing me in a few places. Also, I’m developing Patricia Lockwood’s book Priestdaddy, about a married Catholic priest, for Amazon. It’s a little like All in the Family.

Are you afraid that the Supreme Court will be further stacked against us?

I’m very scared about our future. I feel, like many Americans, terrified that so many of our human rights will be rolled back by this court.

Beth Leavel, nominee for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, The Prom

Are you getting a great response to the inclusive message of the show?

Unbelievable! We get letters saying, “Thank you for changing my life. Because of your show, I was able to come out to my parents.”

You’re such a fun actor and person. Is there pressure on you to always be the life of the party?

A little bit. When I go to an audition and they say, “We hear you’re funny,” suddenly nothing is available. I’m the most boring person alive!

George Salazar, nominee for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, Be More Chill

Is it depressing to wear the “Creep” shirt in the show?

It was only upsetting off-Broadway. I asked for a different cut. They did it, and it was like a blouse. I looked in the mirror and thought, “You look pretty.” We went back to the original cut. I already have a feminine face, with not much facial hair.

What’s wrong with that?

Nothing!

Be More Chill is the object of a cult, right?

Yes. In the best way, not the Manson Family way. No one’s dying. There’s no murder or cyanide pills.

Yet.

[Laughs] The fans are actually very warm-hearted and respectful.

Do you get free Mountain Dew because of the placement in the show?

No. I’ll have to speak to my publicist about that.

How about Payless?

They’re out of business.

They must be online. Come on, a nice feminine shoe.

A nice pump!

Rebecca Naomi Jones, nominee for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, Oklahoma!

You’re great as the unsatisfied Laurey. She seems kind of hot for Judd, no?

She’s totally attracted to Judd and this thing inside him that knows something is amiss in our community. She also has feelings for Curly and a desire to know what else is out there.

You and your cast mates must have been very willing to submit to director Daniel Fish’s radical vision.

Daniel doesn’t like to talk about what his vision is. He’d direct me like an editor. “No, that’s not it.” “Just do it simply.” “Don’t apply any coyness or irony.” One day, it just clicked. We’d be sitting, saying words honestly, taking our time.

Stripping the showbiz away from it.

Exactly.

Sarah Stiles, nominee for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, Tootsie

What do you feel is your neurotic actress character Sandy’s trajectory?

She learns a lesson. It’s such an anxiety ball to be in that head space. But by my bow, I’m thinking, “She’ll be okay.” She really learns something great.

I saw that you were up for some “Breakthrough” award, but I’ve seen you in shows before this.

They keep saying “promising.” [Pause] But I’ll take it! [laughs]

Leslie Kritzer, nominee for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, Beetlejuice

I wrote that you could be the new [1950s TV comedy star] Imogene Coca.

I never got Imogene Coca before! I’ve gotten Carol Burnett!

How does someone do wacky comedy while also keeping it in line?

Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, and Bette Midler all have ridden the line between honesty and full blown comedy.

And Imogene Coca! How do you feel about your green makeup at a certain point in the show?

My skin is not happy. I’m seeing a dermatologist soon. If I hadn’t taken a shower today, there’d be green on my hairline around my neck. Green everywhere. Green when I blow my nose. Glamorous!

Celia Keenan-Bolger, nominee for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, To Kill a Mockingbird

How did you get the part of the very young Scout?

My agent said, “I have sort of a weird request. Would you be willing to come in and read it so Aaron Sorkin can see what needs working on?” I said, “Yeah, I would be happy to do that.” I figured, “It’s super low stakes and a nice way to spend the afternoon.” We did it, and [director] Bart Sher said, “So we’re kind of thinking this might work.” What? If you told me they were doing To Kill a Mockingbird with adults playing kids, I’d tell you I don’t want to see that!” [She laughed and added that she loves doing the part and sees how the concept works.]

As I was leaving, I ran into André de Shields, an old pal and a nominee for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown. “You have such presence in the show. Congratulations,” I remarked. “We have a history,” André replied, “so I’m doing this for all of us.” I accept! See you all at the Drama Desks on June 2.

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Maya, Oh Maya!

We’ve been told “Mexico’s not sending their best people." But yes, they are, as witnessed by Cirque du Soleil's Luzia at Big Top next to Citi Field. The show—featuring a diverse cast—is described thusly: “Smoothly passing from an old movie set to the ocean to a smoky dance hall or an arid desert, Luzia brings to the stage multiple places, faces, and sounds of Mexico taken from both tradition and modernity.” It’s all verdad! And in the course of all that, there are acrobatics, aerial stunts, juggling tricks, contortions, ballads, human cacti, and clowning, with striking visuals and breathtaking physicality. One scene, where the performers stand on two separate hanging swings going in opposite directions and sprint through the air and land on the other one is extraordinary. Another, with the lead clown addressing the audience strictly via a whistle makes you appreciate whistleblowers again.

Acrobatic acts and multicultural motifs also figure in Around the World in 80 Days, a kid-oriented version of Jules Verne’s story at the New Victory Theater, directed by Theresa Heskins. The show starts with uptight, precision-obsessed Phileas Fogg (a very good Andrew Pollard) going through his daily routine several times until firing an imperfect valet, scaring up a new one (the comically gifted Michael Hugo as Passepartout), and accepting a bet claiming he can’t possibly circle the globe in 80 days.

En route from the U.K. to India to Japan to America to the U.K. again, the two are chased by a Scotland Yards inspector (Dennis Herdman) who’s convinced that Fogg is a bank robber, and what follows are cleverly directed fights that happen with the warring parties at opposite ends of the stage, plus audience participation, an occasional ditty, and some peachy pratfalls. Lis Evans’ useful set includes a stairway of suitcases studded with umbrellas, whereas other scenes are done via suggestion and invention. Seeing kids in the audience look happy made the child in me feel thrilled.

Speaking of British-American relations, 1776 is coming back to Broadway, and I hear they might use as an ad slogan, “Before there was Hamilton, there was 1776.” Would that excite people or just underline the fact that it’s not a super cool hip-hop show? I don’t know. Maybe they should just retitle it What the Declaration of Independence Means to Me.