I am super pumped about this installment of Backstage Sessions featuring my dear friend Bonnie! We first met backstage at Aladdin in 2015 when I started working there at a swing dresser. She has been a faithful friend through my many emotional highs and lows. The summer LJ and I spent dressing the Female Ensemble along side her in the Bunker of Love at the New Amsterdam Theatre was one of the best times of my life. Bonnie inspires me because of how passionate she is about her job and how deeply she loves others. She happily took me on the coolest backstage tour at Anastasia and completely blew her interview questions out of the water. This post is honestly my favorite post to date and I just know you guys are all going to love her!!

One of my favorite Broadway events throughout the year was hands down the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction. Every year, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS holds an annual flea market to raise money for their cause. At this year’s event onSunday, Sept. 24, all previous records were broken and $1,023,309 was raised! The Flea Market was held in Shubert Alley and along West 44th and 45th Streets. It is always such a beautiful day watching the Broadway community and thousands of loyal Broadway fans come together to support an organization we all believe in.

I am thrilled to officially introduce you to my friend Sarah! I first met this sparkling little nugget backstage at Aladdin in February 2015 when she started as a swing dresser. She was a bit shy at first, but we eventually fell in love.I admire Sarah for her loyalty, patience, diligence, encouraging spirit and strong work ethic. She is an extremely valuable member of our girl squad, and not just because she's always willing to take thousands of pictures of LJ and I. So I hope you enjoy this little peek into Sarah’s world backstage!

So if you are just now tuning in to my life, I'd like you to introduce you to my fabulous best friend LJ! We met in Alabama way back in 2009 when I transferred to Samford University and became a theater major. We were always friendly but didn't become BFFs until she joined me working at Aladdin in February 2016. It is always a struggle not getting extremely sentimental when talking or writing about LJ so I'm going to save all my corny stories for a separate Team Teale post all about her. For now, I want to focus on her Broadway story. We had very different journeys to Broadway but have both always been passionate about the arts, and I'm pumped for you to get to know her better today.

One thing we love the most about Broadway here at #TeamTeale is its power to unify.  Everyone working on the Great White Way is creating a space where people from all walks of life can come together under one roof to jointly experience the power of live theater.  In a time when our country is inundated with divisive rhetoric, we appreciate how the cast and crew of the musical Hamilton housed at the Richard Rogers Theatre remind us daily of what unites our great country.