From Broadway to Boardrooms: The Power of Going Full Out | Wendee Lee Curtis

Jul 22
5 min read

What can Broadway teach us about leadership, teamwork, psychological safety, and helping people perform at their best?

As it turns out—a lot.

In this episode of Laugh or Death, I sit down with Wendee Lee Curtis, a Broadway performer turned broadcaster, live event emcee, moderator, and keynote speaker.

Wendee made her Broadway debut in Play On, toured with Mamma Mia, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Lincoln Center. As a broadcaster and live-event host, she has interviewed everyone from Derek Jeter and Al Green to Liza Minnelli and Billy Porter.

Today, she brings the lessons she learned onstage into organizations, helping leaders and teams connect, perform, and have more fun at work.

Our conversation starts with Wendee’s gift for seeing people’s potential—sometimes before they can see it themselves. She believes many people are constantly being reminded of where they fall short, while very few are being shown what makes them extraordinary.

That idea became personal during her time with Mamma Mia.

Wendee auditioned knowing she was not the obvious choice for the show. She was not a pop singer and had never thought of herself as the funny performer. But because she had already decided she was “wrong” for the role, she walked into the audition without trying to become what she thought the casting team wanted.

She simply showed up as herself.

That freedom earned her a callback, a job in the ensemble, and an understudy role for one of the show’s most comedic characters.

When the time finally came for her to perform the role, she was terrified. She called the director crying and told him she did not think she could do it.

His response changed something in her:

He told her she was hilarious.

Wendee did not completely believe it yet—but she believed that he believed it. That was enough to help her step onto the stage and discover an ability she had never recognized in herself.

We use that experience to explore why the best performances—and many of the best decisions in life—require us to commit before we feel completely confident.

Wendee also introduces the Broadway principle of going “full out.”

On Broadway, performers are expected to bring everything they have unless they have specifically been told to conserve their energy during rehearsal. The environment does not ask people to hide their gifts because of their title, tenure, or place in the hierarchy.

If you have something that can make the production better, the team wants you to use it.

Unfortunately, that is not how every workplace operates.

Many employees have skills, ideas, and talents that never appear in their job descriptions. They are waiting for someone to give them permission to contribute more, while their leaders may have no idea how much talent is sitting quietly inside the organization.

We talk about how leaders can create an environment where people feel safe bringing those gifts forward—and why overmanaging talented people produces the workplace equivalent of a muted Broadway show.

Wendee also shares what Broadway teaches us about understudies, bench strength, and resilience.

If someone becomes unable to continue during a performance, the cast does not stop to debate whose job it is to step in. People shift roles, support the understudy, and do whatever is necessary to keep the production moving.

Everyone knows the same fundamental truth:

The success of one cast member belongs to the entire cast.

That mindset is supported by meaningful rituals. Before a show, the company gathers in a circle. When an understudy performs a role for the first time, that person stands in the center while the cast surrounds them with support. During the performance, everyone takes responsibility for helping that person succeed.

Imagine what work would feel like if every new employee, first-time manager, or nervous presenter felt that level of support.

This conversation is about much more than Broadway.

It is about believing in people before they fully believe in themselves, taking imperfect action, building resilient teams, and creating workplaces where everyone is allowed to perform full out.

And because this is Laugh or Death, it also includes Wendee’s description of one of the most humbling realities of Broadway: completing a 57-second costume change while several nearly complete strangers shine flashlights on you, move every part of your body, and somehow transform you into a rock star before the stage lift reaches the audience.

Broadway: equal parts artistry, discipline, teamwork, and apparently standing backstage in “a thong and a smile.”

In this episode, we discuss:

How Wendee went from Broadway to broadcasting and keynote speaking
Why she loves helping people recognize their own genius
Showing up as yourself when you feel wrong for the opportunity
The director whose belief helped Wendee discover she was funny
Why commitment matters more than confidence
What it means to perform “full out”
How leaders unintentionally cause employees to hide their gifts
The relationship between psychological safety and extraordinary performance
What understudies can teach us about resilient teams and succession planning
Why the best teams make one another look good
The Broadway ritual every workplace should borrow
Creating clarity without sacrificing creativity
The funniest and most humbling part of a Broadway quick change

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