07/17/2026
Happiest Amanda. If I never accomplish anything else in this life…I got to introduce two of my biggest heroes - Judy Blume and Esther Perel - after my secret show in NYC Monday night. I couldn’t believe they’d never met.
Perhaps the only larger accomplishment was leading them and the theater in a certain Lilly Allen sing-along song from “West End Girl”. You have not lived til you’ve seen that, and I saw it.
The show was tiny, just a handful of patrons / friends at the The Laurie Beechman Theatre, booked last-minute so I could workshop some of my new songs in a real room, get some feedback, feel safe.
I’ve known and admired these two women - both writers, both lightning rods - for so long. Playing new unfinished songs for these powerhouses was honestly slightly scary.
But they both make me feel so safe. Not because they have some cliché maternal way of protecting me or “validating” me - they can’t - but because they both remind me, day after day, that help is not on the way….not from some man, some partner, some publisher, some savior; not from the industry or the press, and not - certainly - from the court of public opinion. Never.
Help is on the way, they have taught me, when you face the emotional truth and get creatively compassionate. When you resist pitying yourself, pick up your pen, and write the truth.
So, I wrote. It’s time to get back to work, time to carry these songs further into the world. They’re almost ready. I can’t wait.
Judy/Esther plugs: If you haven’t seen “The Invite” or read about Esther’s involvement in it, run don’t walk. (I saw it at The Coolidge in Boston the other night and cannot stop raving). Also: read “The State of Affairs”.
If you want to really know about Judy Blume, skip the memoir; read her novels “In The Unlikely Event” and “Summer Sisters”. You’ll find Judy there.
So much love.
Thank you to Peter Dean, my hero, for producing this beautiful night, to Lance Horne for hosting us, massive thanks to Amanda WouldGo & Rebecca Sherman for helping at the show; and tearful hugs to Michael & Tom D’Angora & Brent Michael Jones (the Beechman is my new favorite haven) for taking such beautiful, beautiful care of us.
Theater family…forever…🎭♥️🎹🔥
📷 by Hayley Rosenblum Photography