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Aging Like a Fine Wine - The Joan Ryan Interview
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May 21, 2024
The extraordinary Joan Ryan joins Caren on today's show! The talented actor, singer, and producer discusses how she continues to chase her dreams and thrive in every stage of life. From her many captivating roles to her unforgettable performance at Carnegie Hall, discover how Joan Ryan embodies resilience, passion, and the unwavering pursuit of her aspirations. Don't miss out on this compelling and empowering episode! #carnegiehall #AgingLikeafineWine #joanryan Click https://www.uncorked.online/napa-guide for your complimentary copy of The Ultimate Napa Travel Guide Subscribe to our YouTube channel: / @carenglasser
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[Music]
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I'm Karen Glasser here and welcome to
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life on Cork and today we are doing a
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segment called Aging like a fine wine
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and I am sitting here with my good good
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good friend actor singer producer Joan
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Ryan welcome to the show hello there hi
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Karen I'm so happy to be here I am
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thrilled thrilled thrill thrilled that
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you're here um you know you have said to
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me many many times that there is never
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an end date to our dreams right that's
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true that fear and doubt are always part
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of the equation when you dream and feel
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the fear do it anyways I have Goosebumps
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I only have Goosebumps when things are
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right so I just got right right and this
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is how you've you've LED your life so
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let's talk just briefly about the
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Journey of getting from Little Joe and
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Ryan to where you are today tell us a
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little bit about that
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well let's see I've always always known
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that I wanted to be a performer always
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from the time I was four years old as
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anyone who came to our family home would
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testify when I made them sit down and
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you know danced on the furniture um
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which took me to theater school which
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brought me to La um always thought that
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I would end up in New York and I worked
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here in Los Angeles all the time off
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Broadway Los Angeles recording around
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the country um and um and then I met
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someone and fell in love and we raised a
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family lo and behold here in LA in La um
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and so I would leave for periods of time
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to go work but what can I say I love
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being with my kids and my husband so I
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would not take a Broadway show um
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because it would take me away for too
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long so um was that hard was that hard
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to say
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no um no because I always knew that that
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would come I always had a really strong
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faith that when the time was right it
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would come and when our youngest left um
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for college my husband said okay let's
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go and we went to New York and it was
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pretty incredible within um Not only was
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it so much fun but I sang uh and
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produced a show at Carnegie Hall and I
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sang at L Center stop for a second you
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just kind of said that you oh yeah I did
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what was that like I mean that's pretty
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incredible to say that singing at
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Carnegie Hall was everything you would
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think it would be it was
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amazing um and it was very exciting
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because I got to produce the evening for
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um an organization very close to my
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heart um Shane's inspiration now called
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inclusion Matters by Shane's inspiration
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um so it wasn't only about me and it's
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interesting how that works right because
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I was having an amazing time living out
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my New York dream and my husband was
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there with me right um and then this
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came about and it was the culmination of
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everything but it came about
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through something that was not about me
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so it was an incredible experience we
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had major Broadway people and amazing
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amazing I mean first of all a as your
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friend I'm so proud of you I just I just
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so so so amazing what's driving you
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right now at this stage in life and you
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know because things are changing right
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so what is driving you to keep on
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going well I think first and foremost I
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love it so much um about a year ago I
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did I was able to play um very exciting
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in a a carrian and louder milk Premiere
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uh Broadway musical I was able to play
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Ruth Vader Ginsburg just as everything
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was getting kind of crazy or continuing
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to be crazy um and I took that because I
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was so excited about about what it was
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and I do turn things down at this stage
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of my life that aren't exciting to me so
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I think what what motivates me is if it
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feels like it will be an incredible
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experience like if it feels like it will
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satisfy you know I always talk about
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that pilot light that doesn't go out
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right from the time we're little and I
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also think that you're never too late to
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go after that pilot light because you're
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God willing you're going to turn 90 80
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100 anyway what else are you going to do
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you might as well go after what you want
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to do and it just might work I love that
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I love that and and I love you so
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obviously you're already being
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inspirational just in the words that
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you're saying but is there is there
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something that you know somebody were to
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come to you and say Joanie you know how
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do you keep going like this can you give
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me something to motivate me to maybe do
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something different in this next stage
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what would you be telling people well
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it's not like it's easy and I also think
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it's really really really important to
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surround yourself with people that help
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you get there coaches inspirational
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people Rel whatever it takes you know I
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personally work with a coach um and I
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don't always stay with the same coach I
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might work with one coach and then I
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might move to another coach but it it's
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who is going to help me get to the next
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place at the time and also for me
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personally this is not necessarily
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correct for everyone I'm really grateful
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I have a family that I've worked really
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hard to um for and
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um and there are times when my career
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didn't always come first and my family
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knows that there are times when my
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career comes first right and so they
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kind of drive me because they're like
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okay what's next time for you to do
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something because they know what that is
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for me so would you say you're by
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Coastal at this point you're you're
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spending part of your time of the year
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in New York and part of the time here in
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Los Angeles absolutely um go ahead sorry
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I said to my husband last night you know
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It's tricky because in New York what I
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love it's go go go and I can go sing and
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then go out for dinner with people and
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visit with all my friends and it's
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nonstop and then I come home and it used
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to be I would say re-entry is really
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hard um but then I was able to embrace
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it because that would be my downtime
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where I could recharge be with my family
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be with my friends that are here and
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then go back and do that non-stop pace
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and I used to feel guilty about not
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being at either place and then I said
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you know what it's really okay it works
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for me for the family would would you
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say that this is the best time of your
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life
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wow well aside from losses because
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there's lots of right losses at this age
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friends dying parents dying which sort
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of colors things no kidding um it's one
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of the best times in my life I don't uh
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I don't think I I can quantify that
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because going for Carnegie Hall was the
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best time in my life raising my kids was
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the best time in my life having babies
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um when the kids were SM like so
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important really good question Joan what
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you're saying is that every moment can
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be the best moment of your life it's all
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how you how you decide to show up and
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you are always showing up very very big
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I mean because you first of all you for
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anyone who never heard Joan sing shame
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shame shame you are known for your big
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voice you have a very big Broadway voice
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you did ruthless you were you know that
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was your your show here you you've been
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on television Young and the Restless you
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do voice you do everything and you do it
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in a very big way but very humble way
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you're very humble about your talent
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because you are extremely Talent so I
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guess the next question really leads us
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into what's next for Joan Ryan what do
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you what do you have on your plate well
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you know I I am hooy Louie and I do
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visualize all the things that I want and
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they seem to come to come true um I want
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another musical whether it's in LA or
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New York I'm ready but I'm going to be
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very specific because I did get one that
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I didn't choose to do but it was um but
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I did get it um I want a really fun
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fabulous part in new
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musical and it could be La it could be
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New York that is what I want that's
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what's next in my and you want to have
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fun and you want to enjoy because when
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we get to this this age whatever age
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you're at I mean we're talking to people
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that are 50 60 70 80 whatever age you're
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at enjoy the stage that you're in that's
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right Joan I know that people going to
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want to follow you if they aren't
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already again I'm going to say shame um
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they need to go check out your website
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it's all new I know that you totally
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redone it and it's Joan's website at
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Joan ran.com you're also on Facebook at
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the official Joan Ryan and also on
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Instagram at the official Joan Ryan any
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last thoughts you want to share with
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everyone who's listening to your amazing
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story I think the thing that I've had to
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work really hard
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against um and that I think so many of
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us have to be quite is self-doubt and if
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all the work in your life or a lot of
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the work goes there then everything else
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seems to materialize because maybe it
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takes getting to this age where you get
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to see the truth that everybody has
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self-doubt everybody has confidence it
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just depends on where you are at the
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time um I think I could have shortcut a
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lot of things or or had more fun when I
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was doing them because now it's kind of
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gravy now that that's in my bones it's
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amazing how even my performances are
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different because there's not that Push
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Pull so I think that's where the
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desperation you're you're now you're now
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in it yeah I'm now in the good stage and
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then everything else is Right blessings
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well we've been talking to Joan Ryan who
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is aging like a fine wine and we are all
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here on life Uncorked uh go out give
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somebody an awesome day and we'll see
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you next time thank you so much Karen
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thanks bye
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[Music]
#Acting & Theater
#Broadway & Musical Theater