A quarter century ago at age 10, Becca Tobin caught the acting bug when she was booked to be an orphan for the Fox Theatre production of “Annie.”
“I got paid $100 for the whole thing,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I was making money and met friends who liked to sing. I found my people.”
Tobin, who grew up in Marietta, would eventually land on Broadway and do national tours before getting a major role on the show “Glee” as Kitty Wilde. But since 2015, she found a new calling: successful podcaster, part of a trio of 30-something women who discuss their life’s successes and tribulations on “LadyGang,” which now draws 4 million downloads a month. They dub themselves the “Hollywood girl posse” with Kardashian-style accents to boot.
They are also on a national theater tour to promote their podcast and a new book “Lady Secrets,” coming to the Buckhead Theatre Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. (Tickets available at livenation.com for $30 apiece.)
“LadyGang is a happy accident and the thing I’m most grateful for in my entire career,” Tobin said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “While Broadway was fun and ‘Glee’ was really fun, I didn’t have ownership. I showed up in costume and did the choreography. It’s really amazing to have something that is our own, something we created and we’re calling the shots. We can also hire badass women who are super talented.”
On the podcast, Tobin is joined by Keltie Knight, an entertainment correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight,” and fashion designer Jac Vanek,
Tobin knew Knight when they both worked in New York City and Knight was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. “We would be in the same audition rooms together,” she said. “When she was an entertainment journalist, I’d see her while I was on ‘Glee.’ We both knew how hard the entertainment business is. It spits women out when you reach a certain age. We knew that was inevitable. We wanted to create something for ourselves.”
Knight grabbed her friend Vanek and the threesome had immediate chemistry. When they started, podcasting was still in its relative infancy and there weren’t a lot of women in a field dominated by dudes (Adam Carolla, Joe Rogan) and true crime stories like ”Serial.”
Tobin said Knight helped turn an inchoate idea of three women of similar ilk trying to get through life into a coherent podcast. “She has the brains to format a show,” she said. “She created a crisp concept of a talk show.” (They even tried it on TV on E! for 16 episodes but preferred sticking with the more casual, freewheeling audio version instead.)
Knight used her contacts in entertainment, as did Tobin, to bring in guests. Of course, Tobin had several of her “Glee” buds show up. That helped build their audience and now they are on their second national tour.
While on this current tour, Tobin has had trouble sleeping and on a recent podcast, the women noted how difficult it was touring on a bus. But Tobin said meeting the fans face to face has made it all worthwhile. “When you sit and do a podcast, you sometimes forget there are millions of ears out there every week,” she said. “We can now see their faces and hear their feedback in person. It’s like,’ Oh, they’re real!’”
The podcast has enabled Tobin to reveal multiple aspects of herself and her past, including getting bullied at Wheeler High School and skipping graduation, performing “Rock of Ages” on Broadway or becoming chums with Jane Lynch on “Glee.” More recently, she faced fertility challenges, then had a baby boy via surrogate earlier this year with her husband Zach Martin.
“We have a rule that if something crazy happens in our lives, we don’t call and share,” she said. “We learn in real time on the podcast.”
After writing a book compiling personal essays about themselves in 2020 “Act Like a Lady,” which landed on the New York Times best-seller list, their newest book “Lady Secrets” is a compilation of their own secrets as well as those of their fans, sent anonymously.
“We got more than 10,000 submissions,” she said. “Girls from the community are seeing their secrets in the book and are DMing us.”
IF YOU GO
LadyGang Presents: The Lady Secrets Tour, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, $30, Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Rd NE, Atlanta, www.livenation.com
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