Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) 2026

I've thought about reaching out to see about interviewing Haven a few times.

One of the more recent was a year or so ago, while I was rewatching the documentary Gotta Dance, upon which the musical I'd seen her in was based.

While most of the characters in the musical were composites, I got the idea to see if I could do a joint interview with Haven and one of the actual coaches of the NETSational Seniors to discuss the show and the actual experience in a panel-format discussion.

Unfortunately, that idea didn't pan out, as I learned that the coach I'd wanted to speak to had, sadly, passed away.

Additionally, I was a bit intimidated.

Haven's character Tara was, initially, quite stern and less than thrilled with the circumstances of her life.

I had seen Haven in the home video release of Shrek the Musical, but her role in that was more fantastical, while her role in Gotta Dance was purely human. There's also something unique in the connection one feels to a character they see live on stage in front of them vs on a screen.

So, for all intents and purposes, my first impression of Haven was my first impression of Tara, and since Haven is so phenomenal at what she does, that was not an inherently positive impression.

Of course, I fully grasp and understand the concept of "acting". My concerns were entirely irrational, but, nonetheless, the show was (as I said above) so purely human that I couldn't help but draw connections between the characters on that stage and the performers who shared their faces.

But once Haven was announced as a guest at C2E2, there was nobody else on the guest list I wanted to talk to more.

And I could not be more thrilled to say that my hesitations were not only irrational, but they were entirely off-base.

Haven could not have been more amazing to chat with, and I have to recommend attending this year's convention (her first in Chicago) on that basis alone.

I hope to get the opportunity to sit down with her in the future for a longer format discussion of her career, since it's impossible to squeeze so much into such a short conversation, especially one that's ostensibly meant to discuss her upcoming convention appearance.

In addition to recommending that you take this opportunity to meet her, I'll also pass along a tidbit that she told me when were talking after the recording finished.

While Gotta Dance never made the transfer to Broadway, it did have a run at the Paper Mill Playhouse, with a few changes (including the name).

That production, under the name Half Time, released a 16 song cast recording.

The above link is to the album on Spotify, though it's also available on Amazon, Apple Music, etc.

One of the biggest reasons I was disappointed that the show never got a Broadway theatre, beyond simply missing out on some of the recognition that I felt it deserved, was that (I thought) it meant we'd never see a cast recording.

I've never been so happy to be proven wrong twice in a single interview.