“I love meeting people. I love costumes. And I love performing,” said Stephanie Windland, an actress who works as a guide for the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Sites Tour. With her current gig, she gets to “talk about two things I adore: the show and this city.”
Set in New York in the 1950s, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” an Amazon television series, is about a woman who finds her passion as a stand-up comedian. The two-hour tour highlights over two dozen spots well known in the show.
Ms. Windland, 29, who lives in Astoria, Queens, with two roommates, said she was hired after chatting someone up at a party. “A car and a costume were involved. I knew I had to have this job.”
SLOW START I wake up 7:30 a.m. to birds chirping. It’s part of the sleep app on the iPhone. For the next 30 to 60 minutes there’s a significant amount of snoozing. I’m trying not to do that. Then I make Chemex coffee for everyone. It’s slower but tastes better. I’m a mug collector. I have 11 or 12. Right now I’m doing a job for Hasbro as a toy demonstrator, so I’m using one from them. Then I do three pages in my journal. It’s stream of consciousness. I’m trying to get myself to write every morning. I also do a daily Wordle. I haven’t lost yet.
SALUTATIONS I meet my roommate Abigail in the hallway or the kitchen and we have a conversation. We call this open-door time. I might watch some TV in my bedroom. New obsessions are “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.”
PARTY TIME For the past three years I’ve been running a karaoke singalong for adults on the spectrum. Since Covid we’ve been doing them on Zoom. Every session starts with me saying, “It’s what?” And they say, “Party time.” Someone is always requesting “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog,” Beyoncé’s “Halo” and a Beatles song. A little after 12 p.m. I get dressed for work. My costume is similar to Mrs. Maisel’s, a maroon dress, black heels, a black hat with a bow and a coat I bought for $5 at the senior center in Queens Village.
TOUR PREP I stop at Parisi Bakery to buy black and white cookies to hand out to guests on the tour and take the subway to Herald Square. By 1:15 I’m in front of the virtual reality store on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, which is our meeting spot. Before Covid we had a van or a bus with 20 to 40 people. Now it’s only me and the driver and two or three people in an old vintage car. I escort them to the car and pretend they’re celebrities.
OLD NEW YORK The first location is right there: the B. Altman department store. It’s where Midge, the lead character, works, and is now the CUNY Graduate Center. We’ll hit 25 spots; some I point out as we drive, a few we get out and visit inside, like the Old Town Bar, which is Sally’s in the show, McSorley’s Old Ale House and Caffe Reggio. I talk about the show and answer questions. I ask them where they’re from, which is mostly New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island, what they do, what they like about the show and what team they’re on. Most say Midge. If they are team Benjamin we have it out.
PHOTOS, COOKIES At Albanese Meats and Poultry, we get out for a photo opp. That’s where Midge screams, “We got the rabbi!” If they’re a shy group I re-enact the scene, then take some photos for them. It’s very important to have a relationship with the store owners. I never want to make their business feel like a tourist attraction. Then I hand out the black and white cookies, which Midge hands out to her doorman and elevator guy. I’m always shocked at how many people have never had one.
IT’S A WRAP We also hit Music Inn, and then La Bonbonniere, which is a diner in the show. By 3:30 the tour ends. We say our goodbyes, which is hard because I feel like we’re friends. Then I take the subway home. Though I look like a caroler, people compliment my outfit. I get a lot of “We love your dress.”
DINNER IN THE HOOD If Abigail is home, we talk about the minor inconveniences of our day. In Astoria, we might go to Aliada or Sweet Afton, I like their Buffalo wings and spicy cocktails. If I stay home, we order in from Orale!! Tacos!!
DRESS-UP I have a bin of wigs I keep under my bed. I’ve never grown out of the dressing up stage. We’ll play some music, Kim Petras, Anaïs Mitchell, who wrote “Hadestown,” or some Frank Sinatra, who hits just right with me. Abigail makes white Negronis and we dance in the wigs. Or we watch a movie. We’re big Marvel fans. We just saw “Avengers: Endgame” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
SETTLING IN I plug in the Christmas lights I have up all year and attempt to do some reading; I’m in the middle of six books. For the past two years I’ve been 300 pages into the “The Book of Dust.” I get in bed and go onto Instagram. Then I do a recap of my day in a book my mother gave me called “One Line a Day.”I started doing this in January. Now if someone asks me in five years what I did today or how today felt I’ll know.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Stephanie Windland on Instagram @swindland.
