"There's this little ladder to get up there, and it was literally, like, a ledge,"
"But it was really cool."
"She'd kill me for sharing this, but she had the flu and was just dying,"
"I watched it on repeat before the Miss New York finals, and then again before Miss America."
Cassie Donegan was crowned Miss America in September and gained access to private and high-profile spaces. She visited the little-known 103rd floor of the Empire State Building via a small ladder and ledge. She relaxed in the velvet-seated VIP lounge at the St. James Theatre and sat beside a bespoke Niki Lassiter handbag. Kristin Chenoweth, a friend from musical-theatre circles, sent Donegan an encouraging video she replayed before competitions. Chenoweth stars in The Queen of Versailles, a musical based on Lauren Greenfield's documentary about Jackie Siegel's halted Versailles-inspired mansion project after the 2008 financial crash. Donegan grew up in small-town Virginia and performed in regional musicals such as Legally Blonde and Carrie.
Read at The New Yorker
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