Frankie Grande likes to stay busy, even on Sundays.
“From the moment I wake up, everything is go, go, go,” said Grande, a 41-year-old actor, singer and reality TV personality. This month he reprized Victor Garber in “Titanique,” an off-Broadway musical parody of the film “Titanic.” He first played the character in a fully staged production in 2022 and is now back for a limited run through February 18.
Grande, the half-brother of pop superstar Ariana Grande, was born in New York, grew up in Englewood, New Jersey and Boca Raton, Florida, and graduated from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. He now splits his time between a two-bedroom penthouse in Hell's Kitchen and a house in Beverly Hills, California. She lives with her husband of almost two years, actor and model Hale Grande, 31, and her red toy poodle puppy. Appa.
While Grande was relatively unknown when she returned to New York City in 2005 (she said she often wandered around Times Square with a pair of headphones, soaking up the scene), she is now a YouTube, Instagram and TikTok personality with more than 3.5 million followers on all three accounts.
“I definitely can't walk around now without being recognized every four feet,” he said. “But I love talking to the fans.”
HERE COMES THE SUN I normally don't get up before 10 a.m. (my husband is in Los Angeles for work and we had been up all night playing the new game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora), but I surprise myself and wake up at 8:45 a.m. I have a Philips alarm clock that imitates a natural sunrise for 30 minutes and at the end has birdsong. It wakes me up like I'm on a farm with animal noises. It's a really calm way to start the day.
FUEL ARRIVING I run to the Starbucks at the bottom of my building (my order is an iced oat milk latte with three shots of caramel) or I put on my headphones and make breakfast here. I have to have my coffee with Chobani vegan creamer (it's the best thing that ever happened to the world) and a container of Siggi's vegan yogurt.
MORNING GLORY While I prepare breakfast, I go down to the dining room and look at the world. The apartment has high windows that face three corners of the city: south, west and east. There is light and sun all day. I can see even the Statue of Liberty if I look down Eighth Avenue, as well as my dad's house in New Jersey, which is adorable.
CANDY FOR THE EARS There is a playlist on Spotify called “The Daily Drive” that I listen to every morning. It starts with NPR, and then I get some podcasts from Vox, then some music, all my most played songs: “Running Up That Hill” by Kim Petras, “Got Me Started” by Troye Sivan, “Geronimo” by Sheppard, “Huye with me” by Carly Rae Jepsen.
SWEAT I take the subway to a SoulCycle class at 10:45am or 11am near Bryant Park. I would rather be on a train at five kilometers per hour than in a taxi at zero; That drives me crazy! I have some SoulCycle teachers that I love (shout out to Dakota, Cameron, and Parker), mostly gay. I'm a big supporter of gays because they play my music, which motivates me to finish class. I've been going for over 10 years and have probably done about 500 rides.
BRUNCH PLANS I usually meet my family for lunch around noon or 1 pm at 44 & So I have lunch with my best friends. Dominic Crossey and Lauren Strigari instead. I love this place. The dining room is very open and airy with lots of light. I always order French toast; It's my comfort food.
FIT CHECK I have my first performance in “Titanique” next week. [Mr. Grande returned on Jan. 13], so I head to the Daryl Roth Theater for a 2 pm costume fitting. They are making me a new costume, which I am very excited about; I used the previous one for eight months, so it was sad how long I finished. The show won a Lortel Award for Best Costume Design, and my costume was fantastic! – So I'm looking forward to whatever Victor Garber 2.0 is.
BOAT OF DREAMS Dominic, Lauren and I ended up staying for the matinee of “Titanique.” It is one of the funniest and most joyful programs I have ever participated in. No one who comes to the show leaves without the biggest smile. I was very fatigued when I left the program a year ago; we had been operating for eight months; It's very exhausting to start a program from scratch, but I knew I wasn't done.
MOVIE NIGHT We return to Times Square, where we see “The Color Purple” at the AMC on 42nd Street. It's so beautiful and the performances are amazing. Danielle Brooks as Sofia and Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery were my favorites. Made me cry.
AWARDS SEASON Back at my apartment, we ordered nachos, buffalo cauliflower and cheese tacos from Jajaja Mexicana, the best vegan restaurant ever, and watched the Golden Globes. I try to watch all the nominated movies each year. I'm surprised that “The Color Purple” didn't win anything, but I'm excited that Christopher Nolan finally won his Globe for “Oppenheimer.” I was impressed with that movie.
EARLY NIGHT Normally, I would end my night with a drag show at 10 pm, which means 11 in the drag world. I had been planning to see my friend Pixie Aventura at the Barracuda Lounge in Chelsea, but she's out of town this week, so no show. Then we played “Trolls Band Together”; Lauren and I love watching animated movies together. Watching my friend Lance Bass play the bright yellow troll with rainbow hair made me very happy.
NINE COMPLETE HOURS In an ideal world, I'm in bed at midnight and asleep by 1am. It takes me about an hour from when I decide I want to go to bed to falling asleep. I have a whole ritual that I go through: I listen to an audiobook (right now it's “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros, the sequel to “Fourth Wing”) and then I snuggle in bed with my husband. I put on my blue light blocking glasses if I'm going to look at something on my phone. Then I take my melatonin and then hopefully I go to sleep. My ideal is about nine hours; That's what my brain needs to function at its best. Anything less than seven and I'm useless to the world.
