FRONT ROW & CENTER

A behind-the-curtain look at television entertainment reporter Phyllis Klein.

“It was a star-studded event,” she says. “Everybody from the actors and celebrities to all the people sitting in the nosebleed section—everybody from head to toe was in full gown and the guys were all in tuxedos.”

That’s Phyllis Klein, television entertainment reporter, speaking breathlessly about covering the 79th Annual Tony Awards held at Radio City Music Hall.

“It was the most incredible experience,” Klein says. “Especially with having Pink put it together—it was the best Tonys I’ve seen in over 30 years.”

When we sat down with Klein, she had just arrived home the night before—exhausted, exhilarated, yet electrified about what’s to come next. But for her, that’s just another Wednesday.

Known across the entertainment world as “Front Row Phyllis,” Klein is an Emmy-nominated, five-time Telly Award-winning TV entertainment reporter who has spent nearly 20 years taking viewers backstage and behind the velvet rope. She’s the creator and host of The Entertainment Zone, streaming on Canyon Star TV and available on Roku, YouTube, and all the major platforms. And by the way, you may have seen her on Fox TV and CBS News, and heard her on WGN Radio and iHeart Radio—to name a few.

A Barrington native, Klein’s suburban life is anything but ordinary. When she’s not taking neighborhood walks through her quiet neighborhood streets, she’s covering concerts, theater productions, and red carpet events across the country—sometimes more than one in a single day.

And like any great show, it all had to start somewhere. Klein carved out her niche early at a time when almost no one else was focused on artists and performers rather than celebrity gossip.

Her show mixes musical artists with Broadway productions, offering something that feels less like an interview and more like a conversation you weren’t supposed to overhear—a talent Klein has, making every dialogue sound more like a fireside chat with a friend. Each episode typically features two musical artists and one Broadway production—or some equally electric combination.

With peak season running nine to 10 months of the year, the planning happens three to four months out, and yet the whole carefully constructed schedule can unravel in a moment’s notice—especially when a big-name star decides to show up unannounced. Welcome to showbiz, baby!

“It’s more challenging than people think,” she admits. “If I’m booked to cover an interview at Ravinia, and all of a sudden I have to be at Chicago Theatre—how are we going to do that? And do we have enough time?”

And then there’s the small matter of making it all look effortless on camera.

“We want you to turn on the TV and feel that you are on the red carpet and backstage with us,” she says, “and everything just glistens.”

Behind that glistening, though? Pure controlled chaos.

“Sometimes you don’t know if that magic is going to happen until one minute before showtime,” she says. Malfunctions, pivots, unplanned moments—she blends them all in, seamlessly might we add.

But when the cameras do roll, that’s when Klein truly earns her stripes—Emmy-nominated and award-winning, remember? What makes her effective is the environment she creates for people to simply exhale and be themselves.

And when it’s lights, camera, action—she eases in, reads the room, and follows wherever the conversation wants to wander.

“I create a very warm and secure environment,” she says, “and they just start talking, and sometimes we can’t get them to stop!”

Before long, it feels less like an interview and more like two people catching up over coffee—which, of course, is exactly the point. It probably doesn’t hurt that she opens every interview with a simple disclaimer: “I’m not TMZ.”

Her most memorable interview? A major country artist came backstage so visibly nervous that Klein quietly signaled her videographer to just start rolling without telling the artist. They talked about family, kids, and the tour. Twenty minutes later, the artist looked up and apologized for running out of time and not being able to do the interview.

“I looked at him and said, ‘That’s okay, because we’re all done,’” she recalls smiling at the memory. “It was the most authentic, beautiful piece—probably one of the best we’ve ever put out.”

But want to know who it was? Well, that she’ll never tell. Respectfully, she has NDAs.

Behind that glamour and the NDAs is someone who built everything from the ground up.

“It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” she says.

She tells the younger generations about the path and her advice is consistent: “Just keep your nose to the grindstone and keep going because there’s going to be so many noes than there are yeses,” she pauses, “and that one yes might just be a maybe.”

With nearly a million followers, her own streaming show, and multiple award wins, Klein is hopeful for another Emmy nomination that’s potentially on the horizon as The Entertainment Zone keeps growing, bringing more viewers along for the ride. Because at its core, that’s what Klein has always been about.

Coming from someone who just got home from the Tonys in the wee hours and was on the phone by morning? That’s not just a tagline. That’s a life’s work.

You can follow Phyllis Klein on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube at @FrontRowPhyllis, and watch “The Entertainment Zone” on Instagram, YouTube, and streaming on Canyon Star TV. Listen on Spotify and Apple Music. frontrowphyllis.com