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DIVA TALK: Chatting with Tony Nominees Butler, LuPone, O'Hara, Prince and Russell
By Andrew Gans
16 May 2008
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Faith Prince in A Catered Affair.
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| photo by Jim Cox |
FAITH PRINCE
Nominated for her performance as Aggie in A Catered Affair at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
"[Every night] I wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm usually up for an hour, hour-and-a-half," Tony winner Faith Prince explained Tuesday morning, "then I go back to sleep, and I go into this really deep sleep. I have to do that or I can't do eight shows of this show a week. So I fell into that deep sleep, and then I got up and I was like, 'Oh, my God, it's 10:30.' I went to check my phone and I thought, '14 messages?!' I was scared at first it was [about] my husband and son. And then I'm thinking, 'Oh, my God, no, this is about the Tonys!'"
Prince was nominated for her powerfully moving performance as a severely unhappy 1950s Bronx housewife, who pins her hopes on a lavish wedding ceremony for her daughter. As excited as she was by her own nomination, Prince was disappointed that A Catered Affair failed to receive a Best Musical nod. "I'm shocked that my show didn't get nominated," Prince says. "How can you go from 12 nominations [from] Drama Desk to our show not even getting nominated [for Tonys]? This is the wackiest town," she laughs. "Xanadu and Cry-Baby, they're great, but could we have a little MOMA in there? A little Henri Matisse?"
Prince was also dismayed that neither co-star Leslie Kritzer nor director John Doyle was Tony-nominated. "I love being onstage with [Leslie]," Prince says. "She is one of the finest people I have ever been on stage with. I was really sad she didn't get nominated. . . [And], John Doyle has done for musical theatre what Steppenwolf did for theatre. I don't think I'll ever be the same because of John Doyle. He goes at it in such a way. It's almost hard for me to watch certain things now because I know how much can be in a lyric or a song or an action. It can be closer to the ground, even in a broad comedy, than one would ever imagine. I've been really affected by that."
It's been over five years since Prince appeared on Broadway — when she stepped into the role of Belinda Blair in the revival of Noises Off — and she says she's enjoying every single moment of her New York return. "I feel like I'm totally in my body, if that makes any sense," Prince says. "When I was younger, years ago, I always felt slightly above my body. . . . [Aggie] is very close to the ground. I think it's been my favorite experience so far. You would think that something like Guys and Dolls or The King and I or Little Me would be more glamorous and fun, but I think I had something more inside me to give. It's such a rich role and a deep role, and I feel like this is going to be the beginning of an interesting direction for me."
Although she loves performing in the Harvey Fierstein-John Bucchino musical, Prince does admit that the emotional roller coaster she rides each night is a challenge. "It's a huge journey, but it's fabulous. I welcome it, I love doing it, I'm up to the challenge. I've probably waited my whole life to do something like that. I think probably the biggest challenge would be putting out that kind of emotion eight times a week. One's body doesn't really know you're acting. I've had to really compensate on the fun part of my life, like getting out and realizing that that's not my world that I live in — on my day off, doing fun things, being good to myself. . . . But, as an actress, you can't wait to sort of gnaw into that meat eight times a week. Your body, however, goes the other way!"
One of the most affecting moments in the show features Prince, alone on stage, letting out a life's worth of frustrations in a lengthy sob. "It's not as hard one would think," she laughs. "But I definitely have to come at it from different ways, and it can never be the same way twice. It's sort of like playing jazz. You know where you have to get to, but every time you get there it's gotta [be different]. You can't be playing the same solo over and over again."
Prince is also proud of her work opposite fellow 2008 Tony nominee Tom Wopat, who has shared the stage with the Guys and Dolls Tony winner in several productions. "This is our fifth show together, [and] we have something so deep. It's a joy to connect that way with a human being and sort of be vessels for people to [explore their own emotions]," Prince says. "A lot of people have said to me, 'God, what you're doing is so raw, I'm almost scared for the character.' Inside a musical, that's pretty unique. So I have to say that dance that [Tom] and I do every night is connected and different and is just everything I've wanted as an artist. I feel like a racehorse at the gate, ready for that race. It's like I've spent my whole life [preparing for this role]. That's why I want people to support the show because I really think it's unique and it really has a lot to say, and I think people come out a different person by seeing it."
And, what does a Tony nomination mean to Prince at this point in her career? "Well, it's always been about the work for me, and I mean that sincerely. I always thought if I wrote a book it would be [titled] 'I'm Just Famous Enough.' When I set out in the beginning, I really wanted to make my life as a working actress. Certainly awards do something different. It puts another something into it. I'm very proud and honored to be nominated, but all I can think of is, 'What's next?' I think that's how I've always done it. Even the Tony I got for Guys and Dolls, I thought, 'Well this is nice. What's next?' An artist is like a runner. That was your last race. What's coming up? You just are a creative being, and that's what you are and that's what you do. But it is important to acknowledge the moment and revel in the moment. I just wish my show was with me. I like it when the whole team is on top!"
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Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans in Sunday.
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
JENNA RUSSELL
Nominated for her performance as Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park With George at Studio 54.
"To be in the same category as Patti LuPone, I can't get over it!" Jenna Russell said Tuesday morning following the announcement of the Tony nominations. "My goodness! I haven't seen Kelli [O'Hara] do South Pacific because we're on the same schedule, but she's another one. I've listened to her singing on albums the last few years and have thought, 'My God, what talent!' So really, I can't believe it. Faith Prince, Kerry Butler! It's extraordinary. I honestly am beside myself."
It was Roundabout Theatre Company artistic director Todd Haimes who called Russell to inform the singing actress of her Tony nomination for her touching portrayal in the Roundabout's revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park With George. "I think I went, 'Ahhhhhhh!,'" Russell laughs. "[There was] various wailing. I wasn't very grown up about it at all."
Russell also played the roles of Seurat's model Dot and Dot's daughter Marie in the recent London staging of Sunday, but is thankful for the New York experience "because I had such a short rehearsal period in London. I didn't do it at the [Menier] Chocolate Factory. The girl who did it at the Chocolate Factory fell pregnant, so the part became available. They asked me to do it, which was fantastic because I was just in Guys and Dolls. I had eight days rehearsal. It was a mad kind of throw-in situation. . . . To come over to New York, it was really nice to get a chance to have four weeks rehearsal with the whole company, to have the opportunity to bond, which has been more than lovely, [and] to make incredible friends, friends I know I'll have the rest of my life. It's been lovely. I've got an excuse to come back to New York because I've got friends here now."
Russell is making her Broadway debut with this production of Sunday, and the delightful actress says she has been awed by "the kind of Broadway community that everyone talks about. You have no idea how special it is to come here. It's something else. Broadway Cares, that part of it, all that kind of thing has blown me away. . . . It just shows how much people regard theatre here. The fact that the nominations were announced on TV… At home, it might get a mention in a paper, but that's it."
Both Sondheim and Lapine have been involved with the revival of their Pulitzer Prize-winning work, and Russell says she was most thankful for a comment Sondheim made following the musical's first run-through. "I thought it was extraordinary [when] he said, 'You're honoring my work too much. Throw it away. Don't worry about it.' I loved that! Because, of course, when you're learning Sondheim, you want to make sure you've got everything in place, not missing a beat. . . but he wanted us to have more fun with it."
Russell says she is especially fond of her duet with co-star and 2008 Tony nominee Daniel Evans in the show's second act, "Move On": "By the time the characters reach that point," Russell says, "there's so much angst, so much repressed feeling, it's wonderful to get the opportunity to acknowledge the love that they have for each other. It's always a lovely thing, it really is, to have that moment of redemption, of healing. . .It lightens your spirit so you can go home [on a good note]."
Russell and Evans, of course, are starring in the roles that were originated in 1984 by Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin. "I had no idea really how much the past production was held so high in everyone's memory," Russell explains. "Obviously, I grew up listening to the album. So I always have adored the album, but when Daniel and I started doing press, I realized every other question was, 'How do you feel about stepping into those shoes?' I hadn't kind of taken on board what a big deal that was. It's actually been amazing. We're very lucky in that Bernadette and Mandy have been wonderful. For them they've never seen the show, and now they get to watch it. Again, it kind of amazes me. We're all aware that it's the writing: my reaction to the writing, Daniel's reaction, Bernadette and Mandy's. But then, of course, to me, they are icons."
"For many people who do musical theatre in London," Russell adds, "to come to Broadway with a musical is a lifetime ambition. To have been lucky enough to do that, I'll always be grateful for. Today is kind of the icing on the cake. Who would have thought that from a tiny little production in a 150-seat theatre in London, [I would get to play Broadway]? . . . It's a real testament, I think, to the strength of the writing that it can go from there to the West End to Broadway. I'm thrilled to be part of that journey."
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
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