By Andrew Gans
Question: You mentioned before being married to someone who is also in the business. Do you find that's helpful, someone who also experiences the ups and downs?
Question: How old are your kids?
Question: How do you find mixing motherhood and performing?
DIVA TIDBITS
The annual Broadway Stands Up for Freedom! concert will be held July 20 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The 7:30 PM concert will benefit the Youth Programs of the NYCLU and will feature the talents of Michael Emerson, Roger Rees, Michael Cerveris, Randy Graff, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Michael Rupert, Stephen Bogardus, Liz Callaway, Gavin Creel, Carrie Preston, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Todd Buonopane, Brian Lowdermilk, Liana Stampur and much of the cast of the Tony-winning revival of Hair. Jen Bender and Danny Goldstein will direct the evening, which will feature musical direction by host Seth Rudetsky. NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place (Washington Square South) in Manhattan. For $60 tickets visit www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu/calendar/broadway_stands_up_for_freedom. For more information go to www.nyclu.org/bway.
The third annual Summer Broadway Festival will be presented at Town Hall in Manhattan in July. Created by Scott Siegel, the series will kick off July 13 with Broadway Winners: The Award-Winning Music of Broadway. The 8 PM concert will boast the "music created on the Great White Way that won Tonys, Grammys and Oscars." Siegel will narrate the evening, which will feature the talents of Marc Kudisch, James Barbour, Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte, Alexander Gemignani and Farah Alvin . Broadway's Rising Stars is the title of the July 20 concert, also at 8 PM. Emily Skinner and Scott Coulter will co-direct the evening, which will feature students selected from such theatrical institutions as AMDA, CAP 21, Juilliard, CCM, Carnegie Mellon, NYU Steinhardt and Tisch Schools, Marymount and The New School. The series will conclude July 27 at 8 PM with All Singin' All Dancin'. The evening of song and dance will feature several Broadway favorites and will be choreographed by Shrek The Musical's Josh Prince. Siegel and Prince will co-direct the evening; casting will be announced shortly. Town Hall is located in Manhattan at 123 West 43rd Street. For tickets call (212) 307-4100 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.
The 2009 Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre, one of the nation's leading forces in musical theatre, will present a "Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret" series beginning July 7. The three weeks of live music and performances will kick off July 7 with "Revenge of the Understudies II," which features performances by the understudies of this season's Signature productions; show times are 7:30 and 9:30 PM. On July 8 and 9 Helen Hayes Award winner Natascia Diaz, star of Signature's Kiss of the Spider Woman, will perform her evening of tunes; show time both nights is 8:30 PM. Washington-area chanteuse Judy Simmons will perform July 10 at 7:30 pm, and she will be followed at 9:30 PM by Washington Improv Theatre's iMusical: The Improvised Musical, "amazing improvised scenes, lyrics, and music, all inspired by a single audience suggestion," according to the Signature. Helen Hayes winner Will Gartshore will perform his cabaret act Perfect/Finite July 11 at 7:30 and 9:30 PM. Expect "an eclectic combination of pop, rock, and contemporary theater songs of auspicious beginnings, messy endings, and love's beautiful flaws." The second week of the series will include actor Stephen Gregory Smith (July 15 at 8:30 PM), theatre composer Peter Lerman (July 16 at 8:30 PM), former Broadway "Dreamgirl" Julia Nixon (July 17 at 7:30 and 9:30 PM), Taboo Tony nominee Euan Morton (July 18 and 19 at 7:30 PM) and comic and cabaret performer Colleen McHugh (July 18 at 9:30 PM). Side Show Tony nominee Emily Skinner will entertain audiences July 21 at 8:30 PM, and on July 22 Signature will present "Next Generation Composer Cabaret," featuring the work of up-n-coming musical theatre composers Gabriel Kahane, Adam Gwon, Peter Foley, Marisa Michelson and Matt Conner. All performances take place in Signature Theatre's modern theatre complex. Tickets for all cabarets are $20 general admission; an all-access cabaret pass costs $75. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or by calling Ticketmaster at (703) 573-SEAT (7328) or by visiting www.signature-theatre.org.
Baltimore's Centerstage has announced its 2009-2010 cabaret series, which will launch Oct. 15 with Tony Award winner Judy Kaye. Tony winner Kaye will play the Maryland venue through Oct. 18. She will be followed by Taboo's Euan Morton, who will perform for Baltimore audiences Nov. 12-15. E. Faye Butler, who was seen in Centerstage's production of Caroline, or Change, will perform Feb. 11-14, 2010. The series will conclude with Tracie Thoms and Friends April 29-May 2, 2010. Thoms, who was seen in the film and stage versions of Rent, will be joined by special musical guests during her Centerstage run. Cabaret series tickets are currently available only as part of a 2009–10 season membership; details on memberships can be found by visiting www.centerstage.org or by calling (410) 332-0033.
The Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center's Summer Concerts on the Hudson series will continue June 29 in Lincoln Harbor Park. Entitled An Evening of Broadway, the 7 PM concert in Weehawken, NJ, will celebrate the work of the late director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. Expect tunes from West Side Story, On the Town, Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy and more. Among those currently scheduled to lend their talents to the free evening are Mary Testa (Guys and Dolls, Xanadu), Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid), Lisa Howard (9 to 5 The Musical), Graham Rowat (Guys and Dolls), Donna Marie Asbury (Chicago) and tap wiz Kendrick Jones (Broadway by the Year). For more information and directions visit www.hrpac.org or call (201) 716-4540.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
19 Jun 2009
Question: Is there any role you've played that you think has changed your personal outlook on life or changed how you view something about life? 
Liz Larsen photo by Marcel Indik
Larsen: Maybe Falsettos because it's about parenthood, which I do offstage. Reconceiving a family, which is what we have to do every day having chosen this business, and being separated from the people that we were born to because they're across the country. So we make our new families. It's very intense getting to know people when you're in theatre. You're an open book, and they're an open book, and you become these little families, and I've stayed families with these people. That's kind of what Falsettos was about. Plus, I've lost so many [people, including] my first boyfriend to AIDS. It was interesting because I did [Falsettos ] with Mark Nelson, who played my husband Mendel. My high-school boyfriend — who was this kind of unbelievable, extraordinary person — went to Princeton with Mark. They became very good friends at Princeton. I had met Mark over the years, and we have always shared the fact that we loved Bill. That was our bond, what we learned from Bill and how we loved him and what he did for our lives. And then when we played opposite, I remember coming offstage one night and I was like, "Mark, Bill's there!" And he was like, "I can't believe you said 'Bill's there.' He's there!" It was like he was onstage with us — it was intense.
Larsen: It's helpful, but it can also be stressful because we're both freelancers in a way. When it's not going well and not as lucrative or happy as it could be, then the other person is part of that, too. I get it, and he gets it with me, but it's a challenge. When it's great, it's great! [Laughs.] When it's not, you wonder what the hell's going on — everything's chaotic and out of control.
Larsen: Our oldest son Alessandro is 12, and our youngest son [Joey] is 9.
Larsen: It was always a negotiation, and it still is. It was very challenging in the beginning because for some reason I felt like I only had so much love, and if I went and put love into my work, then I was impairing them in some way. . . The bottom line is we really do spend so much more time and are able to really be more involved in their lives than we would if we had nine-to-five jobs. We're there for the basketball games, and we're there for the luncheons. The only thing that's hard for me is not putting the kids down at night, because I like to, even still, to read to them. Coming home with them being asleep is not my cup of tea, but it's part of [the job].
Olivier and two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone will bring her newest concert act, The Gypsy in My Soul, to several venues throughout the country. As previously announced, LuPone will debut Gypsy in My Soul June 20-21 at the Orleans Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The acclaimed singing actress will perform for Atlantic City audiences Aug. 15 at the Music Box at The Borgata Hotel & Casino. New Gypsy in My Soul dates include Sept. 26 at the University of North Carolina's Aycock Auditorium in Greensboro, NC; Feb. 17, 2010, at the Tennessee Williams Theatre in Key West, FL; and April 24 at the Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda, MD. In The Gypsy in My Soul, press notes state, "LuPone will perform songs that have long been associated with her four-decade Broadway career, as well as some of her personal pop favorites. 'I Get A Kick Out Of You' from Anything Goes, 'As Long As He Needs Me' from Oliver! and 'Some People' from Gypsy are some of the well-known show stoppers the two time Tony Award-winner will perform. In between musical numbers, LuPone will engage the audience as she shares backstage stories and personal reflections from her illustrious career." A slew of other new LuPone concert dates have also been announced, including Oct. 3 (Matters of the Heart at Purchase College's Performing Arts Center in Purchase, NY), Nov. 5-7 (Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA), Nov. 20 (Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI), Jan. 2, 2010 (Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda at the Symphony Hall in Phoenix, AZ), Feb. 19 (Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, FL), May 13 (Matters of the Heart at The Grenada in Santa Barbara, CA), May 15 (Matters of the Heart at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA) and June 18 (Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, MN). For more information visit www.pattilupone.net.
Patti LuPone photo by Ethan Hill
DIVA TALK: Chatting with Sessions Star Liz Larsen Plus News of LuPone, Graff and Gravitte
[The Algonquin Theater is located in Manhattan at 123 East 24th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. Tickets, priced $50, are available by visiting www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444.]
