By Andrew Gans
18 Dec 2009

	Lillias White in The Life

Question: How long will you stay with Fela!?
White: I don't know. [Laughs.] For as long as possible!

Question: How do you find doing eight shows a week?
White: Eight shows a week is hard, honey. It hasn't changed.

Question: Do you have any regimen that you follow to get through it?
White: Right now I'm sipping my cup of warm lemon water. I try to warm up a little bit physically, give my body a warm up, and I always warm up vocally. I have gone to a new vocal coach.

Question: You sound amazing. I really was blown away by the song in the second act.
White: A lot of people have never heard me sing like that. [Laughs.] So I try to eat right and exercise and say my prayers.

Question: On the other side, what are the joys of doing theatre for you?
White: The joys are having a live audience, of having the moment be different each time because you have a different set of people in the house. The moments that happen when an actor goes up and they have to find their way back to where they were... You can't say, "Cut! Let's start this again!" You gotta hit it, hit it right that first time, and if you get lost, you gotta find your way back. Those are the moments that are particularly fabulous for me, because they tell you what real theatre is about. It's real, it's live, it is alive. It's not just live, it is alive! You have wonderful bodies doing what they do on a regular basis and doing it with precision in this particular case. In every show I've been in, there's been precision involved. It's really one of the greatest things about the theatre, how precise you have to be and how you have to keep going.

[Fela! plays the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, which is located at 230 West 49th Street. For tickets call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.Telecharge.com.]

[White will play City Hall Restaurant's The Granite Room Dec. 31. Show times are 8:30 and 11:30 PM. City Hall Restaurant and The Granite Room are located at 131 Duane Street in the heart of TriBeCa. Tickets for the 8:30 PM show are $150 per person plus a $30 drink minimum and $250 per person plus a $30 drink minimum for the 11:30 PM show, which includes a champagne toast. For tickets call (212) 227-7777 or visit www.cityhallnewyork.com.]

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.