PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Pippin Star Rachel Bay Jones

By Matthew Blank
09 Apr 2013

Rachel Bay Jones
Rachel Bay Jones

Rachel Bay Jones, who plays Catherine in the new Broadway revival of Pippin, fills out Playbill.com's questionnaire of random facts, backstage trivia and pop-culture tidbits.

Jones has appeared on Broadway in Hair (Mother, Buddhadalirama) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (u/s, performed Lucia).

Other theatre work includes Hello Again (The Actress) at Transport Group, A Christmas Story (Mother), Sylvia (Sylvia) and The King and I (Anna), among others.



 Continued...

Full given name: Rachel Bay Jones. The middle name is that of my beloved grandfather, Harry Bay Jones, Jr. He was a tough, joke-telling Midwesterner with a butterball heart, who told me to save my money (sorry, Papa), and follow my dreams.
Where you were born/where you were raised: Born in NYC, raised mostly in Sunny Florida. My family all lives on Maui now, and that’s been my “hometown” for awhile.
Zodiac Sign:Scorpio!
What your parents did/do for a living:My parents are Shakespearean actors turned health food store proprietors. Back in the day my mother Mona Feit did a production of Chekhov’s The Boor, produced by none other than Fran and Barry Weissler, who I work for now in Pippin. All in the family.
Siblings:Darren, my beautiful brother, who never caught the show biz bug. (He’s the smart one.)
Current audition song/monologue:Oy. Auditioning.
Special skills: I have no skills.
Something you're REALLY bad at: Pirouettes! I get dizzy and fall down, usually giggling, like when I was six.
First Broadway show you ever saw: La Cage aux Folles. My progressive Nana took me at a completely inappropriate age. My jaw was unhinged, and I spent the whole show trying to figure out where the boys were.
If you could go back in time and catch any Broadway show, what would it be? The Music Man with Robert Preston
Some favorite modern musicals: Passion, Hello Again, Shrek. I loved Shrek.
Some favorite classic musicals: King and I, 1776, Guys and Dolls
Broadway or screen stars of the past you would most have loved to perform with: So many. Gene Kelly! But I think the klutzy-pirouette thing would’ve gotten in the way of our working relationship.
MAC or PC? MAC. So pretty.
Last book you read: "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin. I read it almost every year.
Must-see TV show(s): Ok, here's the thing: the only television shows I really watch are nature documentaries where the narrator has a soothing (preferably British) voice and the camera shots are long and slow.

It's stressful living and working in Manhattan, and I like to use my TV like a big picture window into the woods, or the porthole of a submarine! So, right now it's David Attenborough, "Blue Planet." Gorgeous.

Last good movie you saw: It's crazy, but it's rare for me to watch anything other than cartoons, sci-fi or superhero movies. But I did see "Lincoln" and loved it.
Some films you consider classics: "The Matrix"
"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"
"The Purple Rose of Cairo"
"The Sound of Music"
Three favorite cities: Detroit, NYC, and does the whole island of Maui count?
Favorite sport/team/player: My boyfriend Benim Foster keeps begging me to find an interest in any sport so we will have something in common other than acting. I am thinking men’s water polo. I could get on board with watching shirtless men splash around for an hour or so. It’ll bring us closer together as a couple.
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