By Andrew Gans
14 Nov 2008
Question: Going back a bit, you were part of one of my favorite Encores! productions, Promises, Promises.
O'Malley: Wasn't that great?
Question: I loved that production. I was sorry that didn't transfer.
O'Malley: Me, too! It was such a great show.
Question: What was that experience like?
O'Malley: It was so electric. I remember the very first day of rehearsal, and Rob Marshall had started a few days earlier with his dancers, and they showed us the Overture. It was when all of those beautiful dancers . . . they each were in sort of a go-go box mixed in amongst the orchestra. They showed us the Overture, which of course is so exciting, and then these women, who are goddesses, dancing to this music, our jaws were on the floor! I remember my brother [Mike O'Malley], who is a big TV star, he was playing my brother in the show in a sort of cameo, and he doesn't really do musicals. He did in college and stuff, but watching him experience what I get to experience on a regular basis, the electricity of being in a room with live music and extraordinarily talented dancers doing their thing. It's so different from working on a sitcom or doing a drama. It's just a thrilling, emotional, visceral experience. That show was awesome, and Martin Short couldn't have been more generous or kind or loving. That was such a thrill. I was doing it at the same time as How I Learned to Drive. I opened both shows the same week. I think we opened How I Learned to Drive on a Sunday, and then we did our invited dress of Promises, Promises that next day. I just remember that I had two reviews in The New York Times, one was on Thursday, one was on Saturday. It was a crazy week. But I thought, "My God, I'm in this totally awesome musical at Encores! with these big stars, and then I'm doing a Pulitzer Prize-winning play at the Vineyard with Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse." It doesn't get better than that.
Question: What are your memories of the Into the Woods revival?
O'Malley: I just loved every minute of doing that show. I think the great joy of doing Sondheim is that you can always do it better, so every night you feel like, "I might have gotten this, but I didn't get that." I felt like I could have kept doing it again and again and again and again. The material is so rich that it can be constantly mined for new things, which is one of the reasons, I think, when you're seeing a Sondheim show, you should go late in the run. It's the kind of material where performances just get richer and richer and richer. You might see something very polished on opening night, but if you go a few months into the run, you're going to see something really deep. Not to say that it's not deep on opening night, but it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper because it's all there. I loved James Lapine, and I adored my [onstage] husband Stephen DeRosa. It was an amazing cast: Gregg Edelman, Laura Benanti, Chris Sieber, Vanessa Williams, just a very classy, elegant, kind, generous company.
O'Malley: Not yet. I just wrapped season three of "Brotherhood" on Friday before we started rehearsals. So we wrapped on Friday and then I started White Christmas on Monday, so I wouldn't mind actually taking a tiny little break. [Laughs.] I'm not thinking that far ahead. Usually I spend pilot season in L.A. I don't know that I'll do that this year. We'll see what comes up, but I'm not worried about it.
[Irving Berlin's White Christmas plays the Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway. For tickets call (212) 307-4100 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. For more information go to www.whitechristmasbroadway.com.]
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| Alison Fraser and Mary Testa |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Broadway belters Alison Fraser and Mary Testa, who had been part of the cast of William Finn's In Trousers over two decades ago, have recently been spreading their joy at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in a concert act simply titled Together Again. The swell party is actually a tribute to two artists: Fraser's late husband, the acclaimed composer Rusty Magee, whose songs comprise Together Again, and the late actress Pattie Darcy Jones, who was both Magee's muse and Fraser's frequent co-star. Fraser and Testa's styles couldn't be more different, yet somehow their voices and their personalities blend well, and their affection for Magee and his work is obvious. Fraser scores with what may be Magee's best tune, the shattering "New York Romance," playing up the song's comedy while not losing its heart, and Testa beguiles with the title tune from Magee and Charles Busch's musical The Green Heart. Other highlights include a charming medley of kids' songs ("Growing and Changing"/"Skunk, Dance in the Sugar"/"All the Difference in the World"/"How I Love My House") and the toe-tapping "Balance of Power" (from Magee and Lewis Black's The Czar of Rock and Roll). Guest star Annie Golden also brought down the house with her thrilling vocals on "Don't You Go and Get Famous." The two encores were equally welcome: Testa on the art song "High Flight" and Fraser on the melodic and moving "Sweet Appreciation." And, good news, additional dates have been announced for Together Again, which will be seen at the Laurie Beechman Nov. 24 at 10 PM, Nov. 30 at 8 PM and Dec. 11 at 11:30 PM. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is located within the West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street. There is a $25 cover charge and a $15 food-drink minimum; for reservations call (212) 695-6909.
DIVA TIDBITS
Two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters, whose recent TV credits include "Grey's Anatomy" and the Lifetime film "Living Proof," will return to the small screen later this season. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that Peters will guest star on an upcoming episode of the hit ABC series "Ugly Betty." Peters will play a magazine mogul named Jodie Papadakis. Betty (America Ferrera) and Marc (Michael Urie) will compete for an editor-in-training program that will be headed by Peters' character. A January 2009 air date is likely.
Several Broadway musicals and stars will be featured during the 82nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which will be broadcast live on NBC-TV Nov. 27 beginning at 9 AM ET. The annual parade will boast performances from the casts of Irving Berlin's White Christmas (performing a medley of "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "White Christmas"), In the Heights (performing the title song), South Pacific (singing "There Is Nothing Like a Dame") and The Little Mermaid (performing "Under the Sea"). Also of interest to theatre fans: The cast of the forthcoming revival of Hair will belt out "Aquarius" atop the New York Tin Toy float; Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth will sing "The Christmas Waltz" on The Care Bears Winter Fun-derland float; and Tony winner Idina Menzel will offer "I Stand" on the M&M's on Broadway float. The parade will conclude with members of Camp Broadway — joined by Kermit the Frog — performing "I Believe in Santa Claus." A group of 300 kids, ages 10-17, will sing the tune, which was penned by Wesley Whatley and Bill Schermerhorn, Macy's creative director.
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| Barbara Cook |
| photo by Mike Martin |
Melora Hardin, who stars in the hit NBC comedy "The Office," will make her Broadway debut next month in the long-running, Tony Award-winning revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Chicago. Hardin will begin a seven-week stint as Roxie Hart Dec. 29 at the Ambassador Theatre. She is scheduled to play the merry murderess through Feb. 12, 2009.
Heidi Blickenstaff, who was one-quarter of the cast of the recent Broadway musical [title of show], will step into the leading role of the evil Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid in 2009. Blickenstaff will succeed Sherie Rene Scott in the role beginning Jan. 27, 2009. She is currently scheduled to stay with the production through April 5, 2009. The big-voiced Blickenstaff was originally cast as Carlotta and Scott's standby in Mermaid, but left the production when [title of show] transferred to Broadway following its Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard. For more information visit Walt Disney Theatricals at www.disneyonbroadway.com.
Actress-singer Jana Robbins, who was one of the producers of the Broadway mounting of the musical version of Little Women, will direct that production for her alma mater, Stephens College. Robbins, who was recently seen in the Atlanta world premiere of Managing Maxine, has previously directed Crimes of the Heart for the Missouri institution. The Allan Knee-Mindi Dickstein-Jason Howland musical is scheduled to play Stephens College's Macklanburg Playhouse Dec. 5-7 and Dec. 10-13. The production will close a year-long celebration of the College's 175th anniversary. Macklanburg Playhouse is located at 100 Willis Avenue on the campus of Stephens College in Columbia, MO. Tickets, priced $14 (general admission) and $7 (students/seniors), are available by calling (573) 876-7199.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
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