By Andrew Gans
29 Jan 2010

	Ben Nordstrom with Stephanie D'Abruzzo in [title of show]
	photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.

Question: What are your particular "vampires," if any?
D'Abruzzo: Oh, I have many vampires. They're all laughing at me. But at least they can help carry all of my emotional baggage. They have massive upper-body strength. [Laughs.]

Question: Do you think the musical has a message and/or what does it mean to you?
D'Abruzzo: You know, for a show that was written off by many as being this tiny thing with limited appeal, I have found that there's more to this musical than meets the eye. It's like an amazing candy bar: a nougaty core about realizing one's dreams —or not — and the constant challenge of testing one's potential to find the right place in the world, surrounded by a chewy story about trust and friendship and how success — or the quest for it — can cause even the most solid foundations to crumble, and sprinkled with peanutty tales that address the very nature of art: what it is, what it could or should be, how it's created, and how precious and beloved it can be in the eye of the beholder. There's so much bravery in this piece, but it's wrapped in sweet chocolate fun, and I think that people sometimes lose sight of the big picture when they get distracted by the comedy and the cursing and the stuff that seems really flippant. I think I just described a musical Snickers! [Laughs].

Question: Like Avenue Q, [title of show] was produced Off-Broadway by the Vineyard Theater. Do you see any other similarities between the two musicals?
D'Abruzzo: This reminds me of a "compare and contrast" question from high school. [Laughs.] Let's see... The two shows do indeed share many similarities. Besides the Vineyard connection, both were also developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, and both are small, language-laden, original ensemble musicals that people like to describe as "edgy," which starred relatively unknown actors who also participated in the development of the piece. We shared two commercial producers —Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller — as well as Acme Sound Partners, SPOTCO, and Sam Rudy Media Relations. But there are no chairs in Avenue Q — just a bench in the bar scene — and no puppets in [title of show]. Those are big differences.

I will say it is a little strange for me during [title of show] when we all sing, "We're all so drunk with elation at the Vineyard Theatre Off-Broadway/This is where it all started for the folks of Avenue Q." It's been made meta — if that's possible in an already meta show — because our director, Vicky, decided that I should mime puppetry on the line "folks of Avenue Q" while the others point at me. If people have read my bio, it gets a laugh.

Question: What was your reaction to the news that Avenue Q would reopen Off-Broadway?
D'Abruzzo: I was as stunned and surprised as everyone else, as we all only found out about it that night. It was an incredibly well-kept secret.

Question: Do you have any other projects in the works?
D'Abruzzo: Recently, although sadly not while I've been in St. Louis, I've gotten to become sort of a semi-regular at Stephen Ruddy's Gravid Water at Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre, which goes up the last Monday of every month. An actor and an improvisor are paired (with five or six pairings in an evening), and the actor memorizes one side of a scene from a published play. The improvisor knows nothing about it and has to respond to the actor's lines, and the actor — who cannot stray from the lines at all — has to tailor the delivery to have it all somehow make sense. It's an incredible listening exercise — and a challenge not to melt with laughter — and I've done scenes from plays like Adding Machine, Lend Me a Tenor and Round and Round the Garden. I've been paired with some of the most amazing improvisors in town, and some nights it just clicks perfectly, but even in the scenes that aren't perfect, it's still a lively process, and the audience seems to love it whether it sails or sinks.

And this spring, it looks like I will be playing the pre-verbal toddler Trixie in the Kennedy Center Family Theatre's world premiere of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical. It's based on the very popular Caldecott Honor-winning book by Mo Willems, with whom I worked on "Sesame Street" and "Sheep in the Big City," and will feature a tender ballad entirely in baby gibberish!

For tickets to [title of show] phone (314) 968-4925 or visit The Rep's online box office at RepStl.

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