By Andrew Gans
11 Feb 2005
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| Andrea Martin in Fiddler on the Roof |
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
ANDREA MARTIN
If I had to hazard a guess, I would have to say that Andrea Martin has made me laugh more than any other actress alive today. I was a huge fan of "SCTV," the Canadian sketch-comedy television program that was a launching pad for the careers of Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, Martin Short and the late John Candy. The characters Martin created were among the most hilarious the TV series ever offered: Who could resist her Edith Prickley, Edna Boil, Perini Scleroso, Libby Wolfson, Mrs. Falbo or that lovably dim-witted "Days of the Week" star, Mojo? If I were to pick one favorite moment from the entire run of the late-seventies series, it might be the take-off of the original Broadway Evita commercial that featured Martin as Indira Gandhi in, you guessed it, Indira, "the musical about a prime minister who wanted to be a singer and ended up seducing a nation." When I watched "SCTV" as a kid, I had no idea that Martin had a theatrical background, having appeared in professional productions of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Godspell (the latter also featured Short and another fabulous funny lady, the late Gilda Radner). And, when it was announced that Martin would make her Broadway debut in the 1992 Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical My Favorite Year, I knew I had to be there. I still remember braving a blizzard to make it to the Vivian Beaumont Theater where I had a truly wonderful time watching Martin — in what would be a Tony-winning performance — bring the audience to fits of laughter as "Alice Miller," one of the writers of "Your Show of Shows."
Martin is back on Broadway again this season in a completely different role, playing Golde opposite the Tevye of Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on the Roof at the Minskoff Theatre. Martin conquers new territory in her performance, eschewing the slapstick and broad comedy that she has perfected and instead depicting Golde with an undeniable reality that is extremely touching. Her Golde is the force that keeps her family together in these troubled times, and her pride and dignity in her religion, her culture and the five daughters she has raised is palpable. This is not to say that Martin isn't funny — she is — she brings effortless laughs from her work, but her comedy comes from within the character: she never reaches for the easy laugh. The actress-singer is also surprisingly moving, particularly in her rendition of "Sabbath Prayers," and her second-act duet with Fierstein on "Do You Love Me?" is a heartwarming and comical delight. Martin is the ballast of this production of Fiddler, one I found more enjoyable and poignant than ever.
Question: You had an audition this morning. . .
Andrea Martin: I did. It's a new world I'm getting into. It was for a voice-over. When I started out in Canada, I did a lot of voice-overs and commercials, but I didn't really ever have to [audition] — honestly, I auditioned for the first couple and then I was just asked to do them. Then I went to L.A., where I lived for 18 years, and I got into the world of animation. And then I was asked to do those. So this auditioning thing — oh my God, it's a whole other world! . . . I said to Innovative, my theatrical agents who I adore, I said, "I know I'm going to be here for at least six months, so let's give it a shot." So I went on one today, I went on one yesterday. It's fun. Why not?! [Laughs.]
Q: Do auditions make you at all nervous?
Martin: I don't know if I get nervous, but I certainly invest 100% in every audition, so there is a certain level of anxiety or perfectionism. I believe if you go into anything thinking, "Nah, I don't care if I get it or not," that you sabotage the quality of [your work]. But that's what I believe. [Laughs.] I think it's an actor's cop out, frankly. I think they say, "Ahh, it doesn't really make any difference," so if they don't get it, they won't be disappointed. Now my way of doing it is I always get disappointed, but there's always a level of high quality. [Laughs.]
Q: I was a huge fan of "SCTV" and have to admit when I first heard that Harvey Fierstein was going to play Tevye that it sounded like the perfect "SCTV" skit.
Martin: [Laughs.] Gee, I guess it could be actually, but I dare not go that way every night!
Q: One of my favorite moments on "SCTV" was the take-off of the Evita commercial with you playing Indira Gandhi. Was that your idea?
Martin: We all brought our own unique experience to [that show]. So my experience was in theatre. I had a background in theatre — I loved theatre. A lot of people loved film or they loved television. For instance, Rick Moranis had a great recall for vintage television, like 'Leave it to Beaver' and all those shows. I didn't grow up watching TV. I just fantasized in my attic about Broadway shows. I must have said to them, "Let's do a parody [of Evita]." All the theatre parodies were instigated by me, but then we wrote them together.
Q: Getting back to Fiddler — how did the role of Golde come to you?
Martin: I actually read on-line that Harvey was doing it. I saw that Harvey was doing Fiddler on the Roof, and I called my agents, who were his agents. I said, "Ordinarily, I've never replaced anybody, [and] I don't want to replace anybody, but there's something about Harvey that just feels right with my sensibility. Inquire." So they inquired. I met the director, I met the producer, and the rest is history.
Q: As you mentioned, this is the first time you've replaced in a show. What was that experiencing like — rehearsing to replace in a Broadway musical?
Martin: It was very intense, so I didn't have a lot of time to second guess or to question or to self-doubt, because we really had four hours a day, four or five times a week for three-and-a-half weeks. Normally, you have an eight-hour day, and you go for five or six weeks. And, these are lead [roles], so we really didn't have very much time. But there is always that feeling that you can't start from scratch, you can't really re-create, although there was great freedom within those constraints of "be yourself." I think Harvey and I are doing a different interpretation than Fred [Molina] and Randy [Graff], [but] we still had to stick to what the overall theme of the piece was. It's certainly a more dramatic version of Fiddler on the Roof than I guess has been done before, and it's been kind of reinvented. So that's how we were directed. To be honest with you, I loved that because what I've been trying to do is get outside of performing comedy and act [comedy] — and there's a difference, so I was really grateful for [this chance].
Q: Did you get to work with [director] David Leveaux.
Martin: Oh God, yeah. Oh my God! Harvey and I both said that we would not take these jobs unless we had David Leveaux.
Q: Tell me about working with him.
Martin: Obviously, he had the vision of the piece — it was already in his head. He knew where the blocking was. And, I think, it took a lot of care and delicacy and intelligence on his part to sit back and relook at something that was ingrained in him for a year. I think it took a lot of him and from him — a lot of generosity to let us explore. I think it's effective — I hope you'll like it — people seem to.
Q: Did you do much research into Jewish customs or traditions for the role?
Martin: I'm doing it as we go. I did as much as I could during rehearsal. As I said, I was asked on a Saturday night if I would meet them on a Monday, and I did. And then I was cast immediately. . . . I just finished doing The Rose Tattoo, and I researched that for about two years. I went to Italy, I took Italian classes. I read a lot about Tennessee Williams, and I knew all the lines when I went in to the first rehearsal. That was, of course, a much, much more demanding part than this is. And, I'd never done Tennessee Williams, and I had done Broadway musicals, so it was a challenge. But I like going in knowing my lines, knowing as much about the history as I can. I wasn't able to do it before [Fiddler], so I did it as we went along. I'm reading a book right now, which is, I guess, the only book ever written after the fact on life in a shtetl. It's written by anthropologists and historians from Columbia University, and they re-create what it was like, and it's fascinating. So, I'm reading that every night, and I've got lots of book on Judaism, Wise Jewish Women and L'Chaim, and I went to the Jewish Museum. So I'm doing as much as I can as we go along, but I like doing that. I like keeping it alive and finding new things.
Q: You mentioned before about acting comedy versus performing comedy. Is it sometimes difficult to resist some of what must be your natural comic impulses?
Martin: You know, it's not in this piece. It isn't because we're talking about, when all is said and done, a very serious matter: an entire culture wiped out, moved out of the country and massacred and pogroms and uprooting. And, God knows, we know what happened to some Jews. That's the underbelly of all of this. And I think, also, that Golde is the backbone of the family, like all the women were in the shtetls. The men read the holy book, and the women virtually did everything else. They cooked, they cleaned, they raised the daughters. So, there's a certain amount of respect I have for this piece, so for me to break out into an over-the-top comic moment [wouldn't be appropriate] to David Leveaux's vision and not respectful to the piece. Somebody has to be a straight man, because Tevye is a dreamer, and he has much more liberty to go out and embellish comic moments. But I feel the comedy I do in this comes out of the lines and comes out of the relationship, and I don't think I ever step out of that. Maybe in the dream [sequence I do] because it's vaudevillian, but I always feel that I have a core of who she really is. Here's probably a short answer — I never feel in this piece that I'm stepping out and being Andrea Martin. I always feel like I'm Golde, so whatever Golde would do within those realms, that's what I would do. Continued...
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