By Andrew Gans
11 Feb 2005

Q: Your first Broadway show was My Favorite Year, which I liked a lot, and I thought you offered one of the funniest performances I've seen on Broadway.
Martin: Well, leave all those expectations aside tonight! [Laughs.] That was a great experience. That was entirely performing. Dear God, there was no holding me back then! But that's what that piece was — it was about comedy writers, and "Your Show of Shows," and that really called for presentation and coming down to the audience, talking to the audience.

Q: It seems in the past decade or so that you've really focused on theatre. Was that a conscious choice or did roles just happen to come your way?
Martin: No, it was entirely conscious. I could have stayed in L.A. and done sitcoms for awhile and will probably go back and do one I hope. But my love has always been New York. The truth of the matter is I stayed in L.A. raising my children, and when they went to college, I packed my bags along with them and came to New York and looked for parts in the theatre, because that's always what I preferred doing.

Q: What do you think theatre gives you that working on screen might not?
Martin: For pragmatic reasons, I love the routine. I love the structure of it. I love knowing that my days are free. I know where I'm going at night. I know my life is kind of orderly. I just like that better. I don't like sitting around sets — I don't like the unpredictability of it. I like to know where I'm going to be at seven o'clock. I like to know that I'm going to start getting into the performance. It feels manageable, and I feel I can do my best work in that way. So that's the pragmatic side. I guess the creative side is I get the opportunity to grow with the piece. It's really important to me to keep growing and keep finding new things. It's exciting. It's fun for me; it doesn't get boring. I love the comradery of doing theatre that you don't get in film. I started out in summer stock, and that's really what I prefer. I have the work ethic of, "Let's put on a show," and that's really been ingrained in me since I was a child in children's theatre in Portland, Maine. That's where I felt the most secure and safe and loved. It was an instant family, and I don't think those kind of childhood memories vanish very quickly. So that's where I find more security and more creativity.

Q: Are you enjoying working with Harvey?
Martin: He's certainly confident, professional, fun, and I think we're very good with one another because we come from the same world of comedy and yet somebody up there has to keep a steady pace. I think I do that with him, so I think it's a nice combination. I'm not fighting to compete, and I think that's good.

Q: And you're also doing "The Producers" film.
Martin: Susan Stroman is a good friend, and [Debra] Monk is my best friend, and we're all good friends. So, Stro said, "You know what, why don't you two play two old women? We'll feature you, and you'll dance with Nathan." So we're going to do bit parts in that.

Q: You were also offered a role in Spamalot. Was it difficult to turn that down?
Martin: Of course it's difficult to turn anything down when Mike Nichols calls you personally. That's a tough call. [Laughs.] I didn't have this job yet, but I knew — and he knew — we both were operating wishfully that maybe something could expand in the part because he knew it wasn't really enough. So we kept talking about it, and eventually he said, "I don't think we can make this bigger, and I don't want to waste you," and I said, "I don't want to do something that is going to keep me in the same place as an actress."

Q: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Martin: Oh yeah, I'm about to host the Genies, which are the Canadian Academy Awards. I'm writing right now, and I'm going to go to Canada to do a photo shoot. I do that sometime in March, so I get to look like a Jewish woman on a shtetl, and then I get to look like Uma Thurman. [Laughs.] So that will be nice.

Q: Last question: When people hear the name Andrea Martin, what would you like them to think?
Martin: Well, you know, the first word that came to mind was deep and the second word would be versatile.

[You can see the deep, versatile and fabulous Andrea Martin in Fiddler on the Roof at the Minskoff Theatre by calling (212) 307-4100. The Minskoff is located at 200 West 45th Street.]

DIVA TIDBITS

Orfeh, who provided the highlight of Broadway's Saturday Night Fever with her belty and thrilling rendition of "If I Can't Have You," will reprise that Bee Gees tune at Feinstein's at the Regency March 7. The singer-actress with the powerful, rich alto is part of Feinstein's new "Broadway's Brightest Lights" series and will present her solo evening March 7 at 8:30 PM. Orfeh told me earlier this week that she has titled her show Look at Me Now and will include "an acoustic version of 'If I Can't Have You,' a rock version of 'Piece of My Heart,' a few original tunes and a bunch of R&B songs by Prince, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan." Orfeh, who has a busy voice-over career, can also be seen this Sunday night on NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Feinstein's at the Regency is located at 540 Park Avenue; call (212) 339-4095 for reservations.

Little Shop of Horrors star Ellen Greene will celebrate Valentine's Day a few days late this year. She and pianist-musical director (and husband) Christian Klikovits will bring their acclaimed evening of Torch songs to Peters Supper Club at the Atrium Design Centre Feb. 17 and 18. Greene will offer tunes from her critically acclaimed debut solo recording, "In His Eyes," which is available on her official website, www.ellengreene.com. Cabaretgoers can expect the actress-singer to perform such tunes as "Pretty Pretty," "Winter," "When Love Is Gone," "Throwing Stones" as well as Little Shop's "Suddenly Seymour" and "Somewhere That's Green." Peters Supper Club is located at 69-930 Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage, CA (one block east of Frank Sinatra Drive). Tickets, priced at $20, are available by calling (760) 321-1776. Visit www.petersps.com for more information. Speaking of Greene, wouldn't she make the perfect Roxie Hart in Chicago? Just a thought. . .

I was thrilled to learn that "Nancy Lamott: Live at Tavern on the Green," the new posthumous recording from the late, great cabaret performer, has climbed to the top ten on the Amazon.com list of best-selling recordings. LaMott's new disc, which has received unanimously rave reviews, skyrocketed from #300 to #8 on the Amazon list after a Feb. 9 article by Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal. It is currently at the #7 position. In his Journal article Teachout wrote, "'Live at Tavern on the Green' is the only recording of any of Nancy's live shows to have been released commercially. It was taped at her final public performance. She was wearing a wig, having lost her bottle-blond hair to chemotherapy. Seven weeks later, she was dead. Yet her sweetly husky mezzo-soprano voice had somehow remained untouched by the terrible disease that would soon take her away from all the things for which she'd longed, and she sang as if she knew she'd never have another chance. When she was done, the Chestnut Room of New York's Tavern on the Green exploded in rapturous applause. That's how I remember it, anyway, and I was there." Visit www.nancylamott.com to purchase the wonderful recording on-line.

Fredi Walker Browne, who created the role of Joanne in the original Broadway production of Rent, can be seen in the new children's musical A Band of Angels, based on Deborah Hopkinson's award-winning book about the Jubilee Singers, an all-black choir that was formed in 1867 by freed slaves at Fisk University. Myla Churchill's musical — featuring a rousing score of spirituals — is choreographed and directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj and also features Kevin Anthony, Tony Chiroldes, Christine Clemmons, Carmen Barika, Tony Melson, Stacey Sargeant and David St. Louis. A Band of Angels will be presented Feb. 11 at the York College Performing Arts Center and Feb. 14-18 at the Goldstein Theatre at Kingsborough Community College. Tickets, priced at $18, are available by calling (212) 573-8791, ext. 242.

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