PhotosPHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Two-Show Day at Broadway's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike With Genevieve AngelsonSpend a two-show day at Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike with Genevieve Angelson, making her Broadway debut in the role of Nina.
By
Matthew Blank
April 24, 2013
Angelson shares her pre-work rituals and shows how she kills time backstage and maintains her energy level during a long day at the theatre.
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PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Two-Show Day at Broadway's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike With Genevieve Angelson
PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Two-Show Day at Broadway's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike With Genevieve Angelson
Spend a two-show day at Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike with Genevieve Angelson, making her Broadway debut in the role of Nina. Read the Playbill.com story.
32 PHOTOS
Omigod omigod omigod...
Genevieve Angelson
Every two-show day starts with me yelling to boyfriend (dashing author Sam Wasson): "IT'S A TWO-SHOW DAY ON BROADWAY!!!!"
Genevieve Angelson
Run run run to the kitchen.
Genevieve Angelson
Coffee: French, strong, large, black (not author Sam Wasson)
Genevieve Angelson
Then it's breakfast and off to my local Equinox. The best way to warm up for a two-show day is my favorite class, DEEP EXTREME! It's not as intense as it sounds - I hate gym classes where they yell at you. This one's just a yum-fest.
Genevieve Angelson
My favorite teacher, stud Ryan Beck -- Deep Extreme is part yoga, part dance, totally juicy.
Genevieve Angelson
Then I go to a rave. No! This is part of my vocal warm up, which I learned from genius voice teacher Scott Miller when I was at NYU Grad Acting (He has a private studio, I highly recommend it!). I've done this warm up for every rehearsal & performance.
Genevieve Angelson
Then I go to the theater. Cannot believe I work on the same block as female role models like Andrea Martin and Bette Midler. Surreal.
Genevieve Angelson
John, our security guard and the first person I see at work every day! He protects me from all the screaming girls outside who want my autograph. Ah, Steve Kazee worked next door? I see.
Genevieve Angelson
My humble home. I like to make it look as much like a tacky hair salon as possible.
Genevieve Angelson
Weekly we kick off a matinee with brunch -- but TODAY is the birthday of everyone's favorite uncle, David Hyde Pierce!
Genevieve Angelson
All the yummies.
Genevieve Angelson
Wild turkeys descend upon the birthday boy's dressing room!!! Courtesy of his darling crazy sisters, Sigourney Weaver and Kristine Nielsen.
Genevieve Angelson
Billy Magnussen, king of brunch (side note: he is allergic to chocolate... HOW?!???)
Genevieve Angelson
Then it’s into make-up. Make-up is light and fresh, like Nina, just basic mascara, tinted moisturizer and pretty pink lips. In my personal kit, I splurge on Laura Mercier products for skin so I cut back in other places like drugstore mascara.
Genevieve Angelson
GUYS: this is my Mama Yola, head of hair and wigs. Seriously, the best thing about doing the show is I get 2 head massages every performance -- that means four today!!! Four!!! Secret to Nina's shiny hair: argan oil serum.
Genevieve Angelson
The birthday boy himself! Off to do show number one.
Genevieve Angelson
It's about 30 minutes until I enter, and I usually spend that time with my other family, our understudies. They are the coolest people I know (here is Heather Simms and Keith Reddin, understudies for Cassandra and Vanya).
Genevieve Angelson
Unfortunately, the backstage at our cozy little home called the Golden is not so plentiful - sometimes Creed Garnick gets creative and makes an office out of the floor.
Genevieve Angelson
But sometimes they go a little nuts.
Genevieve Angelson
his is my work bestie, Nina understudy Liesel Allen Yeager. She makes her own kombucha, granola and kefir. Yes, she is that girl (and I love that girl).
Genevieve Angelson
We just hang together when I'm offstage and have pillow fights naked and talk about kissing and stuff. Nah mostly we drink green juice and eat nuts and seeds like artsy feral wood creatures.
Genevieve Angelson
My dresser, Jeannie, who helps me change into all of Emily Rebholz's ridiculously spectacular LORTEL-NOMINATED costumes!! She is a most precious gem and the bearer of many secrets.
Genevieve Angelson
Backstage shot! Even more "cozy" than most of those affordable rentals on Craigslist.
Genevieve Angelson
After the first show, I spiritually join hands with thousands of actors all over NYC -- I nap. It's important to remember its ok if you don't actually fall asleep, just resting with your eyes closed can be very regenerating.
Genevieve Angelson
That leaves an hour and a half to scrape up some chow in Times Square. Sometimes you have to make time for your less important friends (today it's just Independent Spirit Award winner, cinematographer Ben Richardson!!! No big deal.)
Genevieve Angelson
We met working on "Beasts of the Southern Wild," for which he was director of photography and I trained the pigs. He's british. And single, ladies!
Genevieve Angelson
Back to the Golden for a quick tune-up before the second show -- gotta make sure everything still works.
Genevieve Angelson
Birthday brother and sister go down for show #2! Good show, we cry!
Genevieve Angelson
During both shows I am a constant tea-drinker: On an 2-show day I can drink 8-10 mugs, for real. These are my fave flaves. Hydrating and calming. Liesel says I should drink kava.
Genevieve Angelson
When I get home it's straight to bed. This is lavender spray that Sigourney got for me from the beautiful farmers market we went to every week in Princeton. It's very soothing on sheets. And so is she!!! Meow meow meow.
Nicholas Martin, who also helmed Durang's Why Torture Is Wrong and Betty's Summer Vacation, directs the production that had its world premiere at the McCarter Theatre Center in New Jersey earlier this fall, prior to a New York run that opened Off-Broadway Nov. 12, 2012, at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.
Critics and audiences responded warmly to the farce that weaves themes from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's catalogue into a weekend of costumes, prophecies and existential longing. The limited 17-week engagement began previews March 5 and will continue through June 30.
The cast features three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver ("Working Girl" "Alien"), a veteran of Durang's Sex and Longing, Crazy Mary, Beyond Therapy; and Durang favorite, Obie Award winner Kristine Nielsen, who appeared in Betty’s Summer Vacation and Why Torture Is Wrong and The People Who Love Them. Also starring are Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce (Curtains, Spamalot, "Frasier"), Genevieve Angelson ("Army Wives"), Shalita Grant (The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare in the Park) and Billy Magnussen (The Ritz, "Boardwalk Empire").
Here's how it's billed: "Riffing on some of Anton Chekov's most time-tested themes, Christopher Durang proves in his hysterically funny and surprisingly affecting new romp, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, that whether you're in 19th Century Russia or 21st Century Pennsylvania, the human condition never changes. Vanya (Pierce) and Sonia (Nielsen) have never left the confines of their childhood home – a rambling farmhouse in Bucks County, PA – while having to witness the glamorous exploits of their sister, Masha (Weaver), a famous movie actress, from afar. A surprise visit from Masha and her 20-something boy toy, Spike (Magnussen), throws the normally quiet household int0 utter upheaval as its residents and visitors get swept up in an intoxicating mixture of lust, rivalry, regret, and the sudden possibility of escape. Only one thing is certain: no one will get out of this without looking absolutely ridiculous!"
The creative team also includes set designer David Korins, costume designer Emily Rebholz, lighting designer Justin Townsend, composer of original music and sound designer Mark Bennett.
Durang's plays include A History of the American Film (Tony nomination), Sister Mary Explains It All For You (Obie Award), Beyond Therapy, Baby With The Bathwater, The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award and Guild Hull Warriner Award), Sex and Longing, Laughing Wild, Betty's Summer Vacation (Obie Award), Miss Witherspoon (produced by McCarter Theatre Center, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist) and, most recently, Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them.
The Broadway run is produced by Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe/Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt & David Elliott, Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O’Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie DeRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper Jiranek/Michael Palitz, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, Shadowcatcher Entertainment, Mary Cossette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, and John Johnson, in association with The McCarter Theatre Center and Lincoln Center Theater.
For tickets visit Telecharge.com. The Golden Theatre is located at 252 West 45th Street.
