IN CONVERSATION WITH HEIDI BLICKENSTAFF

Transcription

1 IN CONVERSATION WITH HEIDI BLICKENSTAFF SKYLER GRAY, THE ALLEY S LITERARY MANAGER, SPOKE TO HEIDI BLICKENSTAFF, STAR OF DISNEY S FREAKY FRIDAY. HEIDI BLICKENSTAFF: SKYLER! SKYLER GRAY: HEIDI! SG: We re so excted to have you jon us n Houston soon! HB: I m so excted! I have not been to Texas n at least twenty-fve years. I spent a summer n Fort Worth, dong summer stock at the Hp Pocket Theatre. We were dong a producton of A Mdsummer Nght s Dream, a mllon years ago. SG: That s great. I hadn t been untl I ntervewed for ths job a year and a half ago. HB: So you re new to Houston! SG: I went from Fresno to Orange County to New York to Houston. HB: Oh my gosh. How has that transton been? SG: I feel lke, and you can probably attest to ths as well, but growng up n Fresno, Calforna was lke lvng n a bg town wth a small town vbe. Houston has a smlar feel to t. It s a bg, fantastc cty wth the charm and hosptalty of a small town. HB: And t s, just lke, hot as heck there, rght? SG: [Laughs] Oh, yes. Plus t can get pretty humd, so your skn s gong to look amazng. HB: Yeah, t s gong to be supple. I m gonna look lke a dewy 18-year-old. That s what we all strve for once we are over 35. SG: So let s jump n. We both grew up n Fresno, CA and performed at the same dnner theatre: Good Company Players (GCP). Can you talk about how you got nto theatre? HB: Well frst of all, I was obsessed wth move muscals as a kd. I was harmonzng wth Barbra Stresand records by three my mom was obsessed wth Barbra and she knew I was a werdo. So she started showng me move muscals, lke the old, great ones: Sngn n the Ran, Oklahoma! and Hello, Dolly! And my uncle had a vdeo store and we re talkng the early 80 s. Not many people were obsessed wth move muscals lke I was and there was a whole secton that no one rented, so he would send all of those move muscal vdeos to us. It was magcal as far as I was concerned. And then my mom took me to go see a producton of Oklahoma! at GCP when I was sx, and there was a lttle grl n the show whose name was Lor Blue. I remember seeng her and gong, Hold t. Wat a mnute. Ths s a lve thng, lke ths happens lve, and there s a kd n t? And my world was utterly changed. My focus became completely sngular on gettng to where Lor Blue was. And so I begged my mom to audton. However, we were more of a sports famly. Lots of baseball, lots of soccer- SG: Oh, so was the Gray famly. All four boys. HB: You know, my dad and uncle coached, lke t was major for us. Of course I played all the sports, and I was pretty good at t. But once I knew that there was theatre, I was lke, No, that s all over. So I audtoned. I 13 PLAYBILL

2 thnk I sang Maybe [from Anne] at my very frst audton on that stage at GCP and I was terrfed. I had never done that, other than sngng nto a harbrush. I had never had a voce teacher because my famly just wasn t geared toward that. So I went up there and I was awful. But Dan Pessano [the artstc drector], who saw ths nervous seven-year-old, went up to my mom afterwards and sad, "Gve her a year, and maybe put her n a dance class, and gve her experence performng n some way, and come back." So a year later I went back after beng n dance class and dong what Dan sad. I sang Maybe agan and I booked t, Skyler. I became a part of ther Junor Company, whch s a group of kds between the ages of seven to sxteen, who do a twenty- mnute cabaret. It was essentally a warm up for the audence to get ready for the bg show, and also to look at a bunch of cute kds SG: Wth ther names on ther shrts lke the Mckey Mouse Club. HB: You would have thought I booked a Broadway muscal I was so excted. And I dd that on and off untl I was sxteen. I was ten when I dd Anne, my frst manstage producton at GCP. I won that ttle role sort of mraculously I lke to say I beat out Audra McDonald* for that part, whch s totally and completely true. Audra and I grew up n Fresno together, we carpooled together, we were frends, and I thnk even at one pont she went steady wth my brother. There was defntely somethng n Fresno s water at that moment. There were a lot of really talented kds that went through that tranng program who would later go on to New York careers. So that s how I got my start. Dan and Laure Pessano, Bz Fester and Nancy Mller- *Audra McDonald s an actress and snger who has won sx Tony Awards, more than any other actor n hstory. She can currently be seen n Dsney s Beauty and the Beast as Madame Garderobe. Hed and Dan Pessano n Anne at GCP. Hed (front) and Audra McDonald (second row) n GCP's Junor Comapany. SG: Bz was my hgh school drama teacher and Nancy drected me n Shakespeare n Hollywood at GCP forever ago! HB: All those really wonderful people n Fresno gave me ths major performng arts educaton that I take wth me even now. And there are some of the sklls I learned as an eght-year-old that I m stll practcng now n my md-fortes. And not just the flap-ballchange part but also the work-ethc part. Even though t was a small town dnner theatre, t set somethng n moton for me that has lasted my entre career and wll be wth me untl I m dead n the grave. I would say my tranng at GCP was the most mportant tranng of my entre lfe. SG: Ths s takng me back. For my frst audton at GCP, I sang If I Only Had a Bran. I was so nervous that I forgot the words. HB: That s good stuff rght there. What dd you audton for? 14 PLAYBILL

3 SG: That was for The Sound of Musc whch I booked. It was me, my brother, and Chrs Colfer of Glee fame alternatng as the Von Trapp boys. Hed n Anne at GCP. HB: Amazng. SG: So what was your journey from Fresno to New York? HB: Well, after gong to Roosevelt School of the Arts, I decded I needed a lttle bt of a break from theatre. My father s an attorney he used to be the Dstrct Attorney of Fresno and my mother s a teacher. I was thnkng for a hot second that I mght be a lawyer. Thank God I have supportve parents who just surfed the wave that s Hurrcane Hed because after I had convnced them that I was gong to be an actor and I wanted to be on Broadway, I took ths crazy hard Photos courtesy of GCP. Skyler n The Sound of Musc at GCP. left turn and was lke, I m gong to be a lawyer and I ll get nto Duke Unversty. And I dd get nto Duke. Wthn a semester at Duke I thought, What am I dong? I don t want to be a lawyer. I m a Type A Caprcorn who never quts anythng, so I decded to stck t out there and become a drama major. It was an nterestng four years gong from Calforna to North Carolna was defntely a culture shock but t was really good for me. I graduated from Duke n 1994 wth my Drama major n hand, and I lterally packed up a U-Haul and drove to New York Cty. I moved n wth a Fresno frend of mne who was modelng at the tme. I moved nto some lttle corner of her apartment that she shared wth seventeen other models. I started mmedately watng tables. My parents, God bless them, had no dea how to help me other than beng supportve on the phone and sendng me checks when I couldn t afford ramen anymore. But wthn sx months I booked my frst natonal tour, whch was The Who's Tommy. SG: The best! HB: Yeah, the best, ever. I couldn t beleve that wthn sx months of movng to New York I had booked my dream muscal. Then went on the road and dd that show for lke a year and a half. Then I dd sx other natonal tours. SG: And you dd them back to back? HB: Pretty much. I toured from the tme I got to New York untl I was n my early thrtes. I loved t, and I grew up out there. I saw the country and parts of the world that I don t know that I ll ever get back to. I m so grateful for that experence. I had ths crazy lfe whle beng on the road. Then I was dong the natonal tour of The Full Monty, and we were sent home because of September 11th. Then the Broadway company of The Full Monty called me to jon the Broadway producton. I remember I celebrated my thrteth brthday n that show. I ended up gong back out on the road when they remounted the tour. When I fnally got off the road for good, I realzed that I needed to take more control of my career, and my lfe n general. I was very proud of what I had accomplshed, but I was lke, I have to restructure. That s when [ttle of show] happened and changed everythng.

4 Hed and Jeff Bowen n [ttle of show]. Hed n Dsney's The Lttle Mermad. Hed Blckenstaff as Ursula n Dsney's The Lttle Mermad Photo by Jenny Anderson Photo by Carol Rosegg I was n my early thrtes and my frends and I bascally collaborated on ths crazy muscal where we played ourselves. It was a muscal about wrtng the muscal you re watchng, and how these four frends end up takng ths wonderful rde together. It was when we dd that show that everythng started to change. And that s when I stopped beng just lke ths workhorse actor and I started beng more of a creatve person that was nterested n makng my own work and my mark n the cty. It was a crazy, wld rde. Even though t was not a commercal success, [ttle of show] was a crtcal success and people knew who we were. That s when the opportuntes really started comng my way and thngs started changng. That s not to say that suddenly everythng was easy. I m n my md-fortes and I m stll hustlng. I don t thnk the hustle ever ends for an actor. SG: Ths sn t your frst tme workng wth Dsney, correct? HB: I ve had ths amazng relatonshp wth Dsney that started out wth The Lttle Mermad. I was so grateful to have my frst Dsney experence because I d been a fan of everythng Dsney for as long as I have been a fan of move muscals and Barbra Stresand so forever. It s such a great company to work for, and I m so grateful. SG: And you understuded the role of Ursula whch you eventually took over. What was t lke to play such an conc character? HB: Terrfyng, and eventually super lberatng and fun. Before The Lttle Mermad I had only been n the ensemble of The Full Monty on Broadway, so playng Ursula was magnfcent. Suddenly I am beng wheeled onstage n ths huge apparatus I looked lke a float n the Electrcal Lght Parade that opens up and has all these tentacles. I was there n ths gazllon dollar costume wth ths wg that s practcally as tall as I am, and these swmmng eels at my sde, and I was suddenly holdng down a Broadway stage. I thought I was gong to de. She s so delcous and everythng about her n the move was perfecton. So to translate that nto a muscal s always really hard because everybody has these expectatons. I ddn t really have my Broadway legs yet, but Dsney trusted me to do ths because they knew I had t n me. They could see that there was defntely an Ursula nsde me watng to get out, and they nurtured t. SG: Swtchng gears to Freaky Frday. When dd you frst get nvolved wth the project? HB: About sx years ago when they were frst tryng some stuff out. Mary Rodgers, the author of the novel, was stll alve and they just wanted to hear some thngs. I was only there for a very short perod of tme, but I met Mary, Brdget Carpenter (book wrter) and Chrs Ashley (drector). Whenever Dsney calls I always say yes. And so we dd that workshop for a week, and I remember thnkng at the end of that week, I m rght for ths part. I knew t because one of my pet peeves s watchng adults play kds. I am sort of allergc to t there s not much I want to do less than spend an evenng watchng adults play chldren. But for some crazy reason, and I don t know why, I felt lke I could do 16 PLAYBILL

5 t. Brdget Carpenter, our book wrter, s a genus. She s responsble for the televson versons of Parenthood and Frday Nght Lghts. Nobody wrtes better dalogue than Brdget Carpenter, and you could tell that Freaky Frday was gong to be specal. And also meetng Mary Rodgers was totally amazng she was ths tough old brd who shot straght from the hp, and who was just endlessly entertanng. And so the week passed, and they stuck a pn n the project as they tred to fgure out what they wanted to do wth t. I then kept my fnger on the project because I always knew that I was rght for ths. Then I heard that they had added Tom Ktt and Bran Yorkey to the author roster, and of course, Tom and Bran are the Pultzer Prze-wnnng authors of Next to Normal.** SG: Whch you dd! HB: Whch I dd a regonal producton of n Vermont at the Weston Playhouse. So I had fallen n love wth the Ktt/Yorkey aesthetc. So ths role that I feel lke I m very drawn to, naturally, s beng wrtten by ths ncomparable wrter, and now we re brngng n the composer/lyrcst team who I feel lke f I spent the rest of my career only dong ther muscals, I would be satsfed! I felt lke they were such a good match, so I went after t. Whch I had never done before n my career. I felt lke I was at a pont n my career where t was ok for me to wrte to Tom Ktt. We had done a workshop of somethng so I wrote hm an emal. I knew at the tme they were workng wth another actress. I wrote to Tom, If for some crazy reason she gets another job, let me sng for you. And I ddn t hear from hm for a month. I was postve I had overstepped my bounds and was not ready to have taken such a rsk n my career. Tom dd wrte me back and he was lke, Sorry, lfe s crazy he s got three kds and was wrtng If/Then. He was lke, We love you, we ve been talkng about you for ths project from the very begnnng, but we are commtted to ths other actress and f anythng changes I ll gve you a call. And I was lke, Great, great. I felt good about t. I felt lke I hadn t overstepped after all, and we would just let the unverse decde our fates. And I let t go. And then about two weeks later I got an emal from the Sgnature Theatre n DC [whch premered Freaky Frday] sayng, Do you wanna do t? What happened was that the other actress got a televson show, and so they were lke, Go to Hed. And because I ve been dong ths for twenty-fve years and beng the grl that always sad yes and was brave enough to do 17 PLAYBILL sn e y n D d e nd H on a Hunt a m. Em r d ay ky F F r ea Hed n k 's Frea Dsney o s by Phot Jm C armo 's y y Frda. dy. l... orma ltzer N o t t u **Nex y Award ancdalpabout us Ton olar s the wnnng m wth bp duco g e n p z l y a a r Pr de oadw ther a mo er. The Br d 0 dsor n from 2 a ton r

6 Freaky Frday s a co-producton between the Alley Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and Cleveland Play House. Ths producton premered at Sgnature Theatre n Washngton, DC earler ths season. somethng even f I wasn t qute ready to do t I got that magcal phone call offerng me a role wthout havng to audton. That lterally never happens. I knew, psychcally, that ths was exactly the rght thng for me. Even though we ddn t know what the future was gong to be for ths project, I knew workng wth ths team was rght. It s really a dream project, and I m endlessly lucky that I get to do t nght after nght rght now. SG: Do you contnue to learn thngs about the show and your character? HB: We do contnue to refne t, for sure. A pece of theatre s a lvng, breathng thng that morphs over tme n good ways and n some less than good ways, t just happens naturally. Ultmately t s a unversal message. You know t s zany and very fun, whch s what people are expectng, I thnk. But then because our authors are so exceptonal and lke to take a deeper dve, there s also ths emotonal wallop that s layered n you don t nvte the wrters of Next to Normal to wrte the book to a muscal unless you really want them to leave an emotonal mpact. And they certanly have done that. Our Freaky Frday s defntely gvng you what you want wth the mother/daughter swap, and t s certanly funny, and t s got a lot of physcal humor, and t s crazy and fun and delghtful, but I thnk audences walk out of the theatre holdng each other a lttle tghter. It s such a beautful show and we are contnung to fnd all of the deeper lttle pockets because there s so much beautful stuff to mne. Ultmately, ths s about a mother and daughter who have lost each other, and n ths crazy day end up fndng each other agan and regntng ther love for one another and ther respect and ther compasson. Katherne, the woman I play, has lost her husband, who s Elle s father, four or fve years pror. They are stll mournng the loss of hm, but n very dfferent ways. Instead of comng together over that loss, they have greved separately. So ths s about them reconnectng. I thnk people can relate to havng conflct wth a famly member or a loss of some sort SG: Especally wth the country, and famles, beng so dvded rght now. It can be hard to fnd that common ground. HB: That s one of the thngs that all of us have taken such care of n ths sweet muscal that we are sharng wth these ctes, s that, t defntely seems lke we lve n a world rght now that s dvded. Our show starts that way, yet these two women end up comng back together. Though t s a mcrocosm of somethng much larger that s happenng n the world, I do thnk that people leave feelng more connected, not less. I am so proud of that. We can send people out wth a more lovng feelng. Don t we all need that rght now? SG: Oh, yes! HB: When the world changed n November, we were dong Freaky Frday n DC and there were a lot of really scared, very upset people n my company. I thnk actors n general and I don t speak for everyone but I know a lot of people were feelng lke beng a performer rght now felt nsgnfcant. The ntal kneejerk feelng was that I should be dong somethng more. And then slowly but surely, we all started realzng what we do as artsts s profound and we actually have so much power to gve people a two and a half hour break from the chaos. That s at the very least. You know, we have the power to let people escape. But wth a show lke ths, f people take the rde, we also have the power to nspre people to hold each other just a lttle bt tghter. Ths country and ths world s n such need of that rght now. And you know, Dsney s very specal, n that t has ths pervasve mpact. The stores that Dsney manages to tell are these really beautful stores of famly comng together and overcomng really ncredble odds. I m so proud to be a part of ths. 18 PLAYBILL