(upbeat music)
- Each and every week, we're excited to bring you
"The Broadway Show."
That's why I'm so glad you're here.
I'm Tamsen Fadal.
(audience cheers and applauds)
The revival of Stephen Sondheim's fairy tale musical
"Into the Woods" just last week celebrated
opening-night bows and rave reviews,
the show featuring a "Who's Who" of top Broadway talent,
and massive stars, including
singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles.
(playful jazz music)
Well, let's dive in, 'cause this is exciting.
You went from City Center to Broadway,
you had a little bit of downtime.
How's it been?
- Oh, it's like a frickin' rock concert every night.
It's amazing!
I think the cast and the audience are both responding
to this material in such a deep way.
It really feels like a spiritual (laughs) experience
every night.
It's amazing. It's truly amazing.
- Talk a little bit about that,
because Sondheim, and this is, you know,
the first show, really, since his death.
How do you think he would be responding to seeing this?
- I hope we are making him proud.
James Lapine, the book writer for "Into the Woods"
and his longtime creative partner, shared with us
that he felt like Steve would be sobbing in the seats,
just loving this.
There's not a lot of trappings going on on stage,
other than the story and the music.
The orchestra is front and center,
and we just weave in and out.
It feels very old-fashioned, in a way,
to just have the storytellers kind of come on,
and they disappear, and we're just bringing you on the ride.
The audience is invited to be very imaginative.
You gotta fill in a lot of blanks.
- It really is a dance, though.
It's a dance. - Mm-hm.
- Is there one part of it in particular that you like?
I know you've been reunited with Gavin.
You play opposite Brian d'Arcy James, Patina's there.
You've got some
incredible talent. - Heavy hitters, yes.
- [Tamsen] You really have some... You.
There's some heavy hitters. (Sara laughs)
- Well, this is a unique experience for me,
because I only can relate it to "Waitress,"
which is my only other experience on a Broadway stage.
You know, that character, Jenna,
doesn't really leave the stage,
so this is a lot more about baton-passing.
And there's something really fun,
as someone who, I love that.
I love a team sport.
I love being kind of nestled in with people.
So the fact that we get to braid together this way
is really beautiful.
Of course, reuniting with Gavin is always delicious for me.
He's one of my nearest and dearest outside of the theater,
and we just have a very special chemistry on stage, I think.
So Baker's Wife scenes with The Prince is really fun.
Brian is a complete dream.
No wonder he's a Broadway legend.
I didn't know him before this,
and just like everybody else fell in love with him.
But we also have some Broadway newcomers.
Julia Lester is our Little Red,
and she is just bonkers, amazing,
and you're watching just all this
imagination and creativity come to life.
And I think it's just so cool that all of these characters
get to really speak on the stage.
Part of why this production is so fun is that people
are really operating off of "strong and wrong."
You know what?
Go for it, make some big choices, and you'll learn
pretty quickly if they're the wrong ones.
- What choice did you make with this one?
Who's your Baker's Wife?
- My Baker's Wife, in a lot of ways, was sort of built
alongside Neil Patrick Harris, who was my Baker
at City Center for the Encores! production.
Neil is very meticulous about comedy, and bits,
and so I think a lot of her comedy
was sort of born in that space.
She's just emerged as this really feisty,
physical, messy woman.
So I love that she's imperfect,
and I can't help but relate her to Jenna
in some ways, where it's like she's a good person
who makes mistakes, and I love the humanity of that.
- "Perfectly imperfect" seems to summarize
so many things. - Yeah.
- I think it's what we all are, right?
- Yeah. Completely.
(Members of Girls5Eva scream)
Look how far we've come!
- "Girls5Eva," we have to talk about that.
How has that changed your work as a performer, or has it?
Do you look at things differently getting back on stage now?
- It's like getting reps at the gym,
not like I go to the gym,
but if I were to be a human who went to the gym.
It's just like, you know, you get to practice,
and I get to practice alongside three,
and sometimes five, women that are so loving,
so generous, so funny, so smart.
So I'm getting to just play.
I'm getting to be playful, more and more playful, I think.
That's what's come from it.
- What do you aim to do next?
Is there something in particular you say,
"Gosh, I would love to do that next when I have a minute"?
- Yeah, I feel really called to write my next record.
That's the thing that feels
like it's sort of talking to me the loudest right now,
is that it's time to sort of go inward
and reflect on the last couple years
and make something musical out of that.
- How were the last few years for you?
- Terrible.
How were they for you? (Tamsen laughs)
- Just even worse. (Sara chuckles)
- Just awful!
- It did give me perspective.
- Yeah. - It did let me know
how I wanna live my life.
- I'm really struggling right now with cynicism.
It's hard to look at the world,
as someone who loves to love the world,
and not get a little infected with hopelessness.
I work on that all the time.
But yeah, my mental health really took
a deep nosedive during this past time.
I got on medication for the first time,
which was incredibly helpful,
and I was always very, very anti-.
So thank you, Lexapro,
for helping me kind of return to myself.
- I have 10 milligrams.
- Yeah.
Yes! Amen, amen.
I'm really, and I talk about it openly a lot,
because I I didn't realize how much stigma
there still is about it,
and even I was carrying that as well.
It's a really hard time, and I don't wanna become cynical.
It's just not who I am.
And it's hard to love the world sometimes right now.
- I think it's interesting, though.
If we sat here three years ago,
I don't know that either one of us would have said that-
- No! - Or admitted that,
or talked about it. - No way!
- I don't know.
I think it's interesting to see the raw and relatable part
of ourselves, and the vulnerability that we're able to show,
and I think you, through being able to write,
can show that in a whole other way,
where people can relate to it.
- Yeah, that's the hope, the hope,
is that it's coming through for a reason,
so I'm trying to put it somewhere
and just honor the fact that it's coming through at all.
And life is not meant for me to figure out.
Did you see these massive images of the-
- [Tamsen] I know!
- [Sara] I mean, I'm just like, how tiny are we? (chuckles)
- How am I relevant?
- Yeah, completely.
So let's just be in awe and wonder sometimes.
(upbeat music)