Hi this is Megan Fairchild, I'm a principle dancer with New York City Ballet
and this is Playbill's from Ballet to Broadway
Megan Fairchild is a principle dancer with New York City Ballet who made her
Broadway debut in the 2014 revival of On the Town choreographed by Joshua Burgas
and directed by John Rando
I had heard they were looking for people and they were auditioning even some people in my company and I remember
thinking 'oh, good for them how fun that might be' I didn't even consider myself
in that category of even possibly being a part of it and then towards the end of
their audition process they reached out to my brother actually, and he forwarded
me this Facebook message they sent to him and they said would your sister be
interested in auditioning for On the Town we'd love to see her?
and I blew it off because I was like that's just ridiculous I don't sing this is more my brother
and the next morning I just woke up and I was like why not just audition
like what an opportunity to audition for a Broadway show so I literally only
auditioned purely for the exercise of trying something new
I think I was like a last minute idea and every important person was there in attendance
and they had me leave the room for like a couple minutes and John Rando was like
congratulations it looks like it's gonna be your Broadway debut!
and I was like 'wait, what?' and I had to like tell my boss at the ballet and everything there were
so many things, but I was so excited, it was in the an opportunity I would never pass up
she entered the School of American Ballet, the official school of
New York City Ballet in 2000, joning New York City Ballet in 2002
and she was promoted to principal dancer by 2005
I think it was a perfect role, I had this freedom to not sing amazing
every line after I had to sing was 'oh try again'
'you'll do better, try it this way' I'm in a singing lesson in that scene
I just felt for the first time in my life, I didn't put pressure on myself to be perfect
which I usually do as a ballerina
it was hard for me to accept that not every show was going to be perfect
a lot of thought and and care gets to go into each show because you only do like two
times of each ballet that season, and it's kind of easy to execute perfectly twice
but eight times a week for a year, it's impossible, and I had to get really
used to not being upset with myself if the show wasn't perfect every time
and what it really taught me as a performer was what's important is putting on the
show and not being a perfectionist about it and I think it's changed my dancing
in general coming back to the ballet, I'm more in the moment, I understand that
every audience is different, I think it really just taught me how to perform it better
one thing I love about the dynamic of a Broadway show is that from
the get-go, the the show is cast, everybody knows their role and their place in it
so it totally takes away any competition that's happening in the process
throughout spending all that time with those company members whereas
in the ballet we have casting going up every single Tuesday
with my role in On the Town I learned that just me is enough, and I think On the Town really
taught me that through the support of Josh Burgas, the choreographer, and
John Rando, like being so supportive of just my intuition and my instincts and
they really just trusted me I like I felt like they're not telling me to do anything
they're just like letting me, you know, go, and so I really learned
just you is enough and it was this a great experience and
something I really took away from it
on Broadway it's the same show everyday so you have your routine and you hear certain parts of the show
happening and you know what you've got to do to prepare for that first entrance
and you kind of just like go into a very like step by step to get to get yourself onstage
but for a ballet performance it's much more like everything has to
feel perfect and you're warming up backstage for a long time
and taking like an hour to put on your makeup and so it's like a much longer process
but when you do it eight times a week you just want to get there
fast and get on that stage
the choreography of Jerome Robbins is a pillar of the repertoire at New York City Ballet
but it was Susan Stroman's 2004 double feature for the same company that Fairchild found
prepared her most for her role in On the Town
now, I've never really done a Robbins role that had a character
I do the more classical, abstract ballets of his like
Dances at a Gathering, or Andantino, I was a little more prepped from my work
with Susan Stroman, so that was like really fun and it came very naturally
I really enjoy getting to hear the audience laugh and that just doesn't
even feel like work to me
I'm having a baby in October so I'm maternity leave right now
just kind of chilling but then I'll be very much excited to go back to
the ballet in the spring, have my family at home, and and dance on the stage
and then also I am starting a business degree in January so that's
what's next for me, just on the side, while I dance
I really love the Broadway experience and I fell in love with the community I think it just it opened
my world, it changed my life, and meet all these other talented people who aren't
doing the exact same art form as me, but like we can learn from each other
it was amazing