I want to address the first question to Marin, because she started previews three days ago,
had a two show day yesterday, and I am very impressed, and I thank you for being here.
(LAUGHTER; APPLAUSE)
With the bags under my eyes!
(LAUGHS)
My spies tell me things are going pretty well, but I want to know, how is it going?
It's going really well.
We're having so much fun.
It's such a fun show, and the whole rehearsal process has just been a joy, one of the most
joyous things that I've ever been involved with.
And I think it has to do with the fact that the show is really fun, the first revival
in fifty years, which we're all really excited about.
And Michael Blakemore, an amazing director, sort of heading the whole company and just
sort of setting the tone of fun and a great working atmosphere of exploration.
And Brian Stokes and I are having a great time together, too.
And the whole company's great.
Have the audiences taught you anything, given you any surprises?
I think what is wonderful is that, because we're doing basically the original book, which
was written in '48, '47, and the jokes, the kind of silly, fun jokes, they're loving.
And I think we weren't sure that that was [going to happen].
We thought there were going to be snickers.
People are howling, you know.
So that's great.
And the music, of course, all the numbers are just getting huge, huge response.
So it's really fun.
That's great.
Has there been adaptation done for the book?
A little bit.
A little bit in the second act.
Just a little!
(LAUGHS)
How do you know when to tighten up to let go or to pull?
Yeah, instinct or the audience.
Like Bryan said, the audience is, you know, really a part of the show.
(GENERAL AGREEMENT) So it's all about listening.
I mean, you have to be listening to your fellow actors.
I mean, I think that's one of the most important things is to really listen on stage.
As an actor, to really be present and really hear.
And you know, be, whatever.
Acting is reacting, or being.
What is it?
One of those Acting 101 things?
(LAUGHTER)
You learned most of them, right?
Yeah!
But it's all sort of true, in that sense of just truly listening.
And listening to your audience, because they tell you.
That's what we're sort of learning now, because you know, we've only done three shows, so
we're still not really sure where a lot of the laughs are.
We're still finding our way, where the scenes – and it is going to vary, night to night,
certainly.
It always does.
But you know, certain things that you can hopefully depend on.
"Oh, this is gonna land," or "This will probably get a laugh" or that sort of thing.
But I think that just comes from doing it.
I think that's the important thing, listening to the audience as well as to your actors.
Yeah.
To actors, and it's so true.
You get as good as you give on stage, I do believe.
Yes.
I was wondering, how did you feel about your future in the theatre when you were our age,
eighteen, nineteen years old?
I look back on that time and think how great it was to have naivete, and I wish sometimes
I still had that.
Yeah!
(LAUGHTER)
Because I was fearless, basically.
I thought that I was gonna be successful.
I mean, I knew it was going to be hard, because everybody tells you that and all of that sort
of thing, but I, you know, came here, started auditioning like the day after I got here,
got a job relatively quickly.
You know, I think one of the things is when you begin to work and you become more known
in the business, the expectations are higher and higher and higher every time you walk
into the door.
That's so true.
So that becomes, for me, more nerve-wracking than when nobody knew who I was and it didn't
really matter and I could try or do anything I wanted to.
Now you feel like there's more at stake, because you feel like you have to continue to prove.
Actually Marin and I worked together, when she was quite young.
Yeah, when I was really young!
(LAUGHS)
And you came to town, you had things kind of in hand.
You had an agent.
Yeah, I had an agent.
I was lucky.
I was lucky, I had my card, I had an agent, and I had a good background of working at
this theatre.
This is a question for Miss Mazzie.
I was just wondering what kind of research went into your portrayal of Mother in RAGTIME?
Well, the wonderful thing about RAGTIME was that we had an incredible novel on which the
show was based, that Edgar Doctorow wrote.
And so, I had great source material there, because she's beautifully written.
But I did a lot of research just on women of the time, Victorian women of the period.
And I also just like to create the human being, so I made up her family, her name, where she
came from, who her relatives were.
You know, 'cause her name was "Mother," so of course, gave her [a name].
Everyone had a name.
I wrote journals.
I did this for PASSION, too.
I wrote out things that were her life.
I like to do that, so that they really are human beings.
But a lot of it, like I said, a lot of the guidelines were in the novel for me, for RAGTIME.
So I had boundaries and I had things that I needed to keep within the guidelines of
the show.
But it was wonderful.
It's very fun to create.
And I mean, I'm actually doing it with Lily now, too.
I mean, I've given her a whole life, even though someone else has played her before,
gone at her as if I'm the first person that's ever [played her].
Or whatever, I'm originating it for myself and giving her a life and it's very fun to
do.