--With a feature film, TV show, 12 albums
and maybe even if Broadway musical on the horizon, 2018 is proving to be a busy
year for Lena Hall. The Tony Award winner stopped by to fill us in on everything
starting with her fantastic new EP Obsessed, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Hey
Lena how are you? --Hi Paul, how are you?
Happy Happy New Year. So good to see you. --You too.
--You've already released one of my favorite albums of 2018. This right
here Obsessed Hedwig. This is like really cool. This is an EP of you singing
six really notable Hedwig songs. Of course you played Yitzhak on Broadway
you won a Tony Award in 2014. How's your Tony? She's doing good.
--She's doing good. --She's doing good.
--Yeah do you have interactions with her or? --Every once in a while I'll go and
spin her and say oh yeah that's right I did that.
--How did the idea of this album come
about?
--A while ago I did a show with Michael C Hall at the Cafe Carlyle which we
called Obsessed --One of your many Hegwigs
you've had many on Broadway. -- I really
wanted to like con him into singing with me. Called up Michael I was like hey so
if you had to choose your favorite band like who would it be? And he said
Radiohead and I was like I'm a huge fan Radiohead been obsessed with it forever
and so I was like perfect we'll do all Radiohead I'll call it Obsessed
Radiohead. Scheduling never worked out. He's very popular but I had this idea in
my head of like doing kind of like a concert series thing called Obsessed
where... and then I did these music videos or just like these cover videos called
Stripped that came out I had an idea to have one video come out a week for an
entire year and then at the same time I was recording these albums and calling
them Obsessed so I started with Obsessed Radiohead and I did a concert and I
released that EP and then I did Obsessed David Bowie and then I was about to
release a Hedwig cover album and that's when Warner walked like stepped in
chicka-boomGhostlight like they stepped in they were like hey we want to release
your Hedwig album.
--So what's happened so far is that you've been releasing
these weekly videos of these Hedwig songs so what's the long-term plan here?
--Basically each artist gets its own month so it's an EP a month one artist
and then it's a video a week for the entire year.
--So you have 12 EPS. --12 EP's,
54
--Amazing because -- 54 songs
--People just like to hear you sing. Yeah I mean your voice is phenomenal.
--Thank you!
--Do you ever just listen to yourself and go damn! That was good.
--Every once in a while but
usually I can't hear listen to myself. --Really?
--Yeah but I'm like... I've been
listening so we already have everything recorded and done so I've been getting
back all of the like mixes and then like watching the videos and stuff.
--So who are
some of the other artists we're going to hear you take on?
--Peter Gabriel, Elton
John, P!nk, Nirvana, Cranberries. --Wow.
--Yeah it's lots and it
goes the scope. I tried to keep a pretty wide scope and not like too narrow
unlike my 90s childhood, you know cuz of course I always go back to that. But I
tried to keep it kind of more broad to like songs that I listen to constantly,
and then I looked more into the artists and you know researched more about like
what I really loved about that artist. You know it's fun. A lot of it is very
nostalgic project. That's enormous. --It's enormous.
--You got to play Hedwig on
the road. --Yeah.
--Hedwig and the Angry inch national tour and so people wanted
you to record these songs. --They did, yeah.
--So it's great that you're kicking it off
with this. --Yeah and I thought you know
instead of doing like a full cast album
sounding thing, I wanted to strip the songs down and give them my own flavor,
but also like it shines like a microscope on the songwriting itself. And
also on the lyrics, so you can hear how beautifully written and crafted these
songs are in their basic parts, which was the whole idea of this of this series.
--But this is not the only thing happening this year for you, this was a big big big year
for Lena Hall. So it was just announced that Snow piercer, which is a TNT series
you did the pilot, it was just announced for pickup, so this is you were gonna be
heading where to Canada and filming an entire an entire season....
--An entire movie -- Snowpiercer!
--TV show. -- And Snowpiercer Broadway fans might
not know Snowpiercer but they should rent the movie.
The movie's crazy. It's like this crazy sci-fi
futuristic... just give people a little bite of what it is. Well we were
trying to combat the global warming and in doing so they accidentally froze the
world, so that it's an uninhabitable. Everybody died, and the only people who
survived are on this train that goes around the world perpetually. It's the
only inhabitable place, and the Train is big enough to support this tiny
little ecosystem. So it's almost like a spaceship you know I mean? Where it's
very compact. What's interesting is the the the movie you know you follow the
rebellion through the Train up to the front, but this you're gonna actually get
to kind of experience each kind of part of the Train from first class all the
way to back, so it's a it's about class wars. You know it's all about that
and I'm stoked because I get to work with Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs
and this cast is incredible so to be like in this is like you know I couldn't
have asked for a better way to have my first yes you know yeah series regular
on a TV show.
--I haven't seen you in a while I've been wanting to ask you
you have met Cher.
--Yes --This is something
that's happened because you've actually
been involved in readings and workshops of the Cher show.
--Yeah. -- The upcoming musical about Cher and
you play Cher, one of the three
actresses playing Cher, you're middle Cher. What does she have a name?
--Lady.
--Okay that Cher. --And you've sung all these Cher songs in
front of Cher. --Oh yeah.
--Is that terrifying? --Playing Cher for Cher.
--Knowing and you're in a bright rehearsal
room so it's not like you can't see her. --Right.
--How distracting is that? --Like when
you play someone who's actually alive and gonna watch you play themselves, you
don't want them to feel like you're doing like an impersonation
--Of course, and a lot of people impersonate Cher.
-- Exactly, and it needs to come from more
of a real place at least when you're telling a story in this way. There's like
Cher impersonators and then there's like you give it a flavor that makes it
more real for an audience.
--And and and so I was nervous that she wasn't gonna like
but she loves it loves me and I'm like stoked on that
--So you interacted with
her.
--I got to meet her yeah! Playing Cher is really really really really fun.
--Yeah. --And now
it's coming to Broadway. And like hopefully you know the stars
align scheduling. I do have this TV show happening, so it would be a miracle if it
all worked out together because I also have a movie coming out!
--Yes you
have a movie and it's doing great in the film festivals.
--Yeah we won we won the LA Film Festival
--Yeah what's it called? --It's called Becks and it's kind of like Once
you know the musical Once, where
it's about a singer/songwriter it's like a
independent film, very realistic, almost documentary. Like it's almost like a
documentary you feel really it's very it's very personal. It's very small,
I guess. I don't know how to describe it but it's crazy because it's like the
music project and then you know the TV show and then hopefully in a Broadway
and a movie.
--I mean what more could you need?
--Although the one more thing you
might need... ---What's that?
--A reunion of the cast of The Search for Elle Woods
--Legally Blonde [laughs] --That's in July!
--That's actually happening at 54 Below and you were of course one of the contestants back when
you were a redhead. --Maybe I'll go and watch.
--With a different name. Is
this something you're gonna try to fit on your calendar? Do you want to go
what's it like to be invited to a reunion of a reality show? That's
bizarre. --You know prompted me to like take
control of my career in a way.
--It was my first yeah it was the first time when I
was like I really want this job. This is how I have to do it. It was a first for a
lot of things and then it kind of prompted this whole kind of thought into
myself as like brand almost and the name change and the hair change and all this
kind of stuff, so it was one of those things that kind of beginning of Lena Hall
I guess you could say. Because I was Selena Carvhall at the time and it was
kind of like you know one of the beginning seeds of that whole change.
--So is there a chance you would go to the reunion? I mean I know you're busy.
--Yeah if my
schedule works out. You know but that's the thing it's like I can't...
--There's too much.
--I have no idea what's going on because I'm waiting to hear
from scheduling. --I know it's crazy. I'm
excited for you. I'm excited that you're so busy.
--I'm excited too! Like I'm so excited. And in the meantime, every single month and
every single week, you get the Obsessed series.
--So that's where we're starting the year, right now. This album came out this
week. --Dude, I'm already thinking about season 2
--You can you can get
it right now. You can go download it. Obsessed Hedwig Lena Hall. It's incredible
and obviously there's a lot more coming this year.
--A lot! -- I'm very excited. So great
to see you! --Thank you you too!
--Thanks for coming by. --Of course!