Whats the difference for you between acting in a musical comedy and in a nonmusical play?
It’s all about tone. And Pal Joey’s tone is very sassy and funky. I just want audiences to be entertained and intrigued, and not say, ‘Oh, isn’t this a lovely period piece.’ A career question: What do you think is the best career advice anybody ever gave you? I don’t remember a lot of it. I do remember one thing, because it was at a crucial point. I was in the chorus of Two Gentlemen of Verona, and my dear friend John Guare had written the book and lyrics. I was the understudy, and in a midnight takeover I was thrust into the role. It was four in the afternoon and I was thrown onto the stage to rehearse Julia’s letter speech. John was in the audience, and I was very nervous. And he came up to me and basically said, all you can do onstage is create a reality. You don’t tell the audience what they should be thinking, where they should be laughing, where they should be crying. Just create the reality; don’t short-circuit the process. That stuck in my mind, because that’s how you don’t get
