|
 |
DIVA TALK: Chatting with In the Heights' Karen Olivo Plus News of Akers, Colella and Callaway
By Andrew Gans
18 Jul 2008
|  | |
Karen Olivo in Brooklyn the Musical
|
| photo by Joan Marcus |
Question: What was your first Broadway job?
Olivo: My first Broadway show was Rent.
Question: How did that come about?
Olivo: I went to an open call. I was in college at the time, and I went to an open call with a friend of mine. We drove to Toronto because that was the only open call at the time, and they said, "You're an American. Why are you coming to Toronto?" And I was like, "I just want to be in the show." I figured I could try any way I could get in. And they said, "Well, why don't you just come to Broadway?" And that was it. I got my first Broadway gig. [Laughs.]
Question: Were you in the chorus?
Olivo: I was a swing and an understudy for Mimi and Maureen.
Question: What was it like when you made your Broadway debut?
Olivo: I was petrified. I actually tried to leave the stage, I was so scared. I did Aiko Nakasone's role, the Alexi Darling role, and I remember being onstage in that wonderful iconic moment when Anthony [Rapp] comes onstage, and he looks at all the cast members and then he starts the monologue. During that look around stage, I thought, "Wow, this is going to be really hard!" and I started to back up offstage right. [Laughs.] I started taking little tiny baby steps. And then Mark Setlock, who was playing the drug dealer, was behind me, and he actually put his hand on my back and stopped me from leaving the stage! [Laughs.] But yeah, I was petrified, but it was the most exhilarating moment of my entire life.
Question: After that was Brooklyn. What was that experience like?
Olivo: Brooklyn was amazing because it was the first time that I got to originate something. When I got involved with Brooklyn, it was so free-form. They knew parts of the story, but my character was just an idea at that point. They were really like, "This is kind of where we want it to go. What can you do? What's your strong suit? Where do you see it going?" All of that took place, so I felt like I had a lot to say in my character specifically. As it transformed during the out-of-town run and what it ended up being on Broadway, obviously all of those things changed, but I felt like I had more of a stock in it. I also met some of my best friends ever: Ramona Keller and Eden Espinosa.
Question: Do you have any plans to make a solo album?
Olivo: I've been talking to a couple of people about that. So many people have been coming up to me and asking about that. It's not something that I had ever really thought that I would do. It's so weird — I never really thought of myself as a singer. I always figured that I was more of an actor who sang. That's what I hear from most people, "Oh, your voice, your voice." And I'm like, "Wow, maybe I'm really neglecting the talent. Maybe I should actually sing more often." [Laughs.] I'm mulling it over. I'm talking to a couple of friends who have put out albums and seeing what they went through, trying to think of what I would want my album to be if I made one.
Question: Do you know if you'd want to do musical theatre songs or pop material?
Olivo: I'm not the pop kind of person. I'm much more singer-songwriter based. I think that has primarily to do with theatre. It's always telling a story through song. I'm thinking that maybe it would probably be a mix of the two. It would probably be a jazz standard or two, then maybe one or two obscure musical theatre songs, then maybe some Joni Mitchell, maybe some Indigo Girls, something like that.
Question: How long will you stay with In the Heights?
Olivo: We're such a family over there, I don't know. As long as I can. [Laughs.] It's hard to say. You never know what's around the corner.
Question: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Olivo: I have lots of other stuff that I'm doing, but nothing has fleshed out just yet. . . . We just won the Tony and so all of these people are coming to see us. We kind of want to revel in what we made a little bit. I'm kind of focusing on this, but on my off days I'm working on other stuff.
Question: Has there been anyone who has come to see the show that you were especially excited to meet?
Olivo: I'm a huge, huge, huge basketball fan, and Bruce Bowen, who plays for the Spurs, was in the second row the other day, and I didn't realize how starstruck and crazy I would be. I spotted him because he was dancing in his seat! That's jarring enough to see a seven-foot-plus man in his seat dancing around. That was the most amazing thing, just to see crossover like that. Basketball, sports — it's such a different arena. To see him come to the theatre and totally, totally get it and be happy and jump to his feet at the end, it made my week.
Question: Did you get to meet him afterwards?
Olivo: I didn't. I don't think that he knew anyone in the show. I think he came probably because he heard we had won the Tony. I went straight to the press office and was like, "If they ever come again, if any of them ever come again, I have to meet them!" [Laughs.]
[In the Heights plays the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th Street. For tickets call (212) 307-4100 or visit www.ticketmaster.com]
19th ANNUAL CABARET CONVENTION
The line-up for the 19th Annual Cabaret Convention — which will be held Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan — was announced earlier this week.
The week-long convention, which salutes the best of New York cabaret, will kick off Oct. 29 with a Gala Opening Night that boasts some of the finest in the field (Karen Akers, Christine Andreas, Judy Butterfield, Jason Graae, Karen Mason, Phillip Officer and Paula West) as well as three performers making their Cabaret Convention debuts: Matt Cavenaugh, Shelley MacArthur and Gregory Moore. The evening will also feature the presentation of the Julie Wilson Award to singer Butterfield.
Hats Off to Liz Smith is the title of the Oct. 30 concert, which will pay tribute to the syndicated gossip columnist, who has "championed this vital and exciting world of song." Performers will include Klea Blackhurst, Ann Hampton Callaway, Jeff Harnar, Marilyn Maye, Sidney Myer, Daniel Reichard, Catherine Russell, Jennifer Sheehan and Tommy Tune.
Nancy Anderson, Barbara Brussell, Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Barbara Fasano, Mary Cleere Haran, Justin Hayford, Sylvia McNair, Craig Rubano, Lumiri Tubo and Julie Wilson will perform Oct. 31 in a program titled We Hear America Singing. The evening, which will feature songs from the Great American Songbook, will also include the presentation of The Dick Gallagher Award to Desare.
The 19th annual convention will conclude Nov. 1 with A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening. Among the performers scheduled to perform are Barbara Carroll, Mary Foster Conklin, Baby Jane Dexter, Eric Michael Gillett, Barb Jungr, Donna McKechnie, Todd Murray, Karen Oberlin, Julie Reyburn, Steven Santoro, Olivia Stevens and KT Sullivan. The latter will receive the Mabel Mercer Award.
All shows begin at 6 PM. Tickets are priced $25, $50 and $100.
The Rose Theater is located at Frederick P. Rose Hall within Jazz at Lincoln Center at Broadway and 60th Street. For more information about the upcoming convention, visit www.mabelmercer.org.
DIVA TIDBITS
Broadway: Three Generations, a three-act evening featuring condensed versions of Girl Crazy, Bye Bye Birdie and Side Show, will be presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in October. Lonny Price will direct the Oct. 2-5 run in the Eisenhower Theater. The cast for the staged concert performances will include Tony Award winner Randy Graff as well as Brooks Ashmanskas, Lisa Brescia, Jenn Colella, Michael McElroy and Max von Essen. The production, which reopens the renovated Eisenhower Theater, will "track the development of the Broadway musical over three overlapping generations of composers," according to press notes. Girl Crazy will feature von Essen as Danny Churchill with Graff as Kate Fothergill, Ashmanskas as Slick Fothergill and Colella as Molly Gray. Ashmanskas will be Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie with Brescia as Mrs. MacAfee and Graff as Mae Peterson. And, Side Show will cast Colella as Daisy Hilton with Brescia as Violet Hilton, McElroy as Jake and von Essen as Terry Connor. Tickets, priced $25-$90, will go on sale Aug. 11. For more information visit www.kennedy-center.org.
Karen Mason, who currently plays the conniving Velma von Tussle in the Tony-winning musical Hairspray, will celebrate her new CD, "Right Here, Right Now," with an upcoming evening at Birdland. The Aug. 4 concert, which will feature songs from Mason's new recording, is scheduled for 7 PM. Mason will be backed by musical director Chris Denny on piano; Barry Kleinbort directs. Birdland is located in Manhattan at 315 West 44th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. There is a $35 cover charge and a $10 food-drink minimum. Call (212) 581-3080 for reservations or visit www.birdlandjazz.com.
More Birdland news: Several Broadway performers will take part in Extravagainza: The Songs of Henry Gainza Aug. 11 at the famed jazz club. Expect performances by Chris Jackson (In the Heights), Janet Dacal (In the Heights), Andy Senor (Rent), Veronica Vasquez-Jackson (Nervous Records), Darius de Haas (Songs for a New World) and Tituss Burgess (Little Mermaid). Show time is 7 PM. Gainza's songs, according to press notes, offer a "musical fusion of salsa, pop and influences from the Great White Way." There is a $25 cover charge and a $10 food/drink minimum; for reservations visit www.birdlandjazz.com or call (212) 581-3080.
Complete casting was announced earlier this week for the Broadway production of Billy Elliot—The Musical, which will begin previews at the Imperial Theatre Oct. 1 with an official opening scheduled for Nov. 13. As previously reported, young actors David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish and Trent Kowalik will alternate in the musical's title role. Haydn Gwynne, who created the role of dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson in the show's original London cast, will repeat her work for Broadway audiences. Also among the principal cast are Gregory Jbara as Dad, Tony winner Carole Shelley as Grandma and Santino Fontana as Tony. David Bologna and Frank Dolce will alternate in the role of Billy's friend Michael with Stephen Hanna as Billy's Older Self, Joel Hatch as George, Leah Hocking as Mum, Thommie Retter as Mr. Braithwaite and Erin Whyland as Debbie. For more information visit billyelliotbroadway.com.
The Kaufman Center's 2008-2009 season at Merkin Concert Hall will once again feature the acclaimed Broadway Close Up series, which presents "an inside look at the world of musical theatre" and will comprise three evenings: Jones & Schmidt, Maltby & Shire and Bound for Broadway. The season will kick off Oct. 6 at 8 PM with a tribute to the work of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, who are best known for their record-breaking Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks. The evening at Merkin Concert Hall will feature lyricist Jones and host Sean Hartley as well as several performers to be announced at a later date. The work of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, whose musicals include Baby, Big and Taking Flight, will be examined Nov. 3 at 8 PM. Both Maltby and Shire will be on hand for their evening, which will also feature the duo's favorite singers. The Broadway Close Up series will conclude Dec. 8 with the annual Bound for Broadway concert. Liz Callaway will again host the evening, which will feature songs from five new musicals and interviews with the writers of these new shows. A three-concert subscription is priced $85; single tickets are $40. Visit www.merkinconcerthall.org for more information.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|