MELORA HARDIN
The past 12 months have certainly been a musical period for triple threat Melora Hardin, who is best known for her work as Jan Levinson on NBC's award-winning "The Office." In January 2008 Hardin made her cabaret debut at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, CA, performing a mix of her own original tunes and Broadway and jazz standards. This past summer saw Hardin pour a wealth of emotion into the role of the ill-fated Fantine in the acclaimed concert staging of Les Misérables at the Hollywood Bowl. And, at the end of last month, Hardin, who will soon be seen in the films "Seventeen Again" and "Hannah Montana: The Movie," made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the Tony Award-winning revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre. Hardin, who is scheduled to play the merry murderess through Feb. 12, spoke with me last week about her musical year and her long-awaited Broadway debut. My interview with the intelligent actress, singer and songwriter follows:

Question: How did the role of Roxie Hart come about for you?
Melora Hardin: I had an audition about a year ago, and [Chicago producer] Barry Weissler leapt to his feet when I finished my first monologue and said, "Oh, my God! Where do you come from and how do you have all that training? Why haven't you been doing Broadway?" [Laughs.] He offered it to me right on the spot. I was very, very excited. It was kind of a fun day because the first cover of a magazine that I was ever on [came out that day]. Entertainment Weekly was doing covers of the couples from "The Office," and there was a picture of me and Steve Carell. . . . I was able to use [the magazine] during my audition. I held it up over my head when I said, "Roxie Rocks Chicago," and I tossed it into Barry's lap and I said, "Here, read this!" [Laughs.] That was really funny, and I guess he loved that. It was sort of a risk — he was either gonna hate this or he was gonna love this! [Laughs.]

Question: Was Broadway a goal of yours?
Hardin: Absolutely. I've wanted to do Broadway all my life. I've just been working so much in television and film that I haven't really had a chance to get here. That's part of what happened with auditioning a year ago. I couldn't fit it in until now. They wanted me to come right away, and I wasn't able to make that work. I've wanted to do this my whole life. I've been dancing all my life: I started dancing when I was five. I was a very serious ballerina and went to Joffrey on scholarship when I was 13. I've continued dancing just for my own soul and my body — I still take jazz classes two to three times a week back in Los Angeles. I've been singing all my life and acting professionally since I was six years old. I knew that there was going to come a time in my life when I was going to be able to really utilize all those skills, and it's so exciting. It makes me feel so alive to use them all at once.

Question: What was the rehearsal process like? I know a lot of times when you're replacing in a show, you don't get all that much time.
Hardin: Yeah, it was actually really fast. Sandahl Bergman taught me the two major dance numbers that I do, "Me and My Baby" and "Hot Honey Rag," in Los Angeles. So I learned those and worked on those for a couple weeks before I came, and I also learned my songs before I came. So when I arrived, I had two-and-a-half weeks to basically learn all the blocking, all my lines… and we changed some things in the dance numbers.

Question: How have you been finding the demands of doing eight shows a week?
Hardin: It's great. It's definitely a lot of work. There's no doubt about that. It definitely kind of consumes your whole life. Your sleeping schedule, your eating schedule all revolves around what's best for the show. I have not done one New York thing since I've been here. The only thing I did was when my daughters were here, I took them for a carriage ride in Central Park. That was my first time in Central Park, and I haven't been back. I haven't even done any shopping, and I love shopping in New York. I haven't done anything like that. I haven't had a minute to do anything! [Laughs.] It's pretty all-consuming, and that's okay. I knew it was going to be like that, so I was prepared for that. I do look forward to having a couple days where I can do [some New York things]. . . . Today when we get off the phone, I might just go to the little art store around the corner and get a couple of things. That's gonna be the big event of the day! … I guess if it were years and years and years of me doing this, it might be something different, but because I know it's a mere six-seven weeks, it feels very short, and I really want to give it everything I've got. It's okay, I can come back to New York anytime and do the New York thing. [Laughs.]

Question: How would you describe Roxie?
Hardin: She's a wonderfully hungry character. She's sort of insatiably hungry for attention and publicity and has a primal desire and ambition for that. I think that really does drive her. She also has a kind of wonderful naïveté, a charm about her. She's a real quick learner. She learns on her feet. She just sort of soaks in everything and is really good at learning, keeping her eyes and ears open, and implementing it immediately and coming out on top. There's something wonderfully childlike about her — and kind of idealistic … a sort of rose-colored glasses kind of thing. She has a picture of what her life is, which isn't necessarily congruous with what her life actually is. She's a likable bad guy, I guess.

	Melora Hardin in Chicago
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Do you have a favorite moment in the show for her?
Hardin: The whole "Roxie" monologue and song is pretty spectacular. It's so beautifully written. The writing is so immaculate in this show. It's a really, really well-written show. The songs are obviously great, and the dance numbers are wonderful. It's really fun because I get to do all of those things in little capsules of time. I get this wonderful monologue, and then I go into this great song with this wonderful little dance. I would say that's probably my favorite part of the show.

Question: Since Broadway was something you've always wanted to do, has there been anything about the experience that's different from what you thought it would be? Anything that's surprised you?
Hardin: I guess it surprised me how comfortable I feel, how good it feels and how right it feels and how it doesn't actually make me feel crazy nervous. It makes me feel really alive and turned on, like all of my cylinders are firing.

Question: You mentioned the Les Miz in concert. What was that experience like for you?
Hardin: That was wonderful. It was such a different experience. First of all, the songs are far more taxing and challenging than the music in Chicago. They're really big "singing" songs. That whole day when you're doing Les Miz is all about protecting your voice, making sure you eat the right things for your voice and warming up at the right times during the day. And, then you have to warm up again before you sing and make sure your notes are all there — that your voice is all stretched at the top and stretched at the bottom. . . . In Chicago you do a lot of body stretching. In Les Miz you do a lot of vocal stretching. So in that regard it's different, and it's certainly very different with that large audience. They're so expansive and they're so way out there [at the Hollywood Bowl]. Les Miz is all about Heaven and God, and there we were under the heavens and under the skies and the stars and the moon. Looking up there in that outdoor venue is just so amazing. Here you are doing this tragedy and looking up into the heavens and talking about God and singing about God and Heaven. It was really just quite extraordinary and very spiritual, I would say. . . .But it's pretty miraculous, 18,500 people leaping to their feet every night.

Question: Richard Jay-Alexander directed you in Les Miz, and he also directed your cabaret act. Tell me about working with him as a director.
Hardin: Richard is extremely smart, and he really understands the actor's process. He's got amazing ears — he's got perfect pitch, so he hears everything, but he also understands the actor's process. He's very good at not saying too much about what you're doing if it's working. His adjustments are always really spot-on and help you go to the next level. I think that any good director, really mostly what they do is set you free. They take a talented person, and they basically make room for them to fly. They give you things to hold onto and make you feel safe but then give you the encouragement and the support to let it rip. I think he's quite skilled at that, and he's very attuned and very sensitive to the arc of a show. Of course, with Les Miz he has so much history [with the show] and so much knowledge about the story and the content. That was another [advantage] in pulling it together in two weeks. I think if we hadn't had a leader like that who really understood it inside and out, [it would have been difficult]. And, then [we also had] Mark McVey, who's done over 3,000 performances as Jean Valjean and really just has a miraculous understanding of that character and the show. We really couldn't have done it without Richard's leadership there. And, as far as my [cabaret] act goes, he was a joy. We have such a wonderful collaborative relationship. I feel very fortunate that we found each other. We really clicked. Continued...