ELIZABETH STANLEY
Elizabeth Stanley, who created the role of April in the Tony-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, returned to Broadway last season to play good-girl Allison in Cry-Baby, the musical based on the John Waters film of the same name. Although the production was short-lived, it didn't take long for the singing actress to land on her feet/roller skates when she won the lead role in the national tour of Xanadu, another new musical based on a motion picture. The tour of the musical comedy, which boasts a Tony-nominated book by Little Dog Laughed playwright Douglas Carter Beane, played a West Coast engagement at the La Jolla Playhouse before officially kicking off Jan. 16 at Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place, where the show will reside through March 28. About his leading lady, Beane told me earlier this week: "Ms. Stanley adds that quality that Xanadu has always lacked . . . soft-core porn. One has the feeling at any moment during her stage performance things might get a little racy — but if they do, the camera will discretely pull away. Kind of like a movie viewed in a hotel room when one is alone and on the road. She sings like a dream, plays comedy like an ugly person, and acts with such great heart and humanity it is hard not to fall for her. And she is about the nicest, silliest, sweetest person I have every worked with." I recently had the pleasure of chatting with the nice, silly and sweet Stanley; that brief interview follows.

Question: Since we've never spoken before, let's start at the beginning. Where were you born and raised?
Elizabeth Stanley: I was born in Iowa. I lived there for the first half of my childhood, and then when I was ten we moved to a very small town called Camp Point, Illinois. It's actually like four-and-a-half hours south of Chicago, but I'm really happy to be here because my family is like a train ride away but still not a hop, skip and a jump. [Laughs.]

Question: That's great that they're nearby.
Stanley: It's nice — [especially compared to] being in New York, where it's an event to go home. It's nice to be able to go, "I feel like going home, I'm gonna hop on a train."

Question: When did you start performing?
Stanley: I started doing a lot of stuff at the community theatre near us — it's about 30 miles away — when I was 12 or 13, sixth or seventh grade.

Question: Did you study theatre in college?
Stanley: I did. Initially I went to Indiana University because of their school of music. I was a voice major, and I initially was planning on being an opera singer. Then, after I had been there awhile, a lot of the people I had befriended were in theatre. We were in this choir together . . . .There were a lot of music theatre people, so I started leaning more towards that and ended up tweaking my major so that I could take the acting electives.

Question: What was your first professional job after college?
Stanley: My first professional job — it's funny, I list one of the credits in my bio here as being one of my favorites, because it really was. I worked at Seaside Music Theatre, which I think may no longer be happening, but I was there for the whole summer. I did ensemble in a couple of shows. The thing that I was excited about being there for was that I was the lead in the opera The Telephone by Menotti.

Question: When did you get to New York?
Stanley: I moved to New York about a year after I graduated. . . . I've been in New York for a little over five years, I think. I moved home after that summer job so that I could save money so that I could afford to move to New York.

	Elizabeth Stanley in Xanadu
	photo by Carol Rosegg

Question: Your first Broadway show was Company. Everyone I've talked to always raves about working with director John Doyle. What was your experience like?
Stanley: I have to give you another rave. That experience will probably always be at the top because it was so many wonderful firsts. It was my first Broadway show, and it was with an amazing director, and it was a Sondheim piece, and I got to meet Stephen Sondheim… and on and on and on. And we won the Tony for the musical. Everything about it was about as good as it could get. John is such a lovely human being. He's very kind and . . . he's demanding, but he's patient. He's humble in that I remember the first day of rehearsal he said, "I'm just as nervous as you are, and I don't really know what this is going to turn out to be either. . . It took me 45 minutes to pick out which pastel shirt to put on as well." He allows it to be a collaborative experience, or at least allows it to feel that way, even though he's very much still the director.

Question: What was it like playing an instrument and performing?
Stanley: It was a great challenge. A lot of the people in the show had done that before in some other capacity. Several people had done Cabaret, including myself. I had done the national tour of it right after I graduated and other various shows that require actor/musicians. They're kind of common, and once you've done one, then people pick you to do them again. But this was different. John's conception of it was so unique that, I think, all of us were completely challenged, but it was so rewarding.

	Elizabeth Stanley in Cry-Baby
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Your next Broadway musical was Cry-Baby. What was that experience like?
Stanley: It was my first time being a part of something that was being developed. It was a tremendous learning experience in all of the blood, sweat and tears that goes into creating a new piece — how much it changes, how much it evolves, how important it is to have everyone's vision align on what the piece should say and how it should work. I learned so much. I'm really, really grateful for it. Even though the run was short, I was with the piece for well over a year. It felt like it ended abruptly, but it didn't feel like I barely did it.

Question: Because you played out-of-town . . .
Stanley: Yeah, and we did a workshop in town. I made really, really wonderful friendships, so I have very fond memories of it.

Question: How did the Xanadu tour come about?
Stanley: I auditioned for it close to closing of Cry-Baby, but it was before the Tonys, so nothing had been announced about our closing. I remember my agent called and said, "You know, we have an appointment for you for Xanadu." And I called back and said, "Do you know something I don't know? I'm already doing a show." [Laughs.] And they were like, "No, we don't know anything, but we just thought we should be safe. They called and they asked to see you. If you don't want to go, then don't go." But I was like, "No, no, I would like to go, but I was just checking." [Laughs.] The audition process was really fun. I wasn't a skater beforehand, so in that aspect, I guess I wasn't nervous because I just felt like… I didn't lie, I didn't say I was a skater, so I didn't have something to prove. I was just like, "I'm not, so here's what it is!" I'm friends with Cheyenne [Jackson, who starred in the Broadway run of Xanadu]. We had worked together a couple years ago. So I called him and said, "Can you review some sides with me?" It's interesting because he had said when he was helping me, "You're so different than Kerry [Butler], but it's interesting."

Question: Would you say skating and singing is more difficult or playing an instrument and singing is more difficult?
Stanley: They're totally different! I also play piano, even though I did not play it in Company. That is more like [skating and singing]… because you can actually do the two things simultaneously. The instruments I played in Company, they were all wind instruments, so I was never singing and playing an instrument. I would have to say skating [is more difficult] because it's different. It requires more of your physical being, and it's like a fear for your life rather than just the fear of hitting a wrong note. [Laughs.]

Question: Have you ever toured before?
Stanley: I have toured. I did the non-union tour of Cabaret.

Question: How do you find touring? With Xanadu it seems like you're getting lengthier engagements rather than going from one city to the next in a week's time
Stanley: Yeah, so far it doesn't really feel like a tour. I think I'm going to like it. When I did Cabaret it was such a — as non-union tours often are — trying experience, and the schedule was like six months of one-nighters. But that was still really fun. I was really young when I did it, and it was really a fun experience. But now I'm really happy that we're sitting down longer. It's nice to be able to develop a sort of routine for yourself. I can go to a noon yoga class here, then I have plenty of time to do what I need to do in the afternoon, and then I can go to the show. It feels a bit more like [being] at home.  Continued...