AMY SPANGER
Triple-threat Amy Spanger, who received a Drama Desk Award nomination for her performance as Holly in The Wedding Singer, is back on Broadway in the new eighties-scored musical Rock of Ages at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Spanger plays good-girl-turned-stripper Sherrie in the new musical, which also reunites the acclaimed singing actress with her former Wedding Singer co-star, Constantine Maroulis, who plays Spanger's love interest, Drew. Spanger, who played Bianca/Lois Lane in the Tony-winning revival of Kiss Me, Kate, also has the chance to belt out several rock tunes — including "Harden My Heart," "Don't Stop Believin'" and "I Want to Know What Love Is" — in the new musical, which features a book by Chris D'Arienzo and also stars James Carpinello. During previews for Rock of Ages, I had the chance to chat with the good-humored Spanger, who spoke about her Broadway outings, including her latest role; that brief interview follows.

Question: How did you originally get involved with Rock of Ages?
Amy Spanger: I got involved through just an audition, through my agent. . . . It wasn't on my radar — I was out of town for a lot of the Off-Broadway run, so I didn't see it. I'd heard good things, but I just didn't see it. My agent called me and said, "Would you like to work with Constantine again?" And I was like, "What is this?" And then I read the script, and the script is so smart and funny that I [said], "Yeah, I'm on board." And it also fulfills this rock-star fantasy that I've had my whole life. [Laughs.] So it's the best of both worlds — a theatrical rock-star fantasy that I'm living onstage every night.

Question: Are you a fan of this period of music?
Spanger: I really am. When MTV came on the scene, it was undeniable, and I wanted to be inside my TV. [Laughs.] I was a little girl. I was really attracted to Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon and MTV, so this is sort of the perfect amalgamation of both of those worlds for me.

Question: Did you have a favorite eighties band?
Spanger: I wanted to be Pat Benatar. [Laughs.] I just wanted to be her. I actually had the same haircut as she did back in 1987. All of my girlfriends and I had really short [hair] — we all looked like little boys, but we all thought we were cool because we looked like Pat Benatar.

Question: What songs do you get to sing?
Spanger: I get to sing part of "Sister Christian." I get to sing "Harden My Heart," "Don't Stop Believing" and "I Wanna Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. I get on the ride at the top of the show, and it's just the most fun that I've ever had.

	Amy Spanger with Constantine Maroulis in Rock of Ages
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Tell me a bit about the character you're playing.
Spanger: I play Sherrie Christian. She's from the Midwest, a small-town girl who has big dreams of becoming an actress. She moves to Hollywood, LA, the Sunset Strip specifically, and starts working in a bar. She meets Drew, played by Constantine Maroulis, and instantly falls for him. They go on a date, and there's miscommunication, and he says that they're just friends. Then she's fired from the bar and has no place to go and is invited to become a stripper and goes down that road and finds herself back with Drew in the end. It's a great, happy theatre-land ending!

Question: Since you had worked with Constantine before in Wedding Singer, do you guys have a good rapport?
Spanger: We really do, yeah. There's a mutual respect. We really like each other. I think he's a phenomenal singer. I'm just amazed at what he can do. He's so sweet and vulnerable in this part. I think people will be really surprised at his acting range. It's kind of perfectly suited for him. It feels like it was written for him specifically.

Question: How do you find the demands of doing eight shows a week?
Spanger: It's a crazy life. It feels blue collar at times — workin', workin', workin'. Especially right now, where I feel like we're in a really good place. We have a lot of energy, but we've been doing these 12-hour days… I think this is our third week, and we open a week from Tuesday. So we're like, "Let's just get to opening and then we can have our days free." But it's like a muscle. You just have to get the show into your body, and then it becomes easier.

Question: How are audiences responding so far?
Spanger: It's kind of insane. It's a rock concert every night. It's the references, the eighties references… I think our target audience is people in their late thirties or early forties who just get every single reference and are shouting at us and guffawing. It's been amazing. James Carpinello and I are looking at each other like, "Have you ever been in something like this?" We did a show Tuesday night and [the audience was] crazy! The audience was coming out of their seats, standing ovation… I've never been a part of something like this. What comes close is I did the national tour of Rent a few years back. We developed a following and had all of these young fans. It was similar, but this is crazy!

Question: I would think it must be fun to have that sort of response.
Spanger: That's the thing. Even if you're feeling a little tired at the top of the show, the script is so funny and the audience just kind of gets onboard. We have this live band onstage, real rock musician guys just tearing it up every night. I think it's a very fresh take on a Broadway musical.

	Laura Benanti with Amy Spanger in The Wedding Singer
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Since we've never spoken before, I wanted to go back a bit. Where were you born and raised?
Spanger: I was born [and raised] in Newbury, Massachusetts, a small town north of Boston.

Question: When did you start performing?
Spanger: I've always done it. I guess I was about ten when I did my first community theatre thing, but I remember being five and leading the kindergarten in some song. I remember thinking at five, "This feels right. This feels good." [Laughs.]

Question: When did you know that it would be your career?
Spanger: I moved to New York when I was 21. It's so funny because the Sherrie storyline is not that far from my own story. I think when I got my first job in New York, I was like, "Okay, yeah!"

Question: What job that?
Spanger: It was Cassie in A Chorus Line. I was way too young to play the part, but it was Cassie in A Chorus Line at the Elm Street Theatre.

Question: What was your first Broadway show?
Spanger: My first Broadway show was Sunset Boulevard. I gave myself three years from when I first moved to New York to get on Broadway. I got that show within two years and ten months.

Question: Do you remember what your first night on Broadway was like?
Spanger: It's so funny because I was in the ensemble at that time. I remember there was a moment when Betty Buckley has this solo, and everyone's onstage. The entire company was onstage. I remember looking out into the audience and thinking, "I'm gonna do what she's doing!" [Laughs.] I remember thinking, "I'm gonna get out of the chorus really soon and start playing parts." I've never talked about that before with anybody. But I was very specific. I was like, "Oh yeah, that's comin'!" [Laughs.]

Question: Do you have a favorite theatre experience so far?
Spanger: People ask me that, and I feel like I've been so lucky. They've been so varied and all amazing experiences. Kiss Me, Kate was really kind of breathtaking. I thought the show was just so beautifully constructed and cast. Michael Blakemore is a genius, and I just had an amazing time. I was sort of pinching myself the whole time, like, "Really? I get to do this?" But this experience, I have to say it's such an opportunity for an actor-singer-dancer… I mean, I don't really dance — I dance a little, little bit in this. For an actor-singer, it's just a wonderful, wonderful part in terms of the range of the character, in terms of the range of the songs. I feel like I get to do lots of really broad comedy and some really dramatic stuff, too, within the framework of this wacky, wacky piece.

Question: You've also done TV and film. How does that compare for you to theatre?
Spanger: It's just a very different muscle group . . .. With film, you have to be able to focus when they're all ready to focus. When the director is ready, when the lighting is ready, when the sound is ready, you have to be able to drop into your character. So you have to sort of maintain a focus all the time when you're on set. With theatre, you know that you need to really focus between 8 and 10:30. You need to start focusing around 7 o'clock. It's really different, and I really like both of them. I love the instant gratification of being in front of a live audience. There's nothing like it. I will always, always, always do this.  Continued...