The “Schmigadoon!” actress explains the things that keep her in a Broadway state of mind: her Vespa, Lizzo’s music and French Fries.
The actress Jane Krakowski is proud that “Schmigadoon!,” the Apple TV+ musical comedy series she stars in, gave people a dose of theatricality when it premiered during Broadway’s lockdown in 2021, even with an unusual production period Covid restrictions.
“It was such a labor of love,” she said on a recent Zoom call. “I didn’t even meet anybody in the cast until I showed up on set, and we were in shields and masks.”
With shooting for season two wrapped, the Tony Award-winning New Jersey native is focused on preparing to perform at The Town Hall in Manhattan next week, a cabaret act music-directed and hosted by Seth Rudetsky that was delayed from its original January date by the Omicron wave.
Rudetsky, a longtime friend with whom she does regular game nights, will interview her and accompany her on songs from her storied career. (She teased a medley inspired by the series “30 Rock,” in which her role as Jenna Maroney earned her four Emmy nominations and made her a meme icon.)
Krakowski’s eagerness to be back onstage radiates off her, and she says she has seen nearly every production from the most recent season. Having seen her “She Loves Me” co-star Gavin Creel in “Into the Woods” at New York City Center (twice), she says she’s excited to revisit the production’s Broadway transfer at the St. James Theater, where he now stars with Joshua Henry.
“I heard they’re amazing together,” she said. “Because I know and love Gavin — he dragged me across the stage in a split for almost a year — I’m glad he’s having fun and being brilliant in this show.”
Squeezing in some final vacation time on Long Island before rehearsals and her son’s return from sleep-away camp, Krakowski admits to falling down musical theater rabbit holes on YouTube, and loving Henry’s singing videos on social media. The tight-knit industry bonds she’s created, and vintage theater merch round out a list of things she credits with keeping her in a Broadway state of mind.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1. A Sweatshirt From the Original Production of “A Chorus Line” Right when Covid was sort of easing up, I decided to go clean out a storage unit I’d had for over 15 years. One of the things I found was a sweatshirt I bought from the original “A Chorus Line”: Blue with white letters, the entire cast in their poses. It’s from when I was approximately 11 years old and a young, hopeful performer coming in to see every Broadway show. When I was a teenager, everyone would say how many times they had seen “Star Wars.” Yeah, that was “A Chorus Line” for me. I saw it nine times.
2. Single-Number Performances on the Tonys Broadcast Did you notice that these past Tony Awards? I was like, “Wait a minute, a lot of shows did single-number performances.” When I was growing up, I would watch the Tonys as if it was the Super Bowl, dreaming of being in this business. They only did one-song performances, and I used to VCR them and practice the numbers in my living room from start to finish. I’d do my best Patti LuPone in “Evita.” Then for a long time it became mashups, best-ofs — like two-minute commercials for the shows’ best numbers. So it was interesting that they went back to what I was used to seeing in my childhood, when it inspired me. And I’m thinking now kids at home can learn a whole piece, because it’s really hard to memorize a remix.
3. French Fries as Health Food I got Covid while filming in Ireland and was really sick. French Fries were the one thing I could eat while I was in bed. And they’re amazing in Ireland, natch; you’d think they would be. And now fries represent health to me, since it was how I got back on my feet during Covid. Now I seem to be ordering them almost every day, and I’ve been traveling a lot for work, so I’ve been able to try fries all over. Australian ones are very good, by the way. I don’t know what they’re frying them in, but they’re amazing.
4. Joshua Henry’s Videos He’s someone I like to follow whenever he’s onstage because I think he’s massively talented. I found his videos a few months ago, before he went into “Into the Woods,” and this new side of him — these videos have just been killing me. Not only is he displaying his incredible voice, but his masterful musicality. The last one was really special: It was Adele mixed with “Children Will Listen” [from “Woods”] with Sara Bareilles, Phillipa Soo and Patina Miller backstage at the show.
5. Broadway’s Return The first show I went back to see was “Springsteen on Broadway.” When I walked into the theater — and I’m a sucker for this — you could see the bare bones of the Broadway house, with the brick wall and the ropes hanging in the back, and you could see into the wings where the crew is tirelessly doing their work. It felt incredibly emotional. It started me off on a great celebration of trying to see as much as I can on Broadway and be so thankful that it’s back, because it really is part of the lifeblood of New York, and part of the heartbeat of the city.
6. Lizzo I can’t get enough of Lizzo right now. I just watched her Hot Ones episode, and it’s gold. You need to watch it. To quote my friend Titus Burgess, “It gave me life!” She gives us everything we want, including nails that match her whole onesie. She’s an incredibly trained musician and entertaining performer. And [her song] “About Damn Time” is what I would consider the song of the summer. I find it kind of amazing how many times I can say, “It’s bad bitch o’clock, it’s thick thirty,” within a night.
7. Riding her Vespa I first got one when I was doing “Guys and Dolls” in the West End because I wanted to always be above ground; I wanted to experience everything about London while I was there. That’s when my love began, and then I brought it back to the United States and was driving it to every performance of “Damn Yankees” and all over the city. Then I drove it to my three-month pregnancy appointment, and my gynecologist said to me, “What’s that on your arm?” It was my helmet. She’s like, “What are you doing? You’re 41, this is already a risky pregnancy.” So I put it away. But during Covid, I finally brought it back out. I am absolutely loving being back freewheeling on my Vespa all over the city.
8. Her Dance Warm-up I started taking dance lessons from Michael Owens, around the time I was like 15, and I loved him. But he moved to Los Angeles in my early 20s, and I sort of lost contact with him. Then, when I was filming “Ally McBeal” out there around 2003, Billy Porter took me to Michael’s class, and I was able to make a video of that class’s dance warm-up. I could barely walk for three days, but he got me back into my absolute love of taking dance classes. And it’s still the warm-up I use.
9. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts There is not a performance that I’ve ever worked on without going there to do research. It’s an incredible resource to have, even if I’m considering doing a part, to just know and have a history of what’s been done prior. It’s an incredible tracking of Broadway history. Now, there are a lot more of these shows filmed for movie theaters, but there’s really a very small record of Broadway live performances — which is what makes it exciting, that connection between performer and audience on each particular night. But I hope they’ll keep it going because so many shows don’t get the opportunity to get on Netflix for people to see.
10. Showing Up for Each Other When Broadway started reopening, I was asked to do a live concert for the Roundabout Theater Company’s gala in Central Park. I remember asking Tina Fey to introduce me, and Titus to sing with me, and when I saw them there that night, I got this overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for the friends I have, and that they show up.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
