Once in a blue moon,
musical theatre provides a window for a few very talented and very special
actors to rocket from one iconic role to another, garnering acclaim and a wide
and wonderful fan-base along the way. And any musical theatre fan will tell you
– we worship our icons!
Looking at her
impressive New York
track-record, Sherie Rene Scott is certainly a viable candidate for the
pedestal.
However – in spite of
portraying a fashionista princess in Aida,
a lesbian rocker rebel in Rent, the
con-girl with a Colgate smile in Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels and currently the eight-armed sea-witch in The Little Mermaid – Sherie Rene Scott
doesn't quite consider her performing career as a "career."
This Monday, March
31, 2008, Scott will concoct an experiment in truth-telling and ask the
question: "Why worship?" in her new and original one-woman show You May Now Worship Me.
The one-night-only concert at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre benefits
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative. For tickets and information visit www.BroadwayCares.org
BroadwayWorld chatted with Sherie Rene Scott to learn
more about You May Now Worship Me and
the joys of portraying a notorious Disney villain…
Eugene Lovendusky:
Congratulations on your new show! What are you looking forward to most on
Monday?
Sherie Rene Scott:
I would say "getting to see everyone" but I'm not going to see anyone. It's
just shapes in the dark. I will be working and hopefully fully present –
meaning, not intoxicated [laughs]. I'm hoping to do good work to make everyone
glad that they forked over some money to the Phyllis Newman Foundation and gave
up their night off to see me.
Eugene: You May Now Worship Me is being billed
as Sherie "telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth." What exactly are
audiences in-store for?
Sherie: It's
actually "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – just better."
[laughs] If it were just the truth, that'd be boring. It's an evening of stories and singing, with
lots of laughter and exploring the concept of worship and the need to worship.
I call it a performance piece because it sounds pretentious – and it probably
is.
Eugene: How has the show changed and evolved
since May, when you performed at the Zipper?
Sherie: Last May,
it was more like an invited-dress. Dick Scanlan and I have been writing this
over the course of a few years. It evolved into a first presentation, though we
didn't have a director. I just had a perverse need to do this performance-piece
and get it up on its feet. From that, we had a lot of interest from directors.
Fortunately, Michael Mayer was incredibly enthusiastic to help us out. We
acquired some producers. So when Broadway Cares saw the show, they were
interested in doing something different with their benefits. Since this was
something already conceived and in-motion, Tom Viola (BC/EFA Executive Director) thought would be a great idea to do this show
as one of their benefits instead of a series of people getting up to sing.
