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THE FRIDAY SIX: Q&As with Your Favorite Broadway Stars- Caroline O'Connor

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Welcome to THE FRIDAY SIX: Q&As With Your Favorite Broadway Stars. Want to know what hooked them to a career in the theater? Their dream roles? Their Broadway crushes? Read on!

In this week's edition, we caught up with Caroline O'Connor, who is starring as 'Miss Shields' in A CHRISTMAS STORY- currently playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

What is the first Broadway show you ever saw?

Growing up in Australia, we didn’t have a lot of Broadway productions that toured in our hemisphere, so I used to listen to a lot of cast albums, looking at the pictures and and imagining what was happening on the stage. Eventually I saw a production of A CHORUS LINE in Sydney, Australia. I very young. It blew me away !

Years later I came to New York for an audition and saw DAMN YANKEES at the Marriot Marquis. Later in my career I played both 'Cassie' and 'Lola.' Spooky!

What is your most unique pre-show ritual?

-I bless myself three times before I go onstage. It used to be once!
-I drink what I call ‘Talent juice’ (ie: hot water and honey)
-I also like to take a sneaky peek at the audience before the show.

What is your most memorable "the show must go on" moment?

The most memorable and most recent was opening night of A CHRISTMAS STORY. An hour and a half before curtain up my back went into spasm walking up 43rd St. A physical therapist was in the dressing room working on me 30 minutes before curtain up. I was scared and upset but... with his magic hands and my adrenalin kicking in... the show went on!

What is the one role you want to play before you die?

That’s a hard question because over the last couple of years I’ve played two of my all time favorites: 'Mama Rose' in GYPSY and 'Mrs Lovett' in SWEENEY TODD. People tell me I should do MAME. KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN perhaps? 'Miss Hannigan,' or 'Eleanor of Aquitaine' in THE LION IN WINTER. I’d really love to originate a Broadway role.

Who is your Broadway crush?

That would be telling, but I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing and equally gorgeous leading men like Brent Barrett, Sean Palmer, Aaron Lazar, Howard McGillin, Adam Garcia, John Barrowman, Sean McDermott, Anthony Warlow, Max von Essen, Christian Borle, Billy Zane, Kevin Richardson and of course Dan Lauria & John Bolton...

I love them all. You guess!