2015 Flashback: A Year's Advice from the Stars
By: BWW Special Coverage Dec. 31, 2015
At the end of every "backstage" interview, BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge asks his guest, "What is the best bit of advice that you've been given that you still live by?" Below, we've rounded up all the sage responses from the stars of 2015!
Kate Baldwin
JOHN & JEN
"When I was young and starting out, I had somebody tell me, 'Always wear great shoes. You can wear a cheap dress, but if you wear a fabulous shoe, it makes it better.' Don't wear character shoes, girls, wear something really good, they'll remember. And that goes with 'Sing Pretty and Don't Fall Down,' which was the name of my show that I did at 54 Below. You know, just remain upright, get the words out and sing your notes, and it'll all be fine. I love that. And that goes along with the Julia Child thing of 'Never apologize.' You don't have to apologize for anything you've done. You sell it no matter what. And the other life advice that my friend gave me years ago was, 'Instead of focusing on what you don't have, focus on what you do.' Focus on what you have, and realize how much you do have and how meaningful it is, and if you can invest in all of that, the rest will come."
Rob McClure
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
"I remember someone saying to me, 'Don't only figure out who you are, figure out who you're not.'...I coach, I teach a lot, and I have so many students who come in and sing 'The Wizard and I' or 'Let It Go,' and they'll sing it, and because I have the sheet music in front of me, and they did that riff, I know that they're doing Steph Block's riff from a bootleg of WICKED in Chicago. And I can go, 'I know you think I don't know this, but I'd prefer you to sing what these little black dots are. I shouldn't know what cast album you listened to by your audition.' These are people who are attempting to do someone else's version of something. And the people who get the part are the people who create a version -- people who create the thing that other people will be imitating. It's scary because it's untested water. You want to do what you know works. So to truly trust your own instincts is a scary thing because you don't know if it works, but what you're ensuring in that moment is that it's something unique...And you end up getting the job when your instincts line up with their idea. But chasing after a formed mold has never served me once."
Stockard Channing
IT'S ONLY A PLAY
"I hate to be such a wimp, but I really hate superlatives. Positive or negative, the worst, the best, the most, the this, the that. I don't think of life like that, because if you can really pick it out right away, I don't think you've been alive very long. Because that's what life is about -- it's this constant barrage of things that you think you love and then you put them aside. And that's that pattern of life; it changes all the time. And that's the joy of it, and I'm lucky enough to have a very interesting life. So, I don't have a little altar up there in my brain. I'm ready for the next person that tells me something like, 'Wow, that's great!' and I'll take it, because I think that's what moves you through life."
Elisabeth Moss
THE HEIDI CHRONICLES
"Having fun with things. It's so cheesy and I feel like it's so cliché, but it's so easy to forget. It's the first thing that flies out the window when you're tired and you don't want to do it anymore, and you could let your life pass you by, and you didn't enjoy it. So I know that I have to constantly remind myself to have fun and enjoy it."
Stephen Schwartz
"I think that the most important thing that I've learned over the years, and that people have talked to me about, is just to persevere. That every time you get knocked down, you don't bounce up right away, but you just have to get back up and persevere. If I had quit theatre in 1992 when I was back in school trying to become a therapist -- which I would quite have enjoyed by the way -- and hadn't gotten called to do Disney and therefore hadn't had all of that stuff happen again, I never would've had WICKED. Sometimes you have to hang in there a long time, but it can be worth it."
Tommy Tune
LADY, BE GOOD!
"Remember where Variety Arts was? It's a parking lot now -- it's across the street from the 46th Street Theatre, which is now the Richard Rodgers. Well, that used to be Variety Arts, and that was the heartbeat, the center of all things that happened on Broadway...And I'm on that elevator, and a little guy stepped in it, and I'm on the elevator going up, and he looked up at me and said, 'Well, who are you?' And I said, 'My name is Tommy Tune. Do you think I should change it?' Because people have always said, 'It sounds so phony, maybe you should get a more realistic name.' And he said, 'Not if you want to go around being Tommy Tune.' Good advice. That little guy was Michael Bennett. And he said, 'Where are you going?' and I said, 'I'm going to audition for the opening of Caesar's Palace -- Jule Styne is producing a show for the opening of Caesar's Palace.' He says, 'When you get through, come down to the second floor. I want to show you what we're doing.' And he was working on his first assignment as a choreographer. And I walked in and I saw this choreography, and he taught it to me, and he said, 'Do you want to be in this show, or do you want to be in that show?' (points upstairs) And I said, 'I'm goin' with you.' And he became my first Broadway mentor. That's chance. There's so much chance in this business, so I can't tell you that I'll never do another show because you just never know what's going to happen."
Michael Cerveris
FUN HOME
"Don't judge yourself by the people around you. I say this to people graduating from school all the time. There will be that person in your class who will take off, and you will want to think, 'Well, clearly there's something wrong with me because that didn't happen to me.' Or somebody else will struggle for years. And there's no way to do it, there's only your way through it. And every day just wanting to be better and know more and be able to do more than you were yesterday. The journey being more important than the destination - I've always really believed in. It's meant that I've had this meandering, wandering, circuitous path to where I am. When i look back, it all makes sense and it all leads together, but there's no way I could've tracked that or planned it out beforehand. I think it's just always been about trying to improve myself and be of more service to the art form and society."
Nathan Lane
IT'S ONLY A PLAY
"Everyone always says, 'If there's anything else you'd be happy doing, try that,' because it's such hard business. And yet if you really want to do it, you're going to do it, and we wish you all the best and all the luck in the world. Look, I had no connections to anyone in the business. I was just this kid in Jersey City who would watch the Tony Awards or be taken to a play and think, 'This is what I would like to do,' or 'I think I could do that.' Each person has to create their own path, and it's just about that cliché of following your heart, following your dream...I don't have any great advice other than be kind to people. Be a professional. Show up on time. Do your homework. Come in with ideas and exuberance and give 150 percent and be kind. And it's about the group effort. It's about working together, whether you have the biggest part or the smallest part. It's about creating this experience and sharing it eight times a week with people. And loving what you do."
James Barbour
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
"Faith Prince. 2001. We were doing some event. I was doing JANE EYRE and she was doing 'Bells Are Ringing.' And she said, 'You know, just keep walkin'!' Because we weren't sure whether JANE EYRE was going to open or close. And she talking about a reference to something about Bill Clinton, I think...And I use it, I've expanded an analogy. At nighttime, if you keep walking, eventually it turns into day. If you're in a forest, if you keep walking, eventually you'll come out of it. So the best advice is just keep going, just keep going on your path."
Robert Fairchild
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
"Don't compare yourself to others, but use the gifts they have to inspire you to be the best version of yourself. There's healthy competition, and there's competition that destroys you. And you can't escape competition, especially in this world. And if you own yourself and you see the gifts that everybody else has been given, and you use that for your advantage and not for your destruction, that's the only way you grow."
Juliette Binoche
ANTIGONE
"Go towards yourself. Go in you. Make a connection within yourself. Because that's what you're going to be left with at the end of the day, so the connection you're making within yourself is really what counts. Don't go into just the external appearance of things, but make a link within yourself. You're the responsible one. There's a director and an actor inside of each of us. That's why we're fascinated with this kind of relationship between a director and an actor, because it's actually in us."
Christopher Sieber
MATILDA
"Never let fear stop you. Be afraid, but never let fear stop you. Take that step. And the other one that my dad used to say is, 'If you never ask, the answer is always no.' And that's so true. Just ask! That kind of goes hand in hand with the fear thing, I think, because people are afraid to ask any question, or 'Can I have this?', 'Can you help me with this?' or 'Can I come in and maybe show you what I can do?' Go for it! Then you'll know."
Blythe Danner
"Just keep on. I know my husband always said that his favorite poem was by Robert Frost, who said, 'I can sum up in three words what I've learned in my life: It. Goes. On.' Just stay in it. Be true as an actor. I remember reading a quote from Dame Edith Evans, I think: 'I never think about being great, I only think about being true.' I always took that very much to heart. There are times when you're not, and you feel like you have egg on your face, and you'd like to kill yourself, but you're always striving for the truth, to be truthful. That's all that matters."
Annaleigh Ashford
SYLVIA
"I think as New Yorkers we have really high highs and really low lows, we live an extreme life. So keeping a balance and a perspective has been so integral for me in the quiet times and in the busy times. And I think that's also helped me keep a great faith. The reason that these last couple of years have been so wonderful for me is that I've gotten to do work that was based in intention. So KINKY BOOTS was written not just to write a big, fat, hit musical but to share the story with people and help people open their hearts and open their minds."
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