ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 20

In November, Kristin Huffman made her Broadway debut as Sarah (flute, piccolo and sax) in John Doyle's production of Company.  The actress, with a new series of tales that go inside the making of Company from an actor's perspective, starting at the Cincinnati Playhouse and on to New York, continues her stories about a 15-year career that has led her to the door of the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

This is the twentieth story about the "Making of Company."  If you haven't read the others, go back and do so and then rejoin us here!

SCENE TWENTY: BROADWAY HANDBOOK

There are many things they do not tell you in the Broadway Handbook.  Someday I must write an updated edition myself. For now, I will stick with these notes about my own first experience in this arena.

Today is my day off and I am so tired that I can barely speak in whole sentences.  I just drift off in the middle of a thought.  "Andrew, can you tell me where..." and then I run out of words. My brain knows what I should say but I can't seem to get it in touch with my mouth.  My husband, Andrew, patiently waits and then when it becomes obvious that I am not going to continue he goes on with what he was doing.  This is one of these things that they don't tell you in the Broadway Handbook:  the brain to mouth connection takes a break on your day off.  Since it is easier to write than speak, I will just carry around a pad of paper with me in order to be able to communicate with the rest of the world.

I didn't realize that being in the midst of Previews for eight shows each week, you would also be rehearsing every day as well.  The show is being tightened and adjusted both in the technical side as well as in the artistic side.  The lighting designer, Tom Hase, is amazing as he had already designed the show for our production in Cincinnati, and yet, when we moved to Broadway, the stage was a different shape and feel.  John has changed a lot of the movements as well. Then each day, John thinks of new, great ideas, and he has to revise the lighting to go with that new move, or that new area that was dark before.   Sometimes we change entire numbers, like Side By Side, and then have to remember what we have changed for the evening's show.  Sometimes it is just turning around or sitting down at a different point.  Since there are five or six of these changes each day and we are so completely exposed and obvious, it adds quite a bit of tension to the performance.  We also wear black every day to rehearsal because it's hard for them to get an idea of how it will all look in the lights if we aren't dressed close to our costume colors.  Show shoes are a requirement and my feet are angry at me for not reading that part of the Broadway Handbook to them.  My three inch heeled boots are killing me!  I am also wearing a lot of the same clothes since I haven't been home to CT in more than two weeks. 

Living the life of a gypsy is not new to me since I have had a lot of out-of-town gigs. In this case, however, I have had to move from place to place day by day. Since I live in an hour and forty-five minutes away the commute would be rough during this time and lovely NY friends who are out of town for a week offer me places to stay. That makes it sooo much easier than coming all the way home.  Since I can only lug so much stuff from 92nd Street to 24th street to Brooklyn and then back up to 94th Street, I have learned to keep it very simple.  My clothes are starting to smell because, just as I get used to one neighborhood and its laundry possibilities, I have to move to another one! I feel like a traveling carnival.

Another thing that wasn't in the Broadway Handbook was the possibility of having an epiphany in the midst of all the pressure and excitement.  After two weeks of performances, John told me that I still needed to pull my performance back.  I really thought I had been doing it so I was very upset at myself.  I trust his eye immensely but wasn't sure how to quit "performing" every beat and showing what I was thinking.  I got so angry at myself, in wanting to do the best job I could for the show and for him, that I went back to the apartment on 92nd Street and had a minor breakdown between shows.  After discussing…ok …ranting…about my inability to incorporate more of a 'cinematic' style to my acting, my friend, another director, talked me off a ledge and into the right frame of mind.  We read the scene together, and he gave me some key ideas and words that helped me talk out what I needed to be doing. Then I went back that night and gave a completely different performance. A lot of it had to do with not trying to project my voice so much and just trusting the mikes and the written words to do the work. For someone who is used to working hard for everything, it was very hard not to.

The audience was great and laughed so much more at our scene. I felt as if I was doing absolutely nothing.  At one point in the scene I actually had an out of body experience and thought "I can't believe this works, what haveI been doing all these years?"   I have heard Raul say the same thing to students and fans.  In fact many of us in the cast feel that John Doyle is the best acting class we have ever had in encouraging us so softly to push our limits and trust the words. 

After the show, when we were all given notes for the next day's performance, one of the girls remarked on how wonderful the audience was.  John said he doesn't agree with that idea.  He said the only common denominator in any case was the cast.  He then told them that I was the one who had set the tone for the show that night. He said I took his note, and changed what I was doing so much so that it got the audience off on the right foot. I must've turned five shades of red.  I will say that since I have been doing the show in this new style all of the audiences have been more animated!  It does add a bit of pressure since now I will feel personally responsible if the audience sucks.

The Broadway Handbook doesn't mention that imperfection is permissible. It doesn't elaborate on how tired you will be. It doesn't tell you to be careful of what you say to friends in a restaurant while other nosey folks are listening to your conversations so that they end up quoting you online.  It doesn't tell you how helpful the dressers, hairstylists and backstage doorman will be.  It doesn't tell you that real 'stars' will show up at your shows and that Mr. Sondheim will just casually make an appearance from time to time.

And it doesn't come close to intimating how much fun it will be to share all this with your friends and family, and how you will be able to sift out the real friends from the ones who come out of the woodwork looking for free tickets.  Those are only for you all, my favorite people in the world and the ones to whom I will dedicate my new and revised edition of the Broadway Handbook.      

Kristin's column sponsored by:  www.gardengate.unfranchise.com   "Visit us for cutting edge products in health care, nutrician, weight management, makeup, skin care, website solutions and much more!"  THE ONE STOP SHOPPING EXPERIENCE! For more information also visit KristinHuffman.net 

Photos by Fred Rose: Kristin and Keith; Elizabeth Stanley; John Doyle and Barbara Walsh