Alyssa Milano Talks Theatre Roots, With ANNIE & Gielgud

Legendary comedian Joan Rivers hosts internet interview series IN BED WITH JOAN and this week's guest, MISTRESSES star Alyssa Milano discussed her theatre roots - including an audition for ANNIE at the age of seven and receiving advice from a theatrical icon, Sir John Gielgud.

Milano recounts how she became involved in the world of theatre, "My mom was a fashion designer at the time - she used to have these fashion shows that had dancers in them instead of models, because it was sort of active evening wear. And, one of the dancers was my babysitter - she had an Equity card; she used to audition for theatre all the time."

Milano continues of how she ended up in ANNIE, "She babysit for me one Saturday - on a Saturday that she really wanted to go on an open ANNIE audition for herself for one of the ensemble people."

Then, Milano sets the scene: "We got there - and, I was actually seven when I auditioned - and there were kids onstage and they were singing and dancing, and I love to sing and dance, and, she said, 'Do you want to audition?' I had no idea what that meant, but I wanted to go up onstage and sing and dance."

As for the stiff competition at the audition, Milano says, "There were fifteen hundred kids and four were picked."

"The only time that it got really sketchy for me was, we were rehearsing and there was one step that I could not get," Milano remembers of her only hiccup on the way to the Broadway stage.

Milano adds, "I got it after I cried - it sort of relieved any anxiousness I had about it," she says of ultimately mastering the dance move before she ultimately went on as one of the orphans.

Additionally, Milano shares a story of working with thespian John Gielgud and advice he offered her on the set of THE CANTERVILLE GHOST.

"He was eighty when we shot that movie and he had these huge monologues that he would remember and I asked him how he would remember his lines - I was maybe twelve - and he said, 'I simply write them down.' And, that was such a cool tool because not only does it help you to remember but it helps you make the dialogue more your own," Milano shares of Gielgud's sage wisdom passed on to her.

Alyssa Milano certainly has a career all her own - ANNIE to WHO'S THE BOSS? to MISTRESSES and beyond!

View Alyssa Milano's episode of IN BED WITH JOAN below.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia