Interview: Pamela Shaw Talks Working With Jason Alexander, Bringing LUCKY STIFF to the Screen, and More
By: Sally Henry Aug. 04, 2015
Not many actors get to revisit a role they played in the past, much less reprise it on the big screen, but Pamela Shaw is the exception.
Performing opposite Jason Alexander (FISH IN THE DARK), Shaw plays the unpredictable, hilarious, and maybe a little crazy Rita LaPorta in the film adaptation of Ahrens and Flaherty's LUCKY STIFF. She portrayed the role on stage in Australia in the past and loved getting back into Rita's shoes (often flashy stilettos). We recently chatted with her about what it was like to work with Jason Alexander, Nikki M. James, and more familiar Broadway names, as well as the challenges that surrounded transitioning the role from stage to screen.
Check it out below!
From the trailer, LUCKY STIFF looks so fun! What can you tell me about it?
I think it's just what we all need right now. I mean, it's so silly, but it's bright! That's what I really like about Lynn Ahrens' [lyrics], and of course Stephen Flaherty's writing, but Lynn Ahrens is so literate. And yet this whole thing is so silly, and it's like a big giant cream puff. But a literate cream puff. It's not really a guilty pleasure, or like your eyes start to glaze over, because it's very clever. And it's a lot of fun, plus it's a no-brainer. I think we all need that, don't you?
It's always nice to be able to go and get some entertainment that's just fun, and you don't have to think too hard.
Exactly. It's got good music, and some laughs, hopefully. So I'm really excited. I've done the play before. I lived in Australia for about five years, and that's where I did LUCKY STIFF, and that's where I first knew about it. So that's one of the things I did over there, so that's how I first heard of it. So I loved Rita, loved the character, so when this came up, it was great!
Can you tell me about your character Rita?
Yeah!! With pleasure. Rita's a loose cannon, to say the very least. She lacks a lot of control in her life. She's dramatic, she's hysterical, meaning like a hysteric. She's totally informed by the fact that she's completely myopic. And if the truth be known, it might be one of the reasons why I really related to doing it, because I've been myopic since I was seven. But she is too vain to wear her glasses. She has a complete vanity issue going on, and she's completely blind. She also completely misunderstands, misjudges and takes things personally when she shouldn't and reacts to things way before she thinks them through. And she has a brother. She's always resented him because he's a goody goody. He got a real job and she's just a show girl, so she's not about that. She's about glamor and fun. And LOVE, PASSION. You know, Jason Alexander plays my brother in it. So that was a lot of fun. He's just appalled by everything that [Rita does], including that I smoke a lot- just everything! As Lynn Ahrens wrote in the character breakdown, which she so brilliantly had for the stage play, [Rita] smokes continually, and he's allergic to smoke. She's so fun, and she loves to dress extremely and loves her cleavage. And her hair. You know, what did they used to say, those hairdressers? Big hair is closest to God? Well that's what Rita believes.
She sounds like such a fun character to play!
It was. It really was. And it's interesting to do it in theatre, I did it in two productions [in Australia], and to then bring it into a frame for a film- that, I've never done. It was particularly interesting because she's so huge, and she can't be that huge on a film, because she's gotta be contained on a camera- something which she resented. She wouldn't like to be contained. But in fact, she had to be. And Chris Ashley, the director, was really instrumental on "How do we figure this one out? How do we keep her mojo and keep her in frame?"
So how did it end up being different, playing her on stage and then playing her in the movie?
I'd say mainly, I had to adjust some of the choices I made, not to speak "actorish," but to speak "actorish." On stage, I played her extremely large physically, and I had to give that illusion in film while toning it down. So I worked with someone physically on that, someone who works with actors in the Alexander technique, and we really, really worked on some physical stuff.
I've heard your characters compared to Lily and Rooster from ANNIE. Do you think that's a good comparison?
How interesting! When I see it again, I'm going to have to look for that. How great! He's just fabulous. Everybody knows how savvy he is in terms of comedy and everything, but he's a director as well, so he knows everything about the camera and he knows everything about film. He really knows a lot about the business, and he's fun to be with and bright and warm and cute. We had a lot of fun, we played around a lot with the brother/sister relationship. We just went at it! Some of it made it into the film, some of it got cut, but we just kind of improvised and had some fun. He was great. You know, my lover in the film was Dennis Farina and he died almost a year ago, but that was interesting because he played tough guys usually, and he didn't play anything in a musical. So he was very shy and very scared, which was cute. At one time I said, "You must have done this before," and he said, "No, no I haven't." He always played the cops and did the shoot-em-ups. So that was fun. The only thing that was the hugest disappointment, was when I read the script, I said, "Oh great! Monte Carlo, we're going!" Well, LA is what it was.
You also got to work with Nikki M. James, right?
I love Nikki James. I love her. She's just a hoot and a fabulous person, as well as a great talent. She's in a great, great play, PRELUDE. It's really interesting, and she's wonderful in it. But when isn't she? Love her, love her, love her. And Dominic Marsh, who plays the young Brit, who's over in England now. But he's adorable too! Everybody was great.
Most people think of Jason Alexander as George from SEINFELD, but naturally we in the Broadway community claim him because he's a Tony Award-winner.
That's where he started! Honestly, that was the start. He came to TV a lot later. He's definitely a Broadway baby. And you know, Cheyenne Jackson is in it. He's a hoot- a gorgeous hoot! Jayne Houdyshell is amazing. It's so funny that Jayne and Jason are now working together! Isn't it cute? Because they're now in FISH IN THE DARK together. And to have Chris Ashley direct! I just love Lynn and Steve. I so admire their work. And this was their first musical that they ever wrote together. So that was great. And I'm so glad that the Broadway community is getting behind this.
And of course, Kate Shindle is an even bigger deal now because she's the Actor's Equity president.
Oh I didn't even mention Kate, whom I adore! And who is just, I mean, now I probably won't be able to speak to her. I'm so intimidated that she's my president! I've never known my president before. Even the actors in LA who were hired locally, most of them are from the Broadway community. And they just happened to be out there trying to make a decent living, which you can more easily do there, actually. But I mean, their tongues were hanging out of their mouths to be able to do a film like this with all the Broadway people. You can imagine, right?
What was your favorite part of the entire process?
Oh wow. It really is hard to nail down... Well, the challenge of doing a part like this in a film, as opposed to every night in the theatre, is doing it so that the line-through is the same, but of course the filming was separated by days, and it's not done consecutively, and so that was a huge challenge. So, well sometimes challenges aren't my favorite things, but when I look back on it, that was a huge wonderful thing that I learned how to do. So I guess I'm grateful for it now, although there were days when I said, "Why can't I do the next scene?!" My system was like, "This is not how it's supposed to be!" But I think it was a real gift. I really do.
Watch Pamela Shaw in action in the LUCKY STIFF trailer!
Click here to watch BroadwayWorld's chat with Christopher Ashley, Nikki M. James, and Pamela Shaw!
With a screenplay by Ahrens, and directed by Christopher Ashley, the new movie version of the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical LUCKY STIFF is now in theaters and On Demand. This hysterical musical comedy with a romantic heart stars Tony Award-winners Jason Alexander (JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY, FISH IN THE DARK) and Nikki M. James (THE BOOK OF MORMON, PRELUDES), along with newly elected Equity president Kate Shindle (LEGALLY BLONDE, WONDERLAND), Dennis Farina, Pamela Shaw, and Dominic Marsh.
In LUCKY STIFF, a young down-and-out British shoe salesman named Harry Witherspoon (Dominic Marsh) takes his dead American uncle (Don Amendolia) (a murdered casino manager) to Monte Carlo for the best time of his life - a week of fun, dancing, gambling and sun. If the young man fulfills his uncle's request to the letter, he will inherit the $6 million left to him. If he doesn't, the money will go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn.
As Harry races from casino to nightclub to beach to bedroom with his dead uncle, he is chased by a desperate put-upon optometrist (Jason Alexander), his controlling, myopic, trigger-happy sister (Pamela Shaw), an avaricious French chanteuse (Kate Shindle), a mysterious Italian playboy (Dennis Farina), as well as a young woman from Brooklyn (Nikki M. James) dead set on getting that money for the dogs. Guns go off, disguises go on, champagne corks pop, nightmares come to life, romance blossoms, dogs bark, and everyone sings! It's a zany, frothy, colorful and fast-paced musical farce with a very happy ending.
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