Blythe Danner Talks Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Trinity Rep and More!

Tony and Emmy-awarding winning actress Blythe Danner is known for many things.  Perhaps you know her from her role as Robert DeNiro's wife in the Meet The Parents trilogy.  You may also know her from her back-to-back Emmy-award winning role as Izzy Huffstodt in Showtime's Huff. Broadway fans know that she first appeared on the Great White Way in 1969, winning the "Best Supporting Actress in a Play" Tony for her role in Butterflies Are Free.  Her last appearance on Broadway was in the 2001 revival of Follies.

You may not know that Blythe Danner loves, and sings, jazz.  Over Labor Day weekend, she will appear on stage at Seiji Ozawa Hall, during the 2011 Tanglewood Jazz Festival for a taping of Judy Carmichael's NPR show "Jazz Inspired".

Ms. Danner recently spoke with Broadwayworld.com

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RAndy Rice:  Thank you for talking with me and doing this interview with Broadwayworld.com.  I live in Providence, RI and know that very early in your career you acted at Trinity Rep during the 1966-1967 season. 

Blythe Danner: Well, I love Providence.  I was just there a few years ago at the film festival with Side By Each, which Richard Allen made.

RR: What are you strongest memories of your time at Trinity?

BD: I was originally at the now-defunct Theater Company of Boston.  [Artistic Director] David Wheeler had a wonderful group of actors there who were also at the beginning of their career: Bob Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, and Jon Voight.  He was terrific to us.  My second season [of acting] I went to Trinity Square to perform.  One of the things I remember most is that Trinity had just started bringing in High School students to the theater.  Do they still do that?

RR:  They do.  I think that last season they passed one million students attending a matinee performance through their Project Discovery program.

BD:  My goodness. Good for them.  That is impressive. How wonderful that Trinity has been able to keep that program going. I remember the students being bused in every morning.  As an actor, I was used to being up late, so it was pretty difficult to be on stage in the morning.  

One of the funniest things I remember was when I was playing Irina in Three Sisters and I had to say "Today is my 17^th birthday" and the students snickered.  In actuality I was all of 22, but they weren't going to let me get away with that. (Laughs)

Oh, and I remember when we were playing Midsummer's Night Dream and I had to fall asleep in the forest. (Laughs harder) When I 'woke', I had M&Ms stuck all over me, because the student had thrown them on the stage.  The students were feisty.  I remember it being fun and them keeping all of us on our toes.  I remember it vividly, forty or more years later. I'll bet the students have calmed down a bit; we, [the actors], were there at [the program's] inception. 

I love the fact that Trinity [still welcomes students into the theater].  I wish that more theaters did.  An awful lot of good comes from it.  With arts programs being cut back so, I am surprised that they have been able to keep [the program] going.

RR:  Just a couple of years after you were on the Trinity stage you were on Broadway with Butterflies Are Free, where you won your Tony.  I know that you worked a lot in between; but looking at it now I am wondering if it seemed as quick to you, as reading your bio makes it seems.

BD:  Oh, yes.  It was extraordinary to me.  I never thought I would go so swiftly.  I graduated college in 1965; the Broadway show started in 1969.  Certainly my work in both repertories was tremendous experience.  I wish there were more repertories.  I am so happy that Trinity is so much alive, as so many repertories have dwindled over the years.

RR:  You have spent many summers in in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and I know you are coming to sing at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival over Labor Day Weekend.  Before we talk about Tanglewood, can you tell me what kept you coming back to the Williamstown Theater Festival?

BD:  Well, that is really where I gained most of my [acting] experience; in the classics.  I'll be forever indebted to [Williamstown Theater Festival Artistic Director] Nikos Psacharopoulos, who we sadly lost many years ago.  Nikos really gave me such challenging roles; Nina in The Seagull, Masha in Three Sisters, Blanche in Streetcar.  I just don't think I would have ever gained as much experience if I hadn't been at Williamstown.  I was there, not consecutively, but altogether, I think, 20 years.

The Berkshires was a great haven to bring the children (Gwyneth and Jake Paltrow).  We were living in Los Angeles where my husband (Bruce Paltrow) was busy doing St. Elsewhere and The White Shadow and other projects.  Going to Williamstown was a great way to get to the East Coast and the Berkshires is a heavenly place to be.  When the children were really little we would pack a picnic and sit on the lawn at Tanglewood and listen to the Symphony.  It was just wonderful.

RR:  So, it is bit full-circle, as you will be performing, singing jazz at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival.  Can you tell me about your singing career; where it started and where it has taken you?

BD:  I wouldn't say [my singing] is a career.  I would say that it is a fun dalliance.  I am very much looking forward to appearing at Tanglewood and just a little bit terrified.  Judy Carmichael, who is a great stride pianist, is a friend.  A few years ago, I was on her NPR show 'Jazz Inspired".  We spoke about some of my jazz experience and the jazz musicians I have known, long ago.  Judy asked me to [be on stage with her at Tanglewood] and with some trepidation I said "Yes".  Judy said that I could just warble a little.  So that is what I am going to do; just warble a little. 

I am not a great jazz singer, but I have always been in love with it.  Jazz has influenced my acting, because they share improvisation.  One can bring that improvisation to any art.  [With acting], especially if you are doing a long run of a play you can bring something fresh to it every night.  The same is true with jazz. 

RR:  While you may consider singing a "dalliance", Tanglewood is not nearly the first time you have sung professionally.

BD:  I have been in a few musicals.  I was in Follies on Broadway ten years ago.

RR:  In Follies, you played Phyllis and got to sing Stephen Sondheim's brilliant song 'Could I Leave You?".  I have heard it sung with real rage, and sometimes with sweet deception.  How did you interpret and convey the song?

BD: I hope that it was somewhere in between.  I did give it a bit of a sugar-coating.  The version that I like the best is Donna Murphy's which I saw on television.  Her version was scathing but also wonderfully three-dimensional; she brought great color to it.  As with any great piece of art, which I think that Stephen Sondheim turns out over and over again, like Shakespeare, one can interpret it very, very, differently.  It is the brave interpretations that are the most successful.  I don't know how brave [my interpretation] was, but I certainly enjoyed it.

RR:  Previously, you appeared in the musical 1776.

BD: Oh my gosh - years ago. I did the film; I didn't do it on stage.

RR:  I recently heard the recording of you, as Martha Washington, singing "He Plays the Violin".  It sounds very "legitimate" for someone who does not consider themselves a singer.

BD: I was just finishing up my year run of Butterflies Are Free and was having a lot of voice trouble.  I remember sort of struggling with [singing in that role].  I didn't really sing for a very long time after that.  When I got to Williamstown, I would be in the cabarets and that was a really joyful experience.  You aren't under great scrutiny at the cabaret; people just like to see actors let their hair down after screaming and carrying on in a Tennessee Williams play.  We used to do it almost every night.

RR:  Judy Carmichael, who you will be appearing with at Tanglewood, has said in a recent interview that you have a couple of songs that, over the years, you have been comfortable singing because you sing them for yourself, for the simple joy of singing.

BD:  I do.  I am still playing with what I am going to sing at Tanglewood.  I am not trying to tantalize anyone, but I am not yet sure what I am going to be singing. I'll be prepared, but there will be a bit of a little bit of flying by the seat of my pants. But that's jazz, isn't it?

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Blythe Danner will appear at Tanglewood Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 3, 2011 for a taping of Judy Carmichael's NPR show. "Jazz Inspired", which will air at a later date.

Tanglewood Jazz Festival tickets range from $18-77 and all-day jazz lawn passes for Saturday or Sunday are $34 each. Tickets are available through Tanglewood's website, www.tanglewood.org, by calling SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Tanglewood Box Office at 297 West Street in Lenox, MA.

Same day tickets are available at Ozawa Hall Box Office on the Tanglewood Grounds. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or www.bso.org.