Dee is currently starring as Donna Sheridan in the Broadway production of Mamma Mia! This talented gal is a three time Tony nominee for her work in Footloose,The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, Will Rogers Follies, as well as City of Angels, Me and My Girl. Dee has appeared extensively in film and TV productions such as St. Elsewhere, Ryan's Hope, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, Spencer For Hire and the newly released video of "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies."

 As if she is not busy enough, she is thrilled to be performing with Peter Nero and The Philly Pops in this year's "Broadway Showstoppers." "I love Philadelphia," admits Dee, and Philly loved her when she headed the tour of Mamma Mia! last year at the Forrest Theater which set a precedent with a return engagement of Mamma Mia!  about six months later. We are so happy to have Dee back once again, this time at the beautiful Kimmel Center Theater's Verizon Hall.

 Ms. Hoty, graciously agreed to a chat with me one morning at 10 am and that was after a double show in New York the day before. I felt like I was having tea with a long time friend.

 

Dee confessed that she always was a loud talker since she was a little, little kid (laughing). So she decided she would sing. She and her sister sang in the church choir. By the time she was in high school she was doing solos because of her loud clear voice and discovered plays and musicals and it was a life-changer. She grew up in Cleveland where her father took her to the only touring house in town called the Hanna. She majored in speech and theater in college and admitted not really knowing that one could make a career out of theater. She knew people did this as a career but didn't see herself as one of them, a working actor, at the time. She imagined doing theater as a weekend thing and like most people, would work during the week. Dee started auditioning for summer stock. During her junior and senior year of college, Dee started doing some things outside the school and started getting calls from people and discovered the she was "castable," if that's a word. "So this was fun and they're going to pay me for things I was doing for fun and for free in school!" This seemed to surprise her. She thought, " I'll just work until there's no more work and then I'll just get a real job," she laughed.

A combination of luck, and timing kept her from having to find a real job, as she never stopped working! This was a pleasant surprise as well for Dee.

 My father felt I should have gotten a "real" job. He ran a restaurant and we grew up waiting on tables. The cosmic joke in my family is that she never had to use those skills as an actress, though she's convinced one day she will play a waitress and put all those skills into use. (laughing)

 Having played a good bit of film and TV in addition to stage work, I wondered which she preferred. She quickly assured me that live theater is her first love. "It's immediate reaction, whether it's making people laugh or cry or be somehow moved. That's why people go to the theater and there's nothing like live theater. It's an emotional connection, not unlike going to church in a sense; it can be just as moving. Filming TV is great; let's face it, that's where the money is."

Dee confesses she would like to have done more, but living in New York for the better part of her career has allowed her to do a lot of things she really enjoys. After playing the role of Donna on tour for two years I wondered what it was like to take over the lead on Broadway. According to Dee, "Louise has played the tour and now we're just sort of playing leap frog with each other." She hopes they both keep working so they can keep getting work for each other. I remarked on the popularity of both ladies on and off stage, which Dee was grateful to hear. "Karma is like a boom-a-rang, you get back what you put out," she said in quite simplistic terms.

 She is thrilled to be on Broadway and create roles and says, "it's interesting to enter a well-oiled machine; to be able to watch the show you'll be in and make it your own, within reason. The Broadway Company is lovely and they've been extremely welcoming and that's a wonderful thing. No matter what kind of day you've having, you go into this show and you leave happy." Dee admits that she really was not a fan of ABBA, didn't dislike them, but just did own any of their albums. I asked her what the attraction is to Mamma Mia! in her eyes?

"This is definitely a no-brainer, check your brain at the door. It's not Les Miz! People go to shows for different reasons. Some want to think, others laugh, some just want to be entertained, they laugh and have a wonderful time."

 With such a fluffy, fun loving show, there has to be a lot of fun things going on offstage as well. I coaxed Dee into sharing a funny behind the scene story or two. She first tells how she's fallen down in her platform boots.

The stage can be slippery. Confetti falls during the wedding scene. So after the bows, Dee is meant to be laughed off the stage, she turns and waves to the audience, saying something like, "Philly Rocks" and just as she pivots on her upstage leg, her foot went out from under her. Trying to get up in a pair of shoes where the bottoms of your feet aren't where your brain thinks they are, well "I felt like a bug splat on the floor trying to get up." (laughing) The audience is going " oooooh.. like when something goes wrong in a circus". So, "there I am waving from under the curtain letting everyone know I'm alright."

"Another funny thing that happened to some one else, this time, is that of course with a lot of roles there are a lot of understudies. There are a couple of guys in the show that cover a couple of the dads so that they're all covered. Well, the guy covering Sam had to go on for Sam. A few days later he went on for Bill, the Australian dad. Well, the dressers who are amazing keeping up with all of this, got a little confused with which cover was playing which dad this time and at Sophie's party he was wearing the wrong costume! There we had two dads wearing the same clothes. He didn't know because he doesn't play these parts that often. So the scene just played out, the curtain went down and everybody just howled. You had to see the expressions on the dads face dressed alike. (laughing) "Oh well, it's live theater."

 I ended my wonderful, funny chat with Dee with a special request question. One of our readers, who I won't reveal the sex, wants to know which Sky looks the best in that wet suit! After minutes of deep laughter, Dee confesses, "I'd say Adam Brazier…Yep! hands down."

 Well, Dee feels very fortunate to have work come her way, sometimes in the middle of one job comes another. "Life after Mamma Mia!, I think will involve a rest period," says Dee. But it's pretty obvious that people will be looking at Dee Hoty while she's winning them over at Mamma Mia! And we sure wish her all the best in her career.

photo credit: Patrick Fraser

 

 

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