Interview: Krystina Alabado of SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD (NCT)

Krystina Alabado is playing Woman 1 in North Carolina Theatre's SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. This sung-through show by Jason Robert Brown explores themes of new beginnings and evolutions. Alabado was last seen onstage in Broadway's MEAN GIRLS, playing Gretchen Wieners. She also previously appeared on Broadway in AMERICAN PSYCHO and Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT.

How did you first become interested in theatre?

I've been doing it forever. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and my dad was a musician on the side. I started singing at a realy young age, probably around eight or nine years old. When I got into school, I learned about what musical theatre is and ever since that moment of realizing what being onstage and being a musical could be, I just never stopped.

So you attended Arizona State University for a little while?

I was there just for a quick year. In the middle of my second semester of my freshman year, I ended up getting the national tour of Spring Awakening. So I left school and I toured with that production for two years until it closed and then I moved to New York. About three months after I got to New York, I got my Brodway debut in the Green Day musical, American Idiot. I ended up not going back to school because I was working, which was awesome.

What was it like making your Broadway debut at such a young age?

I think I had just turned 21 or so. It was so special. I had booked that big tour when I was 18 so I'd gone through two years of learning by doing. Obviously, I was young and didn't really know what I was doing. But I was learning by being on the road, so by the time I got to my Broadway debut, I had learned what it's like to do eight shows a week, to do a long-running show. But the excitement of it being a Broadway show, I'll never forget the feeling that was for me at that young age. It's still one of my favorite memories.

Can you tell me a little about Pop Rock Broadway?

In coming through this business, I feel like I've learned a lot because I've been doing this for twelve, thirteen years. My friend and I started this small company because we want to give access to the information that we've learned to young actors who want to do this. With Pop Rock Broadway, it was thought of specifically because a lot of shows now are sort of in the pop rock contemporary world and more than ever, you're asked to sing a song that's not from a musical for an audition for a musical and a lot of people have a hard time with that. The idea came from wanting people to feel more comfortable singing a Demi Lovato song for an audition and not feeling like they have egg on their face. That's something I teach in Pop Rock Broadway and on my own, helping actors feel comfortable singing radio songs because it is definitely asked for. Anyone who thinks they won't run into it, will.

Can you tell me a bit about your YouTube channel?

I have a friend who's a YouTuber and Viner, Marcus Johns, and I was doing some workshop stuff with him in a musical that he was writing. He asked, "Why does no one on Broadway have a YouTube channel?" There was something about him asking that question that stuck with me.

I'm a busy kind of person so when the pandemic started, I thought, I can't sit still. I had all this equipment because of self taping auditions, so I said, I'm going to start a YouTube channel and start talking about Broadway. I thought, maybe people will watch it or they won't. It didn't really matter to me. What mattered to me was creating something and that was the thing I wanted to create.

I go in depth about what it's like to join a Broadway show and go through tech, opening, costume fittings, spacing - things that anybody looking to do theatre would be interested in because it's detailed about the process. And then for theatre-goers, it's sort of a behind the scenes look at what it's like to put up a Broadway show. It's been so fun and I'm going to continue doing it.

I love that you're helping make these things that can seem very mysterious more accessible.

Totally. And I know every experience is different so I don't mean to ever say I know everything. But I love saying what I know to anybody who wants to hear it. Anything to help because this business is really challenging and can be really taxing. It's stuff that I would have wanted to see as a young person trying to pursue this.

Now let's talk about Songs for a New World. Can you tell us what it's about?

Songs for a New World is almost like a song cycle, written by Jason Robert Brown who is a brilliant musical theatre composer. There's four actors on stage and it follows all of their journeys. The show has more of an overachieving theme. You can follow some storylines, but some are just standalone songs and experiences all under this umbrella of the idea of a new world.

You watch these four people go through different journeys, whether it be immigrating or falling in love. It's really interesting to watch all of these different stories that tie into this theme of a new world, a new awakening, a new idea.

It's the perfect first show back for NC Theatre and for me as an actor because it's all about what's next. Sometimes that can be uncomfortable and sometimes that can be really exhilarating. It's been really cool to work on a show with those themes, especially now coming out of Covid and seeing what's next for all of us as theatre performers and as a country.

What's it feel like to finally be back in a rehearsal room?

It's everything I ever could have wanted it to be. It's crazy that all of us theatre actors had to take so much time off. I've never taken that much time off before. I missed the creative process and working with my fellow actors and colleagues and really building something like this. It's been so incredible to be back in a room with these incredible Broadway professionals that we have here. Raleigh doesn't even know how good they have it with Eric Wooddall over there at NC Theatre and everyone there. It's been really cool to collaborate with people from New York and from here in Raleigh.

How are you feeling about being able to perform again after everything being shut down for the past year and a half?

I feel so grateful. I was doing Mean Girls on Broadway when the shutdown happened, playing Gretchen Wieners. Unfortunately, the show did not make it through the pandemic and we ended up having to close. My heart is heavy with that because that show was so special to me. But it's wonderful just to be onstage again, even though it's not with the show I was with. I will never stop loving the stage and Broadway and musicals. I feel so excited and grateful and a little nervous, all the things that go with coming back into where I feel most at home after a long time away.

Were you familiar with Songs for a New World before being cast? Had you ever seen it performed?

I'd never seen the show performed, but I've heard so much of the music over the years. If you love musicals, some of these songs are standalone songs that people know and love. One of the songs I sing called "I'm Not Afraid of Anything," I grew up hearing. It's such a powerful song. There's a song called "Stars and the Moon" which is super well known. Adam Jacobs and I have a great duet called "I'd Give It All for You." These standalone numbers are such a part of the landscape of musical theatre and some people don't even realize they come from this show that Jason Robert Brown wrote.

I'd heard so much of the music, but I had never done it. It's a four person cast: me and Adam [Jacobs] and Christine [Sherrill] and Kyle [Taylor Parker]. It's hard because it's sung through completely. It's a lot of music and we're each on our own harmonies. It's really cool to come back to a score like this, which definitely takes a lot of stamina. We're back and we're back full throttle!

I imagine this is a very different show from Mean Girls.

It's definitely different. Being in a big commercial musical comedy was so fun and different. One of the things I loved about Gretchen is that, while she is a comedic role, her song, "What's Wrong with Me," is a moment of groundedness and reflection for her in a show that can be chaotic.

What I love about this show is that it really is covering a lot of themes that for me personally, as an actor and a person, are things I'm thinking about right now. Especially with coming back into this kind of new world as we know it.

It's a total shift from Mean Girls, because with that, I was making people laugh every night. But with this one, we're leaving the audience with things to think about and ponder and maybe go on their own journey of where they're going to next, which I love. I love all of it but this one is really interesting to do right now with how I feel about the entertainment business and Broadway and the world.

Can you tell me about the role that you're playing?

Like I said, it's a four person cast. I play Woman 1 and I start with this line, "A new world calls across the ocean." I start this theme of a new world, things we don't know. Are we scared? Are we going to fly? Are we going to fall? We're asking these big questions.

Throughout the show, a lot of my songs have to do with relationships and going through the ups and downs of growing with somebody and then growing apart from somebody and what that means, and then possibly finding your way back to that person.

My track sort of gives you a full circle picture of what it's like to be in a relationship and question who you are in and out of it and then who you want to be upon coming back to it. Between that, I'm in all the group numbers with everybody and we're asking a lot of questions about different things.

At least in my head, I've tried to connect my solo numbers and my duet with Adam, so you can see this young woman and her journey to finding maturity and her individuality as a person and then who she wants to be in a partnership.

Do you have a favorite number in the show?

I love the music so much, I feel like my favorite number changes every day. The singing in this is so spectacular. My other three cast mates' voices are so exhilarating and exciting and passionate. Everyone's voice is super unique.

I change my mind on what is my favorite song every day, but I'm really partial to a song Kyle sings called "King of Anything." It's just a brilliant song. I love the opening, asking the audience this question of "Are you going to take the next step? Are you going to be afraid? What is this emotion?"

And I do love my solo, "I'm Not Afraid of Anything." I think the character takes a really interesting journey. At first it sounds like a very empowering song and then you break it apart and there's a lot going on in there.

How are rehearsals going?

They're so great. I love being here in Raleigh. Every single person who works at this theatre is incredible and so collaborative. Every single person is so excited to be back and putting something up onstage from the creators to us actors to the wardrobe department to the marketing people.

It has been such a positive environment and so gracious and kind. It feels incredibly rejuvenating. My cast mates are some of the most spectacular performers and I feel so honored to be onstage with them. Now we're in tech and it's cool to see the show now on stage. I just came back from being on the stage for the first time. I toured through this house once with American Idiot, so it's cool to be back.

What's your favorite thing you've done thus far while here in Raleigh?

This process has been rehearsal, go home and learn music, then more rehearsal. So we haven't had too much time but on our day off, a couple of us went over to the North Carolina Museum of Art which is so great. We walked around all the outside stuff and the museum. It's such a great museum.

I've been exploring downtown near the theater and trying all the restaurants around here. I wish I had a little more free time to really explore, but we'll have more time next week when we're in performances to go exploring during the day because we won't be in rehearsals.

Why should people come out and see Songs for a New World?

Now that we're in a place where we can safely have our live stage productions, to me there is not a better show to start with for your first show back. Or if you've never seen a musical, to try something new. There's something about this show that is so relevant to what's happening right now. There's something so poignant about the show we're doing on many different levels for all types of people and all types of things we've been going through this last year and a half.

I believe it's going to be a spectacular night. If you want to hear good singing, you need to come to this show. It's so exciting for me every time I listen to a cast mate sing or sing with them in a group, I'm like "Oh my god this is the best thing I've ever heard." I'm so excited for audiences to see it and I hope everyone will come out.

Any advice for young aspiring actors?

I work with a lot of young actors and do a lot of career coaching. I talk to them about starting in this business and what it means to be a professional actor and fighting for certain things. The biggest advice I give to young people who are trying this or want to be artists in any way is, it sounds very basic, but just really understanding and knowing that you are enough and your uniqueness is what makes you special and castable.

A lot of the time in show business, we try to change ourselves to be what they want, but I have found that doing the opposite and not trying to conform is what gets you cast. Because then you're being yourself and you're grounded and vulnerable and open. Just really know yourself and love yourself.

You can follow Krystina Alabado on Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to catch SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD while it's at North Carolina Theatre from July 27 to August 1. You can find more information about the show here.

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