BWW Interviews: Erin Baltsar Chats about GIRLS NIGHT and Bonding with the Audience

Girls Night: The Musical is the story of a friendship between five women and the bonds that have kept them together. For Girls Night's Erin Baltsar, one of the most rewarding experiences has been the opportunity to bond with the audience after a performance.

Baltsar recently chatted with DC BroadwayWorld about how she got involved with Girls Night, the audience reaction to the show and how a back flipping orphan in a community theatre production of Oliver inspired her to be an actress. The musical will play Washington's Warner Theatre for one performance only this Friday, October 17th.

Benjamin Tomchik (BT): Can you please tell us about Girls Night?

Erin Baltsar (EB): Basically - it's a show where you'll have a good time. It's really targeted to women, moms, daughters, granddaughters, bachelorette parties! The story is five women are out at a bar singing and what holds them together is the relationship between them. One of them is an angel who passed away 22 years before the story takes place. There's a relationship between the angel and one of the other women. We also have two sisters and so there's a sister dynamic. It's all about the relationships between these women.

That being said, it doesn't mean that men won't enjoy it. My dad has seen Girls Night five times and thinks it's so funny. We invite the audience to our table at the bar. We encourage them to sing and dance along. It's all about audience participation and getting them involved.

BT: How did you get involved in this production?

EB: I actually auditioned for the show two years ago when they were doing an off-Broadway run. I joined the show with 14 other girls and we learned the show together. What's interesting is that because it's a cast of five, we did three separate casts of five a week for the off-Broadway run. The casts are never the same. If someone isn't available then they'll ask to see if someone else can go on for them. Every time we go out, it's different because there are three separate roles that I could play. So it's always different, but that's live theatre.

BT: Is it hard to keep track of performing three separate roles? Most people look at actors and think one role is tough, but three?

EB: The switching of roles is much less difficult than it actually seems. If I was asked to go on, I could do it. The hardest part is the harmonies. We sing a five-part harmony in the show. If we switch roles then I need to prepare for the harmonies for that role. That really is the hardest part.

When it comes to dialogue, there's a rhythm in the show that's engrained in me and the other girls. If someone drops a line, someone else will pick it up and role with it. All five girls are so different. It's interesting to see what makes them friends and why they have these friendships with each other.

BT: What has the audience reaction been to the show?

EB: We do meet and greets after the show and have had some really amazing moments. We've had women come up and say, "I just won the battle against breast cancer and needed a night out, thank you." Another will say, "I just went through a divorce, it's been really hard and this is the perfect ending to that period."

The stories these women tell us have been so awesome to hear and that makes this job so rewarding. Having this job, knowing that we get to change their thoughts and take them away from the hard times they maybe having is super cool.

BT: Growing up, what made you want to become an actress? Did theatre play a big part in your life when you were younger?

EB: When I was nine years old my mother took me to see a community theatre production of Oliver. I saw all these orphans onstage and there was this one gymnast in the show. She'd do flips off tables and around the stage. I turned to my mom and said, "I want to do that." I was a shy girl, so this was surprising to her.

My mother then researched where she could put me into classes and I started doing voice lessons. She enrolled me in this summer theatre program where I grew up and they had after school lessons for voice, dance, acting. I just did everything and took lessons until I started preparing for college auditions.

Like most families, they were like, "We don't know about this, are you sure?" It's an unstable profession, but I didn't want to do anything else and they were really supportive.

BT: You've had the opportunity to perform in regional productions of several classic musicals. Do you have a favorite role or is there a role you really want to play?

EB: Oh I'd love to play Amneris in Aida! I am a big Sherie Rene Scott fan.

One of the coolest things about her is that you hear Sherie talk and then you hear her sing, and she always sounds like the same person, which is one of the reasons I love her. As opposed to some other performers who I think sometimes sound as if their talking and singing voices are coming from different people. I think that she is through and through awesome. She always gives a constant performance. And she kind of looks like me which is very helpful (laughing).

Nellie Forbush in South Pacific is another role. There aren't many Rodgers & Hammerstein shows that I love because I'm a more contemporary musical theatre person. It fits my voice better. I lean towards that music. But what I love about Nellie is that she isn't an ingénue, she's in-between that and a leading lady. And that would be a fun role to play!

BT: After Girls Night, do you have any upcoming projects?

EB: Girls Night has been ongoing and I've been doing it for two years. Entertainment Events has been amazing to work with. Because there are so many girls, that when we get other work, they're very supportive. I am about to go do a production of Les Mis at Different Stages in Huntington, Indiana. That's exciting because it's a show I've always wanted to be a part of since eighth grade. And then hopefully, I'll be going back into Girls Night.

Photo: Erin Baltsar Credit: Entertainment Events

Girls Night: The Musical will perform on Friday October 17th at the Warner Theatre, 513 13th St, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets, please click here, call (800) 551-7328 or visit the Warner Theatre box office.

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