Interview: Kim Maresca Talks RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL

Kim Maresca is currently playing Judy Denmark in Ruthless! the Musical, a role she played Off-Broadway in the show's most recent run. She also recently did her fifth one-woman show at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City.

Did you grow up going to the theatre?

Oh yeah. I grew up about an hour outside New York City in Connecticut, so I was always seeing musicals and plays and ballet and art, just constantly exposed to art. My parents instilled that in us very early on.

How did you become interested in theatre as a career?

I think it was seeing shows as a young girl and just being inspired. I remember specifically seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat when they did it on Broadway in the early 1990s and there was a children's choir. I was sitting there with my mom thinking to myself, "Why aren't I one of those kids? I want to be one of those kids".

That's what started it - seeing theatre and being constantly inspired by these singers and performers. I just wanted to be them. It's a feeling that still hasn't gone away; I'm still trying to be them.

Did you study to be an actress?

I didn't go to a conservatory. I went to a liberal arts college, Skidmore, where I did study theatre. I was heavily involved in the musical theatre club, even though they didn't have a department.

A lot of my training actually came out of college when I got to New York and I got involved with some great organisations like Max Theatrics, where I met amazing coaches who put me in touch with amazing voice teachers. You get the best of the best, I think, when it comes to training when you actually get in the city, especially for someone like me who didn't go to a conservatory.

What was your first role?

During college, my first professional production was The Taming of the Shrew, which was really fun. That was an amazing first taste of professional theatre and one of the best summers of my life. That was my first professional production, but my first time on stage was probably summer camp when I was about 12 years old. We did The Music Man and I was a little townsperson.

How would you describe Ruthless! the Musical?

Totally bonkers, totally camp, totally fun, totally musical theatre. If you're a musical theatre person, it's just peppered with these fantastic inside references. That alone is enough to make a musical theatre person love it.

It's not over-the-top crazy camp, it's really intelligent camp, and the music is wonderful and peppy and the audience is on their feet clapping along with us literally every night. It's just a really fun night out. That's all we're trying to do here. We just want to make our audience laugh and have some fun and check out from their daily lives, and I think we're doing it.

Tell us a bit more about your character, Judy Denmark

I play Judy Denmkark, Tina Denmark's mom, and in the beginning of the show, my life is all about being a great mom and a great wife and just loving domesticity and suburbia and making a home.

I'm perfectly satisfied doing that, and supporting my eight-year-old daughter who wants - more than anything in the world - to be a star.

Over the course of the show, Tina goes really far to get what she wants, and it sets into effect this domino of events that lead to me making my own evolution in what I want out of life. And that's where I'll leave it, without giving away too much!

How would you describe the humour in the show?

It's definitely camp. It has that highly stylised camp feel. But the humour is not us running around on stage making fools of ourselves; we're delivering smartly written, clever jokes. While it is camp, it's also very grounded and intelligent. I think that's a lot of the reason why the British audiences are loving it. They really get it, maybe more so than some of our American audiences, I would say.

How do you feel British audiences differ from American ones?

I think they're laughing more. Which is kind of surprising! There's certain lines that never totally landed in New York that are landing here. I feel like they're getting every little thing we're throwing at them and it's exciting to hear.

How does it feel to be stepping back into the role a second time?

It's been really, really, really exciting. I have to tell you, I was a little bit nervous coming into it because I'm definitely the outsider: the only American, I'd done it before and was coming in with a notion of it already.

But also stepping into this amazing cast with double-Olivier-Award-winning Tracie Bennet, Harriet Thorpe, who is so hilarious, Lara Denning, who has the most amazing West End resume, and Jason Gardiner, who is a legit famous stud and who has also mastered so many mediums.

I was a little intimidated coming into the process, but they have been so unbelievably welcoming and nurturing and encouraging, and I'm just having such a wonderful time with them. All those fears I had at the beginning have completely stepped away, which enabled me to sink into a deeper level of the character. Those insecurities aside, it's been an absolute thrill to spend more time with Judy Denmark.

What's it like working with an almost entirely female cast?

It doesn't feel very different from anything else. We all get along really well. All the women share a dressing room, except for the Tina Denmarks, so we're constantly laughing backstage and talking about our days and what's going on in the world. There's a lot of bonding going on too. And Jason's just one of the girls.

Are there any experiences of your own that you've drawn on for the character?

Maybe not necessarily people in my own life, because Judy is very much sort of a caricature of an archetype of a specific type of woman from a certain time.

I watched a lot of the old movies: Gypsy, The Women, The Bad Seed, All About Eve. I watched a lot of The Donna Reed Show. I get compared to Laura Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show a lot. That 1950s housewife thing is kind of what I was pulling from for Judy.

There's not too many women in my real life that I can draw from. Most of the dames in my life are a little bit more backboned than Mrs Denmark.

How does the show work as a commentary on the industry?

I would say, it's a loving comment on the industry. Joel and Marvin have built their lives on the industry, so they love the industry. We're performers, so we love the industry too.

It's more a commentary on ambition and narcissism in general, and sort of a parent-child dynamic that can exist and what can cause that, and what it can in turn cause in the family. I would say it's more a comment on that than the industry. The industry is almost the vehicle in this piece for Tina Denmark's diabolical ambition.

Why do you think people should come and see it?

Because there's so much crazy stuff going on in the world. Come hang out with us and just laugh for two hours. It's an easy show to sit through. We're telling you a fun story and you're going to see some amazing talent. You're going to see little girls tapping and belting their faces off, and I don't think there's a lot of that anywhere right now and it will blow you away. The whole cast will blow you away.

Do you have any plans after the show closing that you can tell us about?

I'm going to try to stay in London for at least the foreseeable future. But don't tell my parents that; they won't be happy. Nothing specific yet, but I'm sort of starting to think about my next move now. I've been so busy enjoying this city and the show, but now it's time to crack down and start thinking about the future. But I would definitely love to spend some more time here before heading back to New York.

Any advice for aspiring actresses?

I would say work harder than you think you're working now. Try to stay positive and stay kind and be grateful. All those aspects of a person that make you someone that people want to work with are important too. You could be the best singer in the whole wide world, but you have to have a good heart to go along with it too.

Ruthless! the Musical is at the Arts Theatre until 23 June

Photo credit: Alastair Muir