Spring (Awakening) Fever: An Interview with Lea Michele

Lately, it's been Spring (Awakening) Fever on Broadway with fans, celebrities and more coming to see the new show - not to mention that it received the best reviews of the 2006/2007 theatre season. In this first of a three part series, we check in with the second of the show's talented young stars - Lea Michele, who created the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening - 7 years ago!

Before we get into Spring Awakening, let's rewind a bit - where were you born and raised?

I was born in the Bronx, and that's still where most of my extended family lives right now. But at a young age my parents decided that it would be best for me, for my education to move to New Jersey. I went to elementary school in Tenafly, New Jersey, which is right over the George Washington Bridge.

It's got very easy access into New York City and when I started doing theatre and when I got my first Broadway show, which is when I was 8 years old, we then started renting apartments in Manhattan. So, I had my life and school and place to live in New Jersey, but we also had a place to stay when I was doing whatever show that I was doing in the city. It was a pretty good deal!

I think a lot of our readers will be jealous of that! Tell me about that first show, it was Les Miserables, correct? How'd you get involved?

That was Les Miz, which I love very, very, very, very much. I tell this story all the time, but it's a funny story and it amazes me every time I tell it.

My best friend at the time, when we were about 8 years old would take me to see musicals with her. We went to see Camelot and I think that I fell asleep, and then we went to see Cats and I was scared. Finally, we went to go see The Phantom of the Opera, and I think that was the first time that I really saw the beauty of theatre and I instantly fell in love with it.

And, just a couple of days later, they were having an open call for young Cosette in Les Miz in my town and she wanted to go audition and her father unfortunately got very ill the night before. Her mother asked if we would take her since it was such a huge dream of hers, and for whatever reason I decided that I wanted to audition as well. I had been listening to the soundtrack of Phantom non-stop and had memorized "Angel of Music". I went in and sang at the open call "Angel of Music" a cappella and I ended up booking it right then and there and that's what started it all for me.

Tell us about that open call...

I went on the open call, and this was with the casting director and they called my mother into the room and they said "there's something here, we're going to call her back" and my mother said "ok, whatever, sure." I was like "wow Mom! I can't believe this happened" and she told me not to get my hopes up, that they probably say that to a lot of people. Anyway, I went in and auditioned for Richard Jay-Alexander and he told me at that callback, before we left, that I booked it.

What was your working relationship with Richard like?

I remember Richard being there a lot (he was directing at the time), and I remember how close he was with my family. He was very close with my mother and my father and even when I left Les Miz, and went on to do Ragtime, he would always keep in touch with us, which was so sweet.

How long did you do Les Miserables for? 

I did Les Miz for a year and a half till I outgrew it, which is what happened with most young Cosettes. I think that I left Les Miz on like August 1st or something like that and took a week's vacation with my family. I came back, auditioned for Ragtime and was literally on a plane to move to Canada by the 30th of August. We packed up our bags, my mother and I, and we left for Toronto. It was literally one thing right into the next.

What was your whole Ragtime experience like?

Ragtime was absolutely amazing. I was with the original cast in Toronto for a year, and then I was on Broadway with the original cast for a year. Here, I had just done a year and a half with Les Miz which was coming up to it's 10th year anniversary so I started off in a classical musical theatre show which had been very successful for a very long time and then moved on to a new piece that nobody had heard before or knew anything about.

I already had the amazing luck and blessing to move from one great thing to something new, which was also great in its own special way. The great thing about starting off in Les Miz is that being a young Cosette is really a great way of stepping in to the business because you learn so much so quickly. The size of the role, the amount of work that they put on me was just enough. I also was lucky to have people like our stage manager and Richard Jay-Alexander and my conductor and fellow cast members of Les Miz so it was like a lesson right there that got me to understand what I was doing since I basically came into this with nothing, knowing actually nothing about theatre or acting or anything. Neither did my family - we didn't know anything!

So, coming in to Ragtime, I had a pretty good foundation that Les Miz gave me and then I was able to work with Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Peter Friedman and Brian Stokes Mitchell. They are the most amazing actors in my opinion on Broadway and they just taught me everything that I know now and it was also really special to me being in Canada with them for a year.

What did you learn from them?

Anybody will tell you when you do a show on the road or out of town that you bond with the cast members more because they're there so much more and it's all that you had. I was really at a very vulnerable age and I was just like a sponge taking everything in and I remember little things like I'd be warming up backstage and I remember Audra McDonald, coming back stage and saying "make sure when you warm up…" and I remember her putting her hands around my diaphragm and saying I want you to take a deep breath in and she would teach me how to extend my diaphragm and tell me what scales to do. Peter Friedman taught me about being on time, and being ready for your cue and how to behave on stage. And Marin taught me how to have fun and she taught me how to laugh and to not be so hard on yourself. All those little things were my lessons and I got them without taking singing lessons, acting lessons - those were my teachers and I owe everything to them. That was Ragtime for me basically.

Have they come to see Spring Awakening?

Marin and Peter came to the Atlantic, and Marin is on her way to come see it on Broadway and so is Peter. Audra was going to come and her daughter got sick so she hasn't been yet. When Marin and Peter came to see it, they loved it at the Atlantic and I can't wait for them to see it here on Broadway. I look for them every night to see when they're coming. I keep in touch with them all the time, and I talk to Marin on the phone regularly. I'm also going to Peter's daughters' Bat Mitzvah in a couple of days and they are my family for sure.

So after Ragtime came Fiddler on the Roof?

Actually, if you believe it, next came Spring Awakening. I finished Ragtime somewhere between 99 and 2000, I did its first year on Broadway and I left the same day as Marin and Peter and a bunch of the original cast. I think by 2000 I was in the 8th grade and I went on an open call for Spring Awakening and I booked it and I continued doing workshops for Spring Awakening up until literally last year.

While I did workshops of Spring Awakening during my freshman, sophomore and junior year of high school I wasn't really auditioning very much because I wanted to give myself in high school time to focus on school and I wanted to just have a normal high school life for a little while. I was in and out of school so much moving to Canada and for the rehearsal process for Ragtime so I really just wanted to have a nice, solid few years in High School which was great because I'd do workshops of Spring Awakening sporadically but I was able to still be in school. It wasn't until my summer before the senior year of high school that I booked Fiddler on the Roof and that was my 3rd Broadway show and it was pretty unbelievable because there was like a 3 year gap between Ragtime and Fiddler and it reminded me that there was still something there and I shouldn't give up - that I could not work for 3 years and it was still there for me.

When Fiddler came it was a big deciding point in my life. I had just been accepted into NYU, and I was just about to graduate and to head to college so it was a real deciding factor for me - which way is your life going to go? The college route and act a little bit on the side and major in law or something or are you just going to really give yourself to this? And that's what I decided to do. When I graduated I got an apartment in the city and I decided to not go to NYU and I've been working from then on.

That sounds very well thought out, what came next?

I did Fiddler and when I left Fiddler, I did the Diary of Anne Frank for a while. All throughout, I continued to do workshops of Spring Awakening. We did the Lincoln Center workshop almost 2 years ago now and then I booked Spring Awakening at the Atlantic and I've been there since.

You must have been with the show the longest… How has the show evolved?

Wow, if you put the original Spring Awakening 2000 up against Spring Awakening 2007, it's really just grown and changed so much and definitely for the better. I think that the core and its message and its purposes stayed the same throughout. The minute that I heard the music, Duncan's music and heard Steven's words and Michael Mayer's vision, I knew that this piece was special. I had all the faith that it would get where it is now, it just took a long time. A lot of the major changes that happened with Spring Awakening really happened between the workshop at Lincoln Center and the Atlantic, and then there were a lot more changes between the Atlantic and the O'Neil so most of the changes came in the latter part. Those changes really locked everything together. As one example, we had a character of the "masked man," played by Roger Bart at one point, then Michael McElroy, then Michael Cerveris, and that character was cut between Lincoln Center and the Atlantic. That was literally one change then when it was made, you could see the piece more clearly.

From that moment on, things kept getting better and better until we froze the show on Broadway. Our reviews at the Atlantic were good, but they were just enough for us to say, ok, we know what we have to do. I was so amazed that Michael Mayer, Duncan and Steven took those notes and just put it together so, so beautifully. I can't begin to express to you enough the sheer and utter joy to be a part of this production. I think that every single person, and not only the three main people, every person is such a brilliant creative team. Everyone works together so well and they were able to make the changes and they were able to grow and work together and everyone rose to the occasion when we got to Broadway and put together this piece.

The critical reaction on Broadway made the show the best reviewed show this year... What was that like for the cast?

Most people say that you shouldn't listen to the reviews and that's not what matters and it's not. It was about the work and being proud of it. I'm so proud of this piece and I believe that no matter what field you're in, if it's making movies or music. Duncan Sheik always says that it's just important to be doing progressive work, and to be doing things that are just new and challenging and that are just inspiring and that's why that no matter what anyone says, I will always be proud of this piece and honored to be a part of it. But, working on something for 7 years, and then to see how well people receive it and not just critics but the public as well. It's the most amazing feeling. And so far, the reviews have certainly helped ticket sales as well. It was hard for a while because we weren't sure how people were going to take us. We're this young cast and I'm one of the only few who have been in a show before and we were just received so wonderfully and I feel very, very thankful. Then at the same time, I think that really it had to be that way because when you see how well everyone works together and the creative team and the cast, that's the direction it seemed as if it was going in.

How close has the cast become as a result?

Oh my god, we're really just so lucky and I thank Michael a lot for this and I also thank Jim Carnahan and Carrie Gardner our casting directors because they really cast the show perfectly. I know that when they were seeing people in the room, I could tell that it wasn't just about them thinking that this person or that person looked like they could play a character, it was about looking at the person and you can tell that they picked people that we all just vibe so well with. They really picked a family of actors, and that's so important, that they made sure that everyone is just wonderful, great people and we all work so well together and everyone is so talented.

They had some pretty weird ways of casting the show. Some were found through regular casting, and others like Lauren Pritchard were found on MySpace so they really looked all over and in different kinds of places, so I hand it to God that everyone was placed together. It's the most extraordinary talented group of actors that I have just the honor of performing with every night and we have 2 talented actors - Stephen Spinella and Chrstine Esterbrook whom are a joy to work with every single night. They go along the lines of the other amazing actors that I've gotten to work with as just other amazing teachers for us.

What's it like to play such an intense character every night?

It's wonderful, and that's probably not the first thing that you'd think I'd say. As an actor and being so young, I'm 20 - you have the honor to play such a challenging role, and it's the most amazing honor as an actor. I just think that to be able to challenge myself every night and to be able to do just such honest and true work, is a real, real blessing because not everybody gets that challenge and it's hard and at times I feel like I can't do it. But I really, really am so thankful that at this time in my career that Michael Mayer and the creative team have given me the opportunity to play such a challenging role, but it is so hard on me and my body. The beating scene especially is really taxing but I just try every night to just find the truth in every moment and to continue each night to find new things about this character that I've been working on now for such a long time.

How do you get in and out of character?

It's really important with Spring Awakening, because it just deals with so many different issues and don't get me wrong, there are some amazing beautiful and hilarious moments. I've seen people cry hysterically from the saddest moments and from laughter at the show and that's the beauty of it. My track in particular is very dark so it's important for me that when I'm there I'm in it, but when I'm not I can step outside of it, and leave it at the O'Neil so that when I'm ready to come back it's there. That's something that Marin has taught me how to do, to be able to just come home and be with your family. And be with our friends and to let that all go for a while. Luckily like I said before, I have such fun moments in the show that I can release energy and just have an amazing time so it's good for me to be able to smile and to let everything go.

What's the stage door experience been like for you?

We've been reading reports that it's like a rock concert back there? The stage door experience has been unbelievable. The best way to explain it is that the other day Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Jessica Parker were there and they went out the stage door, and then kind of hovered alongside the stage door and they were talking and having a conversation and nobody moved to get their autographs, they were waiting for the cast of Spring Awakening and I was amazed.

I couldn't believe it. I was freaking out because Sarah Jessica Parker was there and I felt that every day there have been moments where it kind of hits me because our cast is so engulfed in the show still and we're working so hard on our performances that it's hard for us to stop and think oh my god, can you believe that all of this is happening, which is good because we shouldn't really be focusing on that stuff. But when you go to Virgin Megastore and you see tons of fans holding signs and you see Sarah Jessica Parker at the show, it's little things like that that make you go "Oh My God! Thank God so much for this amazing blessing."

Have any other favorite celebs been by?

Steven Spielberg also came last week. I'm waiting for Alanis Morrisette or Madonna and once they come, I'm set. I know that Jonathan Groff really wants Jennifer Garner to come. So Alanis, if you can hear me now, I'm waiting, that's all. Great people have come, but we all have our special people that we're hoping for. David Schwimmer came by the other day and he was awesome. My boyfriend freaked out because he's a huge Friends fan, and so that was pretty cool.

Let's hope that they're all reading BroadwayWorld.com then and will show up soon...

I hope so!

But as far as reactions from audience members, I've seen some extraordinary reactions, and it's at those moments when you're most thankful to be a part of this production. I feel like I've seen everything including grown men being brought to tears when Jonathan Groff sings "Left Behind" The other day, when "Left Behind" was over, there was about an 8 year old girl sitting next to her mother and her mother was really emotional from the song. She wasn't sobbing or anything, but you could tell that it was getting to her for whatever reason. Whether or not this is something that happened to her, or because it was a beautiful touching moment. When the song was over, the little girl looked at her mother and she just put her hands on her mother's face and just gave her a kiss and hug, and it was like oh my god, this is exactly what we want.

For people to see and hear our music and to be touched by it and to take something from it. And for whatever moment, it brought that mother and daughter together. I thought it was very, very beautiful and that symbolizes everything for me in one moment.

How have you handled the onstage nudity?

I honestly don't think about that. I get more nervous about doing for example the beating scene every night. That scene is much, much, much harder for me than the nudity. I never thought in my career that it was something I would do. Not that I ever thought I wouldn't do it, I just never thought about it. Then one day Michael Mayer came up to me and said would you feel comfortable with this? And I said yes, and it was the easiest decision not just because I trust Michael so much, but I also trust Jonathan so much and in that moment I do not know anyone else was there.

I've had friends come, family members come, my boyfriend, and I don't even think about it because I think that it was just done so tastefully by Michael and Jonathan makes me feel so comfortable. I really don't think about it at all and I'm interested to see how I'd feel in another situation, if I do come up across that ever again in my career if I would feel that comfortable. I don't know if any other actor or director would make me feel that comfortable, but for whatever reason in this situation it was a very easy decision. I just find that it's not uncomfortable for me at all.

How have your friends, family and boyfriend reacted?

It's nothing. It's not even an issue with my mother and father. I think that they're just very comfortable with Spring Awakening by this point having known about it for so many years but I think that they agree with everything that I just said.

Have you followed any of the online reactions to the show?

I try not to. I'd be so afraid that if I was to just see one bad thing that I'd not be able to leave my apartment because I'd be so upset. I understand that everyone, totally can feel however they want to feel about anything. My character is not the easiest of characters to understand, so I'd worry that I'd read something that would be uncomfortable or hard for me so I try not to.

Are there any dream roles out there that you'd like to tackle post Spring Awakening?

It was a dream for me to be able to play Wendla for such a long time. So it not only am I able to play my dream role right now but also this year I booked another dream role which was in Les Miz to play Eponine. That was a definite dream role for me and I think that it always will be still. Unfortunately at this point in my life and career I felt that it was important for me to stay with Spring Awakening after working on it for such a long time but I can definitely tell you that Eponine is such a dream role for me and I hope to have the opportunity to play it at some point. It still is and will always be a dream for me.

I'm sure that you'll get the chance again someday!

Thanks, I hope so!

Spring Awakening is currently running at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. Click here for tickets and more information. The original cast recording of the show is now available as well, click here to purchase.