ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 16

In November, Kristin Huffman made her Broadway debut as Sarah (flute, piccolo and sax) in John Doyle's production of Company.  The actress, with a new series of tales that go inside the making of Company from an actor's perspective, starting at the Cincinnati Playhouse and on to New York, continues her stories about a 15-year career that has led her to the door of the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

This is the sixteenth story about the "Making of Company."  If you haven't read the others, go back and do so and then rejoin us here!

SCENE SIXTEEN: WE'RE NOT IN CINCINNATI ANYMORE, TOTO

There is no candy on "The Broadway".  Mary Mitchell Campbell has been calling our experience in New York, "The Broadway" and is not throwing candy at us like she did in Cincinnati for a job well done. Guess it's time to grow up. Today, on our first day of rehearsal in New York, that small fact made me realize that "The Broadway" is a much different deal than I realized. 

I actually asked her if it was forbidden to throw candy during a Broadway rehearsal or if perhaps they didn't have candy on "The Broadway". She said that she would sneak it to us if we were good.   I guess there are times when you can break the rules, but as you know, I am not going to be pushing those boundaries any time soon.

Walking into rehearsal today I think we all knew that things wouldn't stay the same.  For one thing, the noise from the outside world here is much louder than in Ohio and we all feel the NY influence.  That is actually a good thing as our whole show takes place in NYC.  The siren roaring, the honking horns, the yelling...and the lack of candy...all were reminders of how things would be changing for us. 

The cast is still as tight as ever, even with the addition of six understudies, whose brains really did look like they were going to leak out of their heads from the stress of having to understudy two or three of us at a time. The phrase I heard tossed around the most by our cast seemed to be, "chomping at the bit".  We were all anxious to get back to this thing after our five month hiatus while waiting to transfer to "The Broadway".

For the cast and designers, the major difference is that the space and the shape of the theatre are different. In Cincinnati we had a thrust stage, which meant that we could be seen on three sides and we could also see the audience more.  Since we will be in the Barrymore theatre on "The Broadway" we are adjusting to a proscenium stage.  There is less playing area in the back and actually more on the sides. I believe John is planning to use that this time.  We still have our diamond shape, and our see-through boxes. Actually we have more see-through boxes.  This time John wants us to be sitting in levels on those boxes in the back.  We are on display just as a piece of art in a museum is on display.  My fear, as you can guess, is that it will be really hard to SEE a see-through box and I will, of course, run in to them a lot.  They are huge, but I am sure I will find a way.

On "The Broadway", I am finding there is a lot more pressure to perform well, and there are a lot more people to please.  Tomorrow is our "meet and greet" with press and producers. And Mr. Sondheim and Mr. Furth.  Could there possibly be more people than the Cincinnati "meet and greet"? "The Broadway" certainly cannot be outdone by "The Cincinnati" right?

In our rehearsal today, we wasted no time in getting things back on their feet. Not for us the normal first day of musical rehearsal!  Not on "The Broadway"!  In typical John Doyle fashion he threw us right in with no reminder preps.  We stumbled through what we remembered of the first three numbers we had performed five months ago and John began to change some things.  Our bodies actually fought these changes, even while our minds said "OH YES!"  Great ideas to try, and later, change again I bet!  But I was accused of having Alzheimer's at one point and many of us started our cussing routines again.  It's just that our minds and bodies were clinging to the old ways and John was still, and ever, updating and molding. 

There are many directors that might just refresh our regional theatre production.  Just restage it a tad to fit the new space.  Not Tony award winning John Doyle!  And we all knew it would be so.  I am sure that is why we were so excited to come back and play again. We all expected this show to be fresh and new but this time we were a practiced cast and crew.  Already in the right frame of mind to make this work on "The Broadway".

The one constant in all this was Heather's pregnancy. Even that had changed a bit since she was now really pregnant. But I bet that will change soon enough too!

Kristin's column sponsored by:  www.gardengate.unfranchise.com   "Visit us for cutting edge products in health care, nutrician, weight management, makeup, skin care, website solutions and much more!"  THE ONE STOP SHOPPING EXPERIENCE!

For more information also visit KristinHuffman.net.

Photos (top-bottom): Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Raul with the forbidden candy from Cinci; Music from Company; The Thrust stage; John Doyle; Samantha (Heather's baby)