ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 33

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 thirty-third story on the making of Company.  If you haven't read the others, go back and do so and then rejoin us here!  Getting down to the last Company stories. I hope you all have enjoyed them.  I will certainly continue writing about my backstage experiences so let me know if you want to hear about them. I will being doing a "Last Five Years" in March/April in Connecticut. Also my first story for The Sondheim Review comes out in February.  I will be writing for that quartly magazine as well now.

Also!  I will be doing a special cabaret in New Haven CT at a venue called Zinc, in their cabaret room called Chow, on Thurday, February 14 at 7PM and 9PM.  More info to follow, but I am titling it "Lovesongs? an offbeat look at Valentine's Day."  It will be a little interactive as well.  Come for a fun and funny night. Call 203-772-3002  www.Zincfood.com for reservations and directions. I am donating all my proceeds to the West Haven Animal shelter.

SCENE THIRTY-THREE:  LITTLE THINGS

It's the little things you do together that make perfect…experiences.  I guess you always remember your first time. Even now, after our Tony nomination has been announced and after we have won the Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Circle Critics awards and our hopes of staying open through the summer surge, I catch myself trying to memorize everything about my first time on Broadway…just in case. 

Writing it down does help, but there are so many little things that I want to visually record and that really don't add up to a good "story".  The opening night party is a huge and easy thing to remember.  Charity event performances such as "Nothing Like a Dame" and "Easter Bonnet" are also big enough impressions to stick in my mind.  But it's the little things that occur on a daily basis in our show that truly make the whole experience memorable in the long run. 

The backstage camaraderie as we stand in the wings and wait for the cue light to walk on singing our "Bobbys".  Sometimes Leenya and I (old pageant girls) dare each other to insert a subtle "pageant" move into our scenes.  Since we sit on stage the entire act it gives each of us something new to watch for and to secretly put in our scene.  If John knew he would probably not approve, which also makes it daring and against "parental" orders.  It can be something as simple as a tiny wave or a crossing of feet at the ankles.  Only Leenya and I would catch it because it's a little thing.

When the cue light comes on backstage and Raul walks out onto the stage, if he gets applause, Matt does a little dance in the wings.  It's a different "happy dance" every night that makes Heather, Bruce, Leenya, Fred and me laugh. We have to stifle our laughs quickly because the minute that cue light comes on our mics are live.  Heather does a face stretch and Bruce imitates her.  Fred whops my butt and both he and Leenya check to be sure his bow for his cello has made it on stage before he gets out there.  All of these little things are not really worth writing about, but they are little things that make up the experience of waiting in the wings to go on for this show we adore doing every night.

During our preshow warm up and tune the whole cast meets on stage forty-five minutes before the start time and we tune and play a number from the show.  Mostly this is done to get our instruments warmed up but we also use it as a time to catch up with each other's days, compliment a cute outfit, ask about an audition or an event and coo at baby Samantha who is often strapped to Heather.  Since she won't stay a baby for long, she is also one of the little things we want to remember.

Onstage every night there are so many little things that each of us counts on to make our show interesting. When you stay on stage for an entire show, you find those things as a way to break up the monotony.  Since our show is truly different every night and since you can never space out or you forget a cue or entrance either on instrument or voice, there are little pick-me-ups in each scene.  Seriously, little things, but comforting in the way of bonding and letting each other know non verbally that we are there for each other.  To communicate, other than in our scripted moments, we have developed a rather sophisticated eye contact language.  There are moments when we are sitting on our stools or walking around the perimeter where we can glance at a cast mate and literally know what they are thinking.  Leenya has termed our playing without a conductor the "unibrain" and I would suggest that it applies to our unspoken visuals too. When we hear a strange noise or a strange laugh from the audience it's easy to subtly look to a cast member and say with your eyes "what the hell was that?"  I tend to be a giggler and so does Raul, so when I accidentally hit the cymbal while changing up my sax for my flute during a quiet moment in a song I couldn't look at him for fear of cracking up and not being able to play my flute.  Little things like a piece of the lily flying off and laying on the floor on a stage that is very bare or a wild rainstorm that makes more noise than you thought possible or yet another dropped mute from Rob.   All those things are "eye contact" worthy and sometimes "laugh stiflingly" funny.   Since we watch each other's scenes every single night we see little things in each scene that change and keep us interested.   It's the funny or poignant little things that can make a whole show for each of us.

I remember in other shows watching from the wings and trying to learn from a great actor on stage.  In this show I was forced to watch every night and it's the little things that I pick up from each cast member that will stay with me forever.   I expected this whole experience to be a great learning experience for me.  It has been huge event for me.  I will remember the larger than life experiences of this gig but it truly has been those little things that have been so very memorable. 

Photos: Company cast at Barnes & Noble; Fred and Heather; Baby Sam