Interview: Kathy Voytko of BEAUTY & THE BEAST National Tour

From September 2nd-14th, the national tour of Disney’s BEAUTY & THE BEAST will be gracing the stage of the Durham Performing Arts Center. Taking on the role of MRS. POTTS is actress Kathy Voytko.

She has appeared on Broadway in OKLAHOMA!, NINE, THE FROGS, THE PIRATE QUEEN, NEXT TO NORMAL, A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER, TUCK EVERLASTING, and most recently, THE MUSIC MAN. She’s also previously been seen on tour as Christine Daaé in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and Eva Perón in EVITA. I recently got in touch with her about a lot of this and more.

To start things off, how are things going with the tour so far?

KV: It's a delight. We are thrilled that the audiences are so hungry for our show. We have found that it's a great date night show, it's a great family show, and it is one of those shows that brings a whole lot of nostalgia to those of us who saw the movie when it originally came out. Those of us were old enough to remember it in the theater, and then those of us who saw it on Broadway in 1994, and beyond. A lot of us have kids now and wanna bring our own kids to see the show. So it's one of those stories that seems to have a wide appeal to a lot of audiences.

As someone who’s been on tour before, how does this experience compare to others?

KV: Well, there's something about the Disney magic of our production. Which is thrilling because a lot of people have a lot of questions and we cannot reveal the Disney magic, but we are thrilled to share it with this audience. This tour is gorgeous to look at the sets and costumes and lighting and the choreography and the music that the orchestra sounds absolutely glorious in every city. It's just been a joy to bring this story around. So we're thrilled to bring it to Durham.

You’re gonna be in Durham with this show for two weeks. How excited are you about that?

KV: I'm thrilled actually. It's so nice to bring this show to different audiences and every city that we've gone to thus far has brought little girls in their Belle dresses and boys and their Gaston or Beast costumes. We've had some grownups do a little cosplay as well. It's so fun to meet them at the stage door and enjoy how much they are enjoying the show.

For over 30 years, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast has been, as you sing every night, “a tale as old as time.” Do you remember the first time you ever saw the original animated film?

KV: I do. I saw it in the theater with my mom. I can honestly tell you that when this audition came and I got to sing that song at my audition, I was, it chokes me up a little bit, even still because I vividly remember seeing this in Pennsylvania in a small theater with my mom and just loving it. I remember whispering to her mom, “this should be on stage.” And then, my wish came true when they actually converted it to be a full scale Broadway musical. So it's a delight. Singing the title song is a joy every single night, and it is staged beautifully. Kyra Belle Johnson, our Belle, and Fergie L. Philippe, our Beast, gets to do this beautiful choreography and it is sweet and charming. The fact that I get to sing it with my Chips, Levi Blaise Coleman and Beatrice Goddard Beggs, beside me every night is a thrill.

I was about to ask you what it’s like to sing the title number, which if you ask one of my Facebook friends, it’s the very best Oscar-winning song of all time, every night. So you kind of took care of that.

KV: I was nervous about it for sure because Angela Lansbury set the bar very, very, very high. Our fantastic crew, director/choreographer, associate director, and our conductor were all very kind and sort of led me how they wanted it done while asking me to give my own spin to it. So it freed me up to just enjoy it and luxuriate and how lucky I am to get to sing that gorgeous song every day.

This new touring production is directed by Matt West, who’s no stranger to this particular property. He previously choreographed not only the original Broadway production, but also the truncated stage versions at the Disney parks. What is he like to work with?

KV: Oh, it's fun to work with Matt because he has so many stories and so much to add to the layers of the show. When you talk to him from his years of experience on the show, he's thought about it and he's marinated on some of these characters with Linda Woolverton, the writer of both the movie and the show. So anytime we asked a question or had a moment that was not feeling quite right, it was fun to bounce ideas off of him and off of Linda in the room. At the same time, he also gave us a little freedom to explore how we would portray this character and guided us to make sure it was authentic.

As Mrs. Potts, you have some big shoes (or in this case, teapot) to fill. The legendary Angela Lansbury brought the role to life in the cartoon. We should say that before she died, she actually recorded the opening narration for this new production. Not to mention that Beth Fowler was the first of many live actors to have taken on the role when she originated it on Broadway. How do you make it your own?

KV: I have two kids of my own (a 14 and a 16-year-old), and my husband and I are parents. That was how I sort of approached it from the mom standpoint because Mrs. Potts is Chip's mom, but she's also sort of a surrogate mom to the Beast. So anytime that I was coming at a scene, I tried to bring that sort of mom energy of loving and guiding and scolding when scolding needed to be scolded. That was sort of the way I came at it and that's how I made it my own. I know how to be a mom. I've been doing it for 16 and a half years now. So I get to be Chip's mom and the Beast’s mom to a degree. Not to mention the fact that Cogsworth and Lumiere sort of think they run the house, but we know who actually runs the castle and I try to bring that energy to it as well. 

From my understanding, one of the biggest challenges the creative team faced when Beauty & the Beast was first being mounted on Broadway was how they were going to have all these enchanted objects played by live actors. Ann Hould-Ward, who ended up winning a Tony for her costumes, also returned for this tour. What’s your costume like to wear?

KV: It is absolutely gorgeous. I get to be in this big white dress. The skirt of my dress is entirely sparkly, so it appeals to my inner Disney princess as well. Um, I do have the distinctive teapot arm handle, which I hold up using my own muscles. People keep asking me if there's some sort of a brace or if it's very stiff that it holds my arm up for me. But no, that is not true. So that's really the hardest part of my job, is holding my arm up for two hours. I also have the magic teapot that steams. So steam comes out of my teapot arm. I'm not allowed to tell you how, but that happens as well as needed. So it's a delight. The costumes are beautiful. Not only my teapot costume, but also Lumiere's candlestick costume is amazing, and Cogsworth clock costume is a gorgeous marble looking costume. Madame Lamour, that's one thing that has changed in our storytelling is that she is no longer Madame de la Grande Bouche, she is Madame Lamour. She is the wardrobe, but she's all about love and relationships and feeling and played beautifully by Holly Ann Butler. Babette (Cameron Monroe Thomas), our feather duster, also glorious. So our production is a feast for the eyes as well as for the ears.

Going back to the beginning, how did you first get started in the theatre?

KV: I saw the national tour of Les Miz early when I was in high school. I remember thinking Les Misérables was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I didn't really do much singing apart from in church up to that point. I wasn't one of those young music theater loving kids. I didn't know enough about it. But from high school on, I was hooked. I got a voice teacher and a couple songs together. I auditioned for Shenandoah Conservatory, and that's where I went to school and got my Bachelor of Fine Art. About 85% of my music theater knowledge came from college. Then I started auditioning right outta school and got very lucky.

Throughout your career, you’ve been fortunate enough to have been in these big musical revivals with all star casts. Which began with your Broadway debut in the Trevor Nunn-helmed revival of Oklahoma! in 2002, which featured Patrick Wilson, Josefina Gabrielle, Shuler Hensley, Andrea Martin, and Aasif Mandvi.

KV: It was a delight to make my Broadway debut with Trevor Nunn directing and Susan Stroman choreographing. That was a thrill. Warren Carlyle was her associate choreographer on that, and I've worked with him a couple times since then as well. So again, very lucky. Although my father-in-law used to say that luck is preparation plus opportunity. So I'd like to think that Shenandoah Conservatory prepared me as well as my friend, Mark Robin, who gave me my first job out of college. So I had the preparation and then I had the opportunity.

The following season, you appeared in Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Nine, which opened with Antonio Banderas, Mary Stuart Masterson, Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, Mary Beth Peil, and Chita Rivera.

KV: Yes! Chita gets top billing there, I am such a fan of Chita Rivera, may she rest in peace. She’s the kind of performer that we all should aspire to be, as well as Antonio Banderas, the hardest working person in the room. That show was a thrill. I didn't know Nine very well before I auditioned for it, but wow. I fell in love with Maury Yeston’s gorgeous score and the remarkable storytelling. David Leveaux, our director, really guided that production in such a cinematic and beautiful way. I made some lifelong friends in that cast of amazing, remarkable, talented, wildly diverse women. I loved it. 

Your most recent Broadway appearance was in The Music Man, where you sort of (accidentally) made headlines early on in the run. At one of the very first preview performances, Sutton Foster was out sick with COVID, so you ended up going on as Marian Paroo with very little time to prepare. Hugh Jackman even gave you a special shoutout at curtain call.

KV: I was thrilled that Hugh shone a light on what swings and standbys and Broadway covers actually do. Even my own family who has seen me do a lot of swing work, a lot of standby work, and a lot of understudy work, got a little bit of an education of what a swing is on Broadway. I would love to tell you that mine was a particularly unique tale, but it wasn't Broadway swings, covers, and standbys go on without any notice all the time. The only thing that made it truly peculiar was the COVID parameters that we were all forced to sort of work under meant a lot less actual face-to-face time on stage. We had no real way to be backstage at that point because they were trying to keep numbers really low. So I knew absolutely none of the backstage traffic that I normally would've had a chance to figure out ahead of time. But he was a delight and such a collaborative, wonderful human that it all went very well, and he was super kind to shine a light on that crazy experience.

You were previously in the Triangle area for North Carolina Theatre’s production of Elf the Musical almost two years ago. That sadly ended up being their final production as they since not only went bankrupt, but have recently closed up shop.

KV: I’m heartbroken that they are now closing their doors because it was such a beautiful place to work. That was the first time I worked there, and I know that they were trying to figure out some refinancing options at the time. So I think that they were already sort of trying to figure out how to keep the lights on, but I'm sad that it didn't because it was such a beautiful place to work. Elf was a really terrific experience with my good friends, Sean Allan Krill, and Max Chernin. We had a really lovely production, and I feel sad that that theater is no longer.

How do you look back at your time doing that show?

KV: Oh, it was a thrill and the audiences couldn't have been warmer or more lovely. It's always a tragedy when a theater has to close its doors. I think that COVID hit so many of our regional theaters so hard that if there's anything that I would say to fellow theater fans is go buy a seat to a regional theater. Go buy a seat to a high school production. Go support your local theaters, not just the production contracts in the Broadway shows that come through, but try to go support your local symphony, support your local community theater. We all are beneficial to all the communities, not just the Broadway shows that come through. We are grateful every time you buy a ticket to that as well. But it's so important to keep theater from the ground up. Go buy a ticket to your local elementary school, go buy a ticket to your local community theater. All of it helps support the arts because without the arts, what are we?

For those who’d like to pursue a career in the theatre, where do you think would be a good place to start?

KV: I think the local level is the place to start to figure out if that's what you love because to quote Stephen Sondheim, “Art Isn’t Easy.” I had one professor in college say, “if I can talk you out of the arts, you don't belong in the arts because it is too unstable and too hard. But if it's something that your heart and soul and brain demand you compel you to do, then go for it”. The way to do that is to do it at every level. When I first started out, I was doing children's theater in the morning and an evening show, an eight show night, and dinner theater in the evening. I was working the longest, hardest hours, and I loved every second, even though I was making a dollar 50. So that's how I knew that that's probably what I should be doing, because even when I was scraping by, I was happiest when I was performing in the arts.

Kathy, I thank you very much for devoting your time to this conversation. It was great getting to talk to you. For those who’d like to keep up with your career, where can people find you on the internet?

KV: I'm @kathyvoytko on Instagram. That's sort of my only social media because I cannot keep up with that hardly even, because again, I'm a full-time working actor, a mom, and a dog mom. Also, my website is www.kathyvoytko.com, which I try to update as often as I'm able to. But right now, catch me anywhere with Disney's Beauty and the Beast on tour for the next year and beyond.

Be sure to catch BEAUTY & THE BEAST at DPAC. It’ll be running from September 2nd-14th. For more information, please click here.