Interview: Nicole Travolta Talks Shopping Addiction in New Show at SoHo Playhouse
NICOLE TRAVOLTA IS DOING ALRIGHT plays now through 5/10 at NYC's SoHo Playhouse
Nicole Travolta is Doing Alright is a critically acclaimed solo comedy blending stand-up, confessional storytelling, and transformational character work - hailed as “Fleabag meets Hollywood hustle.” Its current SoHo Playhouse runs in NYC opened on April 1 and runs through May 10.
Doing Alright is a bold, funny, and deeply personal account of Nicole’s life as a compulsive shopper who spiraled into debt while carrying the pressure of a famous last name. Determined to dig herself out, financially and emotionally, she found herself on an unexpected path: spray tanning in Hollywood.
What began as a way to pay the bills became a strange, intimate education in ego, beauty, and ambition. The job introduced her to a lineup of eccentric personalities who now burst to life onstage through her razor-sharp impressions - from Jennifer Coolidge to Carrie Bradshaw to Drew Barrymore and beyond.
With fearless honesty, Nicole turns debt, depression, divorce, addiction, and reinvention into comedy that is fast, self-aware, and laugh-out-loud funny.
Bold and unexpectedly tender, Nicole Travolta is Doing Alright is a theatrical exploration of what it really takes to define yourself on your own terms.
We talked with the star about the show, her battle to get out of consumer debt and the rise of Buy Now, Pay Later.
[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity]
Tell me a bit about your new show.
It's been such a journey. Last night was night two, and it was amazing. I have done it here before in New York, and I just did a limited [eight performance] run, and I'm reminded why New York is the best. The audiences are just the best.
The show is extremely, deeply personal to me. It's based on my life. I touch on shopping addiction, debt, divorce, familial trauma, and this story really dives into how I basically showered myself with a new existence, if you will. I created a new life for myself by way of material things, and I started coming out of it. I was in a crippling debt and got divorced, and ended up taking a job as a spray tanner, and while I was doing that I met all of these insanely hilarious characters along the way.
And when I started to heal from all of this, I really started to look at everything from a different viewpoint and felt like I could tell this story by way of comedy, and I think some of the best comedy comes from looking at the pain of it.
I really worked the show and rewrote it from the last time that it was here. It’s still got all of the bones of what it used to be but I'm really proud of this. It's a bit more honest. I let people in a little bit more on that journey for me and where I was and what it took me to. I think before it was kind of a fun show about a girl who was in debt and got out of it by spray tanning. This time it feels that this is a girl who was providing herself with a lot of love by way of shopping and what that can do to you as you move through it.
How does it feel kind of workshopping or going through these iterations of this deeply personal show in front of a live audience? Has it been, revelatory getting to hear the live reactions and make tweaks as you go?
Yes. Someone asked me, “what is it like to do this for six weeks and it’s so personal?” and I'm like, I think only insane people do something like this five nights a week [laughs]. I mean, it's cathartic in many ways.
When I first wrote it, it really took me down an emotional, almost like your own internal therapy, if you will. I laid out like, 100 pages of my life and started dumping everything out, and then when you look at it like that, you're like, oh, wow. You kind of see where everything lines up.
And so then when I started rewriting it with my co-writer, Paula Christiansen, I said, “I'm doing this in New York again, and I want to I want to honor the fact that I've grown with the show,” and I think a lot of this is pushing past certain fears for me as well.
It can be a little bit triggering. It can be emotional. It takes me on a bit of a journey and the audience reaction is just so... It's been amazing, and hearing them [laugh] in certain places... Even last night it was like, oh, I didn’t think that would hit the way that it did, and then it does, and people come up after and they're like, “we've gone through something similar.” And I think that's just the biggest thing, is being able to connect with them. It makes me feel less alone up there, that you have them. It's like we're going through the journey together.
Shopping addiction and consumer debt has been in the news lately with the advent of buy now, pay later. How do you feel about how normalized BNPL has become?
It's crazy.Now you have even more of an option [to get into debt]. And a lot of these buy now pay lenders, I don't even think they do credit checks. You just have to make these payment plans.
It's funny to me too, because I did this in Europe and this really is such an American show, because in America [consumerism] is so big and even like these buy now, pay later things... they make them look very exciting and fun. That's how I remember I felt when I was applying for credit cards. You go to Victoria's Secret and you get this sparkly black card, and it's like kid in a candy store, so you feel like you can get more and more and more and it almost feels like it's not real money.
Do you have any advice for people out there who are struggling with getting out of debt?
I remember feeling that I would never get out of it, like it was a black hole. My biggest advice would be to address it, because I ignored it, and then it all piled up. Address it and look at it and come up with a plan. But also, [with] credit cards, if you don't have it, don't spend it. I know that that's easier said than done. I didn't come out of this being like, “I don't like nice things.” Of course, we all like nice things. But I think just really look at it from a perspective of like, “Do I need this?”, you know what I mean? And just really addressing it, because you can get out of it and there's so many options.
For me, a debt consolidation company helped me. Once I was free of it, it felt like the biggest accomplishment because I really think that when you're in it, it's the worst feeling in the world, like that there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
Is there anything else you want to add about the show or about anything else that you talked about?
No. I'm just super grateful. Thank you so much for having me. I hope that audiences enjoy it. I think the biggest thing is connecting with the people that are in those seats, and I feel really grateful to be here, and I hope people come and enjoy it and have some fun. And also, bring tissues. That's also what we're learning. [Laughs]
Photos by Joan Marcus
Tickets to Nicole Travolta Is Doing Alright at SoHo Playhouse are available here.
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