Interview: Rae Davenport of PRETTY WOMAN THE MUSICAL at Orpheum Theater

Rae Davenport is one of the stars of PRETTY WOMAN THE MUSICAL at Orpheum Theater.

Read our chat with Rae here!

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Thank you for taking the time to speak with BroadwayWorld in Omaha!

Of course.

Let's start at the top! How did you find your love of theatre?

You know... it came very early for me. I feel lucky for that to have been the case. My parents would always take us to the theater in Detroit. We went to the Fox a lot, so I got to see a lot of shows through my dad. My dad had a job where they got a bunch of tickets for free, so we went to see a bunch of theater very early on. I started watching movie musicals when I was a kid, and I started seeing kids on TV and just kind of putting it together that if they could do it, maybe I could too. Obviously I didn’t become a child star like I wanted to, but I still found my purpose and joy in theater. I expressed really early on that I wanted to perform. I started singing and I went to performing art schools pretty much all my life. Luckily, my parents were really supportive.

Throughout your years in theatre, what would you say is the best piece of advice you received?

Oh man. There's a lot of great advice that I’ve received in many different forms, but what comes to mind first is something that my high school drama teacher told me. "You learn more from failure than you do from success." That applies to so many aspects of life and it is so true. It’s been really true for me in the world of theatre. I guess you could say I fail as much as possible.

Is there a role or a show that you have yet to do that is a bucket list item for you? Or what is the dream?

One of the bucket list shows for me is The Color Purple. I would love to do The Color Purple because it’s just such a special story. I watched the movie when I was really young and it’s been a huge part of my life. It’s my top favorite movie ever. It’s just such a beautiful story. And I would love to get to do a production of that musical because that musical is just fire. It’s so great! It's full of great characters and great music.

But my dream of dreams is to originate my own role on Broadway. I would really love to have my own character that I get to sort of mold together and create a footprint for. That’s my dream. We’ll see when it happens. I have faith though.

Jumping from the new and unknown to something that hit Broadway and the musical theatre scene like a title wave… I would love to learn more about your experience with Six. What was it like playing Catherine of Aragon on Norwegian Cruise Lines in a show that made waves all over the world?

Playing Aragon was so fabulous. It was the best job ever, especially with Norwegian. Not only are you doing this dope show that’s super fun with all these other incredible women, both on stage and off, you also get to travel around the world on this beautiful ship. It was the best! When I was approached to do that role, it was such an incredible surprise! I just kind of felt like they wanted us to bring our personal characteristics to the character. And so that that’s what they described to us in the whole rehearsal process. They told me that I wanted to make this Aragon an extension of myself, but had to remember that Aragon's got certain characteristics that I had to play up. So really I just looked at her song and I read some information about her. We had to do these presentations where we kind of researched our queen and then presented some things about her life to the team. So I had to learn a lot. From there I just got kind of creative. I learned the song, and the words of the song took me kind of led me to where the rest of the character was.

Transitioning now to your experience with Pretty Woman The Musical. Can you tell us a little little bit about your audition experience for this production?

Well, it was a really quick audition process for me because I was just getting off of my contract with Six and I was just getting back to the city. They emailed a few of us in the show about the auditions and asked if we were available. I was getting into the city like two days after the initial auditions already happened, so they had already learned some dances and started singing with other people. I came in on maybe the third day of auditions, and that was my first time going in. I just sang the song they sent me and we had to do one little scene, which luckily went really well. I love it in an audition when they have you do the scene and then they give you a couple notes and you change it up as they direct you. You kind of get two chances and you get to change it up a little bit. The whole audition lasted maybe about five minutes total. I think about two days later I got an offer. It was a really quick turnaround from the audition to offer for me, which was awesome! But it meant that I had to make some decisions really quickly. I’m so glad that I did accept the job.

Can you tell us a little bit about your character, Kit?

Kit is a very interesting woman. You don’t get to see her that much in the show. She only pops up here and there, but every time she pops up she makes a splash. She comes out with a bang all the time. She’s very high energy and has a lot of love for Vivian. So I hope every time you see me come out on stage, you see the strong connection with Vivian. She’s very loyal, brassy, and headstrong; and she's genuinely just the life of the party. She loves the party more than anything. Any chance she gets to go to Vegas or go shopping, that’s her vibe. She really fights for her place in the world, and she is kind of teaching Vivian different ways to fight for her place too. Even though Vivian is obviously a super strong character who’s had her own set of circumstances that she’s had to overcome, Kit sees that in her and takes her under her wing and teaches her how to fend for herself on the street.

Do you have a favorite part in the show, whether it’s something you are involved in or watch backstage?

Yesterday was our first performance back from hiatus. We were on a week long break and when we got back and started doing soundcheck and started singing the opening number, I was like, "Dang! I really do love this number!" In all the interviews I’ve done so far for this show that’s never been my answer, but I really do love the opening number. It’s so fun! The name of the song is Welcome to Hollywood, and we are welcoming everyone to Hollywood with this big party.

I also have to say that Rodeo Drive has a special place in my heart. It’s just such a fun song. It’s the song where Kit has kind of a solo moment and is taking Vivian on this fever dream of a shopping spree. You get to see all these dope costumes, and there’s this leather black dress that one of our cast members wears that’s incredible and I get to just watch people strut around wearing these outfits and singing this wonderful song.

What is it about the show that you think resonates with the audiences?

I think it’s really just a great story that people love. It’s lasted all this time. It’s based on the movie that Julia Roberts starred in and people really connect with her character. You can really just sort of see into this fantasy of this life of luxury and just being on the cusp and coming up from not ideal circumstances, and then just being thrust in this new fabulous world. I think it’s a story that people just really love. When you get to see a story come to life in different forms, just like with The Color Purple (with it's transition between book to film to stage) I think Pretty Woman is experiencing a similar transformation. That’s what I think really connects with people. It’s a story that people love and can kind of escape to.

What can audiences expect when they come to see Pretty Woman The Musical?

They can expect to have fun! They can expect to bop along in their seats. They can expect to see the big moments from the movie and the big outfits from the movie. They can expect to get a little more insight into how the characters are feeling through singing these lovely songs. They can expect a huge party!

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

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