Regional Reviews: Seattle

An Interview with Priscilla Lopez on Tour in
Broadway's Pippin

Priscilla Lopez and Brian Flores

Telling her I was just out of high school when I saw her create the role of Diana Morales in A Chorus Line, she giggled, "So was I!" She and tour co-star John Rubinstein are both revisiting Pippin (he was the first Pippin, now Pippin's Father Charlemagne, and she was the first replacement as Pippin's stepmother Fastrada) and she is obviously pleased with the reunion.

"It is the craziest thing. There we were, these two young things, early in our Broadway careers, and I totally identify with him, and I think we are both doing well after all these years, being at it so long. To think we are both doing the same show at the same time in this new production, well it is just extraordinary, and quite fun. I loved Pippin, I have always loved it, and to tell you the truth, I have seen so many revivals of shows that I've done and I'm always disappointed, so I didn't see it. And then I got the job to do it on Broadway and I thought I better go see this show. So I did, sat in the back of the house and said 'Oh my God!, how do I get out of this?'

"I love this version, and it fits perfectly within this circus world, and I am so happy John is there for both of us to share that because I was his stepmother in the original, and John is about a year older than I. And what's crazier is Ben Vereen, Chris Chadman, and I were all in the same high school together, same graduating class. I was too young to do that role and it was a coup to get it. For the audition for Fosse, a hairdresser I knew gave me a Fastrada wig, and I dressed up for the character, because if I had gone in like me I would never have gotten the part. Fosse was in the back of the house watching me, and he ran down the aisle, hopped up on stage, gazed at me and says 'Now that it what I call a well-prepared audition!' and then he taught me some steps, and bumps, and grinds. I didn't hear back for several days, and then got the call that I had gotten it! And I left for A Chorus Line workshops some years later."

The mild vaudeville number that Irene Ryan originally did as Berthe is now a circus number complete with trapeze.

"That is the most fun part. I come out and do it, and they all applaud and yell, get crazy, and I love it. The hardest part is in act two she doesn't come back until the finale—the waiting is hard. But read and the time flies by. I started in New York after Andrea Martin, and then Lucie Arnaz came in, I went back, and then closed. I started the tour for 11 weeks in February, in the worst winter weather I have ever experience in my life, and now I am back again. That way you never get bored, or tired out by the physicality. I smartened up and got PT which I hadn't taken advantage of before, and it really helps the old muscles. And my husband is a musician and he loves Seattle, one of his favorite cities. So glad to get to come back there!"

When our conversation rolls around to A Chorus Line there is a wellspring of memories.

"Diana Morales is Priscilla Lopez. It was at The High School of Performing Arts where I met Ben and Chris. When what happened to me, to Diana in the song, it was the most difficult thing that I had faced at 15 years of age. To have it turn around and be the most positive thing that could come out of that is a beautiful miracle. In "At the Ballet" at the tape sessions, 'up a steep and very narrow stairway' was something I had said. And Thommie Walsh's Bobby 'I'm gonna be a movie star' was my story, and Christine's story about a man coming to her house selling dancing lessons, swinging her around, pushing her up against a wall, putting her foot up against her head and saying, 'This little girl is gonna be a star'—that was mine too! We all had bits and pieces in other's characters, too.

"Something very lovely happened when A Chorus Line celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. Hamilton, the new smash of this generation, was playing in the Public Theater where A Chorus Line had started pre-Broadway, and the Public wanted to celebrate both productions. They flew in people for A Chorus Line day, had a luncheon with just the company, a pre-show cocktail party before seeing Hamilton, and then their cast stayed onstage with the audience still there and paid tribute to us. It was magical, and special. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who I had been with in In the Heights, so precious to me, captured such. It's a good time right now. Lots of good things are happening."

Quick takes on other things, like the A Chorus Line movie: "They put back things that we had all ready vetted in the movie. Separating Cassie from the rest of us, having her arrive in a mink coat. Wrong! Diana Morales stood on a little platform on the proscenium of the stage where she couldn't move. I felt so sorry for that actress. And they cut to Zach more than they focused on her! It was terrible, terrible. They never invited us to the movie premiere, but we all got or borrowed tickets. The Chorus Line crazies, and those who had been part of the show, were all there. When the movie ended, it was all silence. People got up and left as if it never happened. It was crazy, amazing, and sad. And the documentary about the revival, we kind of boycotted, which is why you don't see much of us, because of the way it was presented to us. Very disrespectful."

Her early chorus role in the late lamented Henry, Sweet Henry: "We were just talking about Henry, Sweet Henry last night! We have a guy in the show named Henry, so I am always singing that to him. I thought Thommie Walsh should have done a revival, he was so good with kids. My first show with Michael Bennett, and dear Alice Playten, who we sadly lost a few years back."

Her family life: "Both my son and daughter and grown, they are old now. They both went to Rutgers University and majored in drama. I did not encourage them. The business is so hard, and can be so painful. My son didn't have the heart for it, but my daughter is trying, and auditions, and has had a small role in a film. But it is hard for a mother watching them in a business which I know can be so tough and heartless, because I did it myself, and boy do I know what it feels like."

Pippin will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre from August 16 - August 23, 2015. Tickets are available online at stgpresents.org and tickets.com, by calling 877-STG-4TIX (784-4849) or in person at select Ticketmaster locations and at The Paramount Theatre Box Office (Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm).

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus