Brooke Shields
You're one week into your run as Ruth Sherwood. How are you feeling?
Stamina-wise, I could do the conga with a broken leg--I've got energy forever. So I don't mind the fatigue or the bruises or anything. The thing that I have to watch is the vocal cords. I can only do so much, and then I just have to stop talking. I just have to stay on it and stay healthy.
How did the first performance go for you? I know you had a short rehearsal period.
Two weeks. That's it. That's not enough time. But opening night was great! No major blunders. We had the best time--the audience loved it. I couldn't have asked for a better place to start from.
I know you went in with a new sister-in-crime, Jennifer Hope Wills. Does that make it easier?
That helped tremendously because we were with each other for the whole process. So we were able to sort of look at each other and hold each other and say, "Oh my God. Are we gonna be able to do this?" And I said, "We will do it!" This is also the first Broadway show that she's had a lead in, so we are just really excited and supportive of one another.
It's funny--the first time I ever saw her on stage was in Grease, and the first time I ever saw you on stage was in Grease!
Oh really?
Yeah, Jennifer played Sandy at Paper Mill Playhouse last year.
Oh, wow. What a perfect Sandy she'd be. That's great! She's a delight.
Are you settled in your dressing room?
My dressing room is not quite set up yet. It doesn't have the organization I'm gonna need. I need to go shopping and buy some organizers or something. But I'm starting to put stuff up on the walls and getting some shelves and making it home.
A lot of people thought the show would have to be altered for you and it really isn't at all.
Nope, they didn't alter it at all.
It's incredible. I mean, I have faith in you, but Donna Murphy comes from a more traditional musical theater background.
I never saw Donna do the show, unfortunately. But I did see [understudy] Linda Mugleston do the show, which was delightful.
I was going to ask you about Linda...
She's been incredible to me. She gave me a big care package of stuff to stay healthy--Echinacea and that kind of stuff. You know, the first thing I saw in this show was the comedy and the physical comedy. That's what I responded to. Vocally… I mean, Donna is a diva on Broadway. That's what she does and she's incredible at it and there's no way that I would ever be able to step into those shoes. So, I just had to find a way to make it my own.
So you just got Ruth Sherwood a new pair of shoes instead!
Yeah, a new pair of pumps… a new pair of conga pumps. And there's so much else that I thought that I could make different. I feel like its not such a different show but I feel like it's a new show. Even though they didn't change anything. I mean, I had a crash course in harmony and sometimes I'm off and sometimes I'm on! But there's a lot of acting involved so I'm able to kind of balance it all out. The dancing is so much fun. They keep saying [backstage] that "the monster has been unleashed." I was like, "I think I'll take that as a compliment!"
"Conga" was so much fun to see you do. What was it like to rehearse it?
The guys are so great but I thought to myself, "How am I ever going to be able to speak while they're throwing me around--let alone sing?" But I find places to take the breaths and it was actually a lot of fun. I mean, I got really bruised from the first week. I had hand mark and hand prints on my body. My daughter tries to pick them off.
Ruth is much more of a woman than Rizzo or Sally Bowles. Do you feel like you're playing more of a grown-up character?
There's nothing tragic about her. She's very sensitive, but she is so self-deprecating. That's what I find so appealing about her. And she's definitely a woman, yet at times, she's a little girl. When she falls in love, she has the heart of a little girl. She would almost give her love away to her sister--her love for her is so pure. I've never been able to play this type of strong, funny, yet vulnerable kind of self-deprecating woman.
You've obviously never had a struggling in the city period like Ruth.
No, but the idea of rejection is very familiar--Hollywood and this industry is all about that. There's a striving and a strength in that I've definitely had to have. You know, "Don't let them get you down," and "Don't let them see you sweat," and "Oh, yeah? You don't think I can? Well, watch this!" I mean that's how I got to Broadway.
You've made a career out of surprising people. It's great.
Oh, thank you. You know, people didn't even think that I could come into this show. Even my agents were surprised. I said, "What do you mean, you're surprised?" They said, "We just had no idea." I just need the vehicle, you know? I need someone to trust me. I need to be pushed and they did--they pushed us in rehearsal: "You can do that sexier." "You can do that better." "I know you can hit that note. I know you don't think you can but you can!" When someone has belief in you, you can do it. And you learn to find the belief in yourself. And you go out there and you do hit that note. And you think, "God, I expected less of myself. How dare I!?"
When you went into Grease it was more of an ensemble show and Cabaret had had a few Sally Bowles at that point…
[Laughs] A few…
So is this more pressure?
It was a big pressure because of the way I was approached: "We're going to close the show unless you come in." I said, "I don't know what to do about that other than try my best." And then they give you two weeks of rehearsals and you wonder how worried they are about the integrity of the show. What I found when I joined the company was open arms. People were coming up to me and saying, "Thank you so much. You're breathing new life into this. We needed this." And then to see a house like today--they said they hadn't had a house that full since they can't even remember when.
You're known for becoming very close with your cast mates whenever you're on Broadway.
Well, without them you're nothing. We are all feeding off each other constantly. They're the spokes of the wheel. I'm on the stage all the time, they've got my back and I have theirs. Or hopefully, they feel like I have theirs. It's hard having my dressing room on the opposite side of the stage because during intermission I kind of want to go and hang out in the girl's room. But I'm trying to bridge that gap.
How's your beautiful daughter Rowan?
She's teething now so she's kind of unhappy today. But she likes the Broadway vibes--she learned the snaps in "Swing" and she thinks it's amazing when we do the numbers. She goes, "Ah, ah, ah." And she clucks--it's so funny. When she was a week old, we took her to see Nine, so she's a little Broadway baby.
I can't imagine how you're balancing the show with motherhood. Your good friend Sherie Rene Scott is going through the same thing now out in San Diego, starring in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and taking care of her new son.
Oh, I know. I can't wait to see the show. My goal is to have Sherie and I do an original together. We're actually working on it. We're such good friends and we actually really blend well with each other. It's funny to see the two of us together.
You guys were in Grease together?
Yeah, and that was just for a little bit and then we did this fabulous movie called The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery. We're both just over the top in it.
What were your characters?
White trash. As white trash as you can get. The longest pink nails, the biggest hair… And we're involved in a robbery. It's very funny, very campy.
I saw a commercial for The Blue Lagoon on TV the other day. Which of your movies make you stop and watch?
I would probably watch Pretty Baby and Black and White. I think that's the spectrum.
Just those two?
I might see my scenes in The Bachelor. Otherwise, I think I would just rather change the channel and watch Tom Brokaw or something.
Do you have any other dream roles for the stage?
I want to originate something. I don't want to keep going through the torture of just learning a show in two weeks. There's enough pressure as it is. I feel like now it's time. I paid certain dues and I think I could do it. Listen, I think you always pay your dues on Broadway--I don't mean to be flippant about it, but it's so hard to learn a show in two weeks and try to be fabulous. And the thought of originating something and nurturing it and finding it… You know, I'm still just trying to figure out what foot to put in front of the other. Now I hope the reviewers are kind. I hope they give everybody a chance.
Do you think about that?
No, I don't normally. It's just that this show has been so fraught and it's a new show now and I just want it to be given that. I'm not going to let [the reviews] change my show at all. I'm still going to be there eight shows a week. It just would be really fair if it was well-reviewed.
Do you feel critics give you a fair shot?
I mean, on Broadway everyone has been amazing. But I think critics think I have everything and it's all so easy and that I need to brought down a couple of notches. Or they preface it with, "You know, we thought she was really going to suck, but she's OK." But there have been a few people who have been really positive, so I just want to focus on them. I'll just read the good reviews!