Tamyra Gray
With the return of Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, it must be an exciting time to be in Rent.
It's like a rock concert—at every show. At the beginning, it felt like we were at Madison Square Garden! The energy from the audience since they've been back has been absolutely amazing. Knowing the guys' history with the show just makes you up your game that much more. You don't want to disappoint them, you don't want to disappoint yourself, and you don't want to disappoint the audience.
How did you get involved in Rent? Did you audition?
I did. I had a proper audition, and it took them two weeks to let me know I got the job. I was upset because I was thinking, "They told me the audition was great," so I thought that meant I should get the part. Finally after the second week I got the call.
Studying?
So if there hadn't been a snowstorm, you might not have gotten the part?
When you first saw Rent on Broadway eight years ago, what did the show mean to you?
Was Adam Pascal in Aida when you saw the show?
But you weren't a Rent-head.
Why do you think Rent has touched so many people over the years?
What do you enjoy about playing Mimi?
With your short hair, you look a bit different than past Mimis.
Was that your doing?
How have the fans reacted?
Everyone knows you can sing, but some people may be surprised by your dancing. Your "Out Tonight" feels electric and a bit dangerous.
Do you find that people come to Rent with an expectation of seeing you as you appeared on American Idol?
More than most contestants on American Idol, you really embraced the themes each week, with your clothes and your hairstyles.
There was such an uproar when you got kicked off the show, but do you feel like not winning gave you permission to be more of who you are?
And as it turns out, soon after Idol you got cast in a multi-episode arc on Boston Public.
You were one of the first people from a reality show to be cast on a television series, and also the first to play a lead in a Broadway show. Do you feel like you had to battle to get those gigs?
Were you satisfied with your first album, The Dreamer?
Your Idol competitor Kelly Clarkson came to see you in Rent a few weeks ago.
She's been in the news quite a bit lately for struggles she had with her record label.
Can you say anything about it? When we can expect it to be released?
Are you hoping to show a new musical side?
You got married last fall…
I wasn't even aware of your romance with singer Sam Watters until I read about it in People.
Did you listen to the Color Me Badd classic "I Wanna Sex You Up" as a kid?
Since you are a major Aida fan, have you heard the rumblings that they are going to do a movie version?
So you can identify with the Rent-heads, in terms of what it's like to feel that kind of connection to a show?
See Tamyra Gray in Rent at the Nederlander Theatre.
I did, and it was great, because I had really fought the audition. I live in San Francisco, but I was in L.A. and there was a nor'easter going on in New York, so I was stuck in the airport for 10 hours. I thought, "I'm just gonna go home and forget it," and I almost did. But instead I went and got a copy of the Rent movie and spent the entire time studying it.
I didn't understand "Without You" or "Out Tonight." It had been almost eight years since I had seen the show, and I couldn't put into context what the deal was with "Without You" and why she was howling in "Out Tonight." I just didn't get it. But I watched the movie, and everything made sense. I was like, "Okay, 'Out Tonight' is a performance piece, she's at a strip club, she's doing her thing. Got it. 'Without You' is a memory piece. She's going through her memories because she just lost the love of her life. Got it."
I am so thankful for that nor'easter, because otherwise I wouldn't be here! It's like one of those God things, where's he like, "No, no, no, you're gonna stay put." I'm glad I was listening!
I was in New York doing an industrial video for Coca-Cola, and I was broke, and I saw every show that I wanted to see for $20. I saw Rent sitting in the front row, and I thought it was amazing. But I also saw Aida, and I have to admit, I was affected more by that than I was by Rent. Watching Aida made me want to do Broadway.
He was! I told him when I first saw him, "Okay, I have to get this out of the way, because I am going to be thinking about it every single day if I don't tell you this now, but I absolutely loved you in that show!" [Laughs.]
I knew the show, of course—and I went to the movie opening weekend! But I really don't feel like the movie did it justice. What you see on stage is so much more powerful. It just didn't translate onscreen as well as it does on stage.
It's such a "life show." What the actors do here is take you through a journey of their characters' lives. We are inviting you in. The blocking of this show is not like other shows, where you are always facing the audience. The audience is watching us from a side view—you are stepping into our world. The show reminds you of life and the importance of love, and of honoring those who you call your friends and your family.
It's the best role I've had because I feel like it's the closest to my personality, in terms of me just being a nutcase. Being free. I'm not a crackhead, but I bring a lot of myself to Mimi. It's nice to get to wear the tight clothes, to play the stripper, to be grimy with it.
[Gleefully] Yeah!
It was! I came in like this, and Michael Greif, our director, loved my hair and my style and was like, "Mimi doesn't have to have long hair." Which was good for me, 'cause I really didn't feel like putting a weave in my hair! I think it gives Mimi a sense of energy and freedom and edginess. If she's this carefree stripper, why wouldn't she have a Mohawk, or whatever my curling iron manages to make up that night? [Laughs.] I feel freer as an actor to take her to different levels because I don't feel held down by anything.
One fan, when he first met me, said, "So what is your hair going to be like in the show?" And I said, "Um, just like this." And he said "Oh." That's all he said. But after my opening night, he came up to me and said, "I didn't want to like the short hair, because it's the staple of the show: Mimi has long hair and blonde streaks. That's what we're used to. But…I like it." I said, "Did I pull it off? Did I give you fierceness?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "Now you see that hair is not the key element of who Mimi is."
I love it. The more comfortable I am with the part, the more I want to experiment with what I can do up there. It's the only time you get to see her be a stripper, so I try to use those moments to my advantage.
You know, I'm not…well, yes. Yes. Why not say yes? I am over it [laughs]. But I don't mind talking about it. It's always going to be a part of my life. It's what gave me my proper start in the entertainment industry. I'm happy to go back from time to time, and I make it a point to go see the finale, because it was my start. My stepson loves the show, and it's something I get to share with him. So, yes, I'm over it, but I'm not mad at it at all.
I'd like to think that since it's been five years, I've gotten away from that. Musically, I haven't gotten away from that image. But acting-wise, nobody got a chance to see what I could do. And prior to Rent, all the jobs I was booking were cookie-cutter, good-girl parts. It was beginning to put me into a bit of a box. Casting agents would send me out, and people would say "She's too nice to do this role." With Rent, now people are saying, "She has a little more range than we gave her credit for," which is nice.
That's who I am. I am so not the person who has the same style all the time. I have a very short attention span when it comes to those types of things. I get bored with myself. So changing my look from week to week was just me being me. Some days you want to be a little sexier; some days you want to be a little grungier. You don't feel the same from day to day, so why should you look the same?
Absolutely. It was never my intention to win the show. I have been pursuing a career in the music industry since I was 13 years old, so I just wanted to get the chance to actually do it. I had a clear idea of what I wanted my first album to be, and I didn't want somebody to say, "Because you're black, you can't be this way or that way, and you can't do rock." I felt like if I won the show, I wouldn't have been able to write anything on my first album, because they would have wanted to put it out so quickly. I really think I would have been miserable.
The truth is, if I had won, I probably wouldn't have been acting at all. I didn't even put an album out right away. Not winning gave me the opportunity to explore what I wanted to do.
I never really thought about it at the time. In whatever direction I feel like I'm heading, I just go where the wind takes me! [Laughs.] And so far, I love it all. Staying busy keeps me out of trouble.
I wanted to write or co-write all the songs, and the label I ended up with was completely supportive of what I wanted to do, which is practically unheard of for new artists. I'm sure we made some mistakes, but that's okay. It didn't sell as much as people thought it was going to, but I maintained my sanity and my happiness, and at the end of the day, that is what life is about.
Kelly and I are great friends. I love her.
I say good for her. You can only be a puppet for so long. You have to give an artist a chance to be an artist. So what if they make mistakes? Great! It lets people know that they are human, and not this perfect person. Her album made her happy! She needed it. Your sanity is so thin, and once it cracks, anything can go wrong. She needed the chance to say, "This is who I am. I'm going to be me for a second." Maybe on the next album they can come to a happy medium, but I think this was definitely necessary. And I love the album, personally.
[Nods mischieviously.]
I would say sometime next year. Definitely. I can't really talk much about it. But it's a very exciting time for me, with my album.
You know, I'm really just hoping to show great music. I can't really say it's a "new" musical side. All the music I do is part of who I am. I'm actually not doing a lot of writing right now, but the team that is doing my songs is great. I have no expectations, and I hate to give other people expectations. If I give no blueprint of what the album is going to be like, then ears are wide open. I think that's the best way.
I did!
Our photographer sold our wedding photos without our permission! We've been together for four years, and I worked really hard to keep our relationship under wraps. We got married in Italy, and I thought, "No one is gonna know who I am in Italy." Well, I guess I was wrong [laughs].
Of course! Who didn't? I was in seventh grade when it came out. If you had told me then that I was gonna marry a guy from Color Me Badd, I would have been like "No way!" I was a huge Jodeci fan! [Laughs.]
No way! I'm gonna have to call my agent and find my way into that movie. Aida is my dream. I wanted to do it on Broadway. If there was such thing as an Aida-head, I was it. Every time I was in New York I saw it and made everyone I know come see it with me. I cried every single time.
To have something that speaks to you? Absolutely I do. That's why Rent has been going on for so long. There is a 13-year-old girl who's seen the show something like 105 times. We went to have tea one day, and we spoke about what the show has done for her, and how she relates to it, and how people in her school call her crazy because she's seen it so many times. But she says, "You know what? If it's a show that has a message I happen to be taken by, and I'd rather go see it than get into trouble, then that's my choice." I can totally relate.