Something Rotten! Gals Kate Reinders & Heidi Blickenstaff on Their Bathroom Kickstarter & Candy Penis Necklaces
Broadway vets Kate Reinders and (new Broadway.com vlogger) Heidi Blickenstaff rarely share the stage in the musical comedy Something Rotten!, but that didn’t stop them from becoming fast friends. As dressing roommates and the only two featured actresses in a cast dominated by funny guys, these women do more than hold their own. “We’re the neck that turns the head,” Reinders says about their supporting roles in this over-the-top Elizabethan yarn about creating the first musical. Broadway.com hung out (and got pretend-wasted) with the pair at citizenM's sunny, swanky bar in Times Square. Bottoms up!
Q: What was your first impression of each other?
KATE: I wanted her to like me because I thought she was cool.
HEIDI: A lot of times when you start something new, especially one that’s filled with so many fancy people, you can see people be a little on guard at first. From the second I met her, she was her authentic self, which is wildly open, generous, bubbly and fun. She’s never strayed from that.
KATE: That’s because I’m not fancy.
HEIDI: That's true. You're not fancy.
Q: Did you Google each other before you met?
HEIDI: I did.
KATE: I didn’t Google you. I’m sorry.
HEIDI: Kate is one half of Tastiskank with Sarah Litzinger. Do yourself a favor and Google their Matthew McConaughey song.
Q: You two share a dressing room—who’s the messy one?
HEIDI: I’m very organized. I run the Type A, stick-up-my-butt side of the dressing room. But it’s not like she’s Pig Pen.
KATE: It’s just a little free and easy on my side.
HEIDI: We have the yin and the yang.
Q: What do you typically do when you’re offstage?
KATE: Talk trash.
HEIDI: She’s Internet shopping.
KATE: I’m totally Internet shopping, and she’s trying to stop me because I asked her to.
HEIDI: It’s just a little intervention.
Q: What’s it like to be two female forces in a male-dominated cast?
KATE: With great power comes great responsibility. Although, honestly, we’re kind of boyish if you look at the boys we’ve got.
HEIDI: We’re lucky that our cast is a really likable group. No duds.
KATE: Just a bunch of nuggets. We have to share a bathroom with them, though.
HEIDI: The St. James has a lot of really wonderful things...
KATE: …but there isn’t a girls’ bathroom. We need a Kickstarter: Bathroom for Bea! Peehole for Portia!
Q: Besides the bathroom thing, what’s it like to be with the guys?
KATE: They are running a tight ship for us.
HEIDI: The pressure’s on that d’Arcy James fellow.
KATE: They have to Cariani the weight. Seriously, they do all the work. I have the best cocktail role on Broadway.
Q: What’s a cocktail role?
HEIDI: Tell her!
KATE: Pop on stage for a second, go back to your room and have a cocktail.
Q: Speaking of cocktails—and since we made you look like lushes in these photos—what’s your go-to drink?
KATE: Dirty martini. Vodka. Like a man.
HEIDI: I drink like a girl. I’m a wino. I like a crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Recently, I’ve been getting into bourbon, which is more appropriate to my character. But I’m mostly a wino.
KATE: I like vodka. Lots and lots of vodka. I would like some right now.
Q: Who’s the bigger Shakespeare buff?
HEIDI: Have you ever done one?
KATE: No!
HEIDI: I studied Shakespeare in college and I did A Midsummer Night’s Dream in summer stock once. I played Helena.
KATE: Of course you did.
HEIDI: For a hot second in college, I thought I’d be a classical actress and make a life in Ashland, Oregon at the Shakespeare Festival. Then I was like, “Are you kidding?! My bread is buttered in musical theater. I’m a belter, I was made for this town!”
Q: Heidi, you just got married. Kate, you’re engaged. Do you bond over wedding stuff?
HEIDI: What’s funny about us is we’re not bride-y girls at all. I think we bonded over that.
KATE: Yes!
HEIDI: I planned my wedding in six days and did it in my backyard the day after opening with like 20 people in attendance.
KATE: And I brought a penis candy necklace to the theater and was like, "Here’s your bachelorette party!"
HEIDI: You’re looking at my entire bachelorette party right here. She’s the only one who cared to humiliate me appropriately.
KATE: It was just a candy necklace.
HEIDI: It was amazing. Everyone needs a candy penis necklace.
Q: Will you be getting Kate a candy penis necklace for her wedding?
KATE: I hope so!
HEIDI: Duh.
See Kate Reinders and Heidi Blickenstaff in Something Rotten! at the St. James Theatre
